LIST: Design elements of Heart Evangelista's new condo
MANILA, Philippines — Apart from being an actress and global fashion icon, Heart Evangelista can now add the title of interior designer to her list of credentials after designing the look of her new condo.
The project was a collaboration of Heart with RLC Residences entitled "Love Marie Designs," taken from her name, and the unit she redesigned is located at The Sapphire Bloc in Ortigas. She designed her unit with the help of friends.
Heart detailed the journey in a video she uploaded on her YouTube channel, which began with a remote meeting months earlier with her interior designer friends Geewel Cabungcul-Fuster and Astrid Bello and architect Chris Bello.
Geewel shared the "Modern + Sleek Designer's Pad" board that she patterned after the designs Heart sent her and made sure they were applicable to the one-bedroom unit being designed.
Kitchen, counter, dining area
Heart lauded Astrid and Chris for designing the unit as she expected it would turn out.
Upon entering the unit, visitors will see different flashes of white coloring the kitchen, which has a counter rather than a table. In order to avoid a flat appearance, Astrid said they opted for counter to seamlessly match the kitchen.
Rather than a stove, the unit uses a counter-mounted cooktop so that it is easier to set aside if one needs more table space for meal preparations or even just for wine and cheese.
Mirrors make up a lot of the interiors within the unit, and Astrid and Chris intentionally used different colors for them so they don't feel repetitive. For example, the kichen has gray mirrors while others are silver-colored, bevelled in bronze, or simply regular mirrors.
'Bedroom'
The dining area and bedroom are actually just beside each other, but are separated by a white curtain that runs wall-to-wall and highlights the unit's high ceiling.
"The vertical lines of the drapes just accentuates the existing high ceiling," Astrid explained. "Sa lagay na 'yan, nag-drop tayo ng ceiling."
These drapes were a special request and non-negotiable by Heart, which Astrid and Chris managed to incorporate as they provide richness and a soft feel to a modern space. These same drapes can be found around the unit's many windows, which uncommon for most one-bedroom unit spaces in the Philippines.
Having rippled drapes to cover the bed allows for some privacy and contrasts the flat walls, which Heart says is "very New York."
Bedspace turned office
Astrid and Chris turned what was initially the unit's bedroom into an office space for Heart, understanding that the socialite needs a bigger personal space appropriate for her lifestyle.
Related: Heart Evangelista taps into interior design for RLC Residences' 'Love Marie Designs'
Because the room has large windows that allow natural light inside, they decided to convert the doorway into double-swing doors with frosted glass.
On the left side of the table is a gallery wall that displays objects that inspire Heart, and maybe even upcoming collaborations.
A column can be found in the corner of the office. But since it is positioned near where the table stands, Astrid covered it up with decorative mirrors — the aesthetic effect also doubles in making the room look more spacious.
That particularly idea was inspired by the staircase at Chanel's iconic showroom in Paris' 31 Rue Cambon, as seen in the mutliple mirrored panels.
Instead of a closet, the clothes are hung out in the open as Heart likes to treat her clothings as works of art, sharing, "This is a good idea because sometimes you don't want to constrict yourselves to just a cabinet. So you can display you clothes anywhere because they are artworks."
Any items that need to be tucked away or concealed can be placed in drawers just below the hanging space
Artsy yet simple bathroom
The bathroom is located by the bedspace-turned-office space, and its walls are covered by a mural inspired by Heart's past doodles.
The sink is bronze plated to "make everything very lux" as per Heart.
Apart from these, hardly anything else was changed to the initial bathroom — the floor and wall tiles remain the same.
RELATED: 'Naging kami eventually': Heart Evangelista gets candid about one-night stand experience
