Gal at Home

21/08/2026

Moisture tends to show up in small details at home that we overlook—whether intentionally or not—until they become bigger problems. But the truth is, none of these signs are just cosmetic. They are your home telling you that moisture has settled in and needs attention. And you should pay attention, because left untreated, moisture will wreak havoc on your home, your health, and your life.

I put together five warning signs to watch for this rainy season, plus what they actually mean for your space. Head to the link below to read the full guide on the Gal at Home blog.

https://galathome.com/2026/08/20/humidity-at-home-rainy-season/

15/08/2026

Mirror, mirror on the wall, when should I NEVER put you in my home at all? 👸👑🪞

Sample images of wrong way to display mirrors are generated by AI. Image of right way to locate mirror at home is an actual project from the Gal at Home portfolio!

01/08/2026

Stuck on a home dilemma but can't figure out why? Let's talk it out in a 1 hour Zoom consult. 🏡✨

30/07/2026

This project took us over a year, and every month of it involved different problems to solve. We worked alongside architects, several engineers, and even a feng shui master to map out a layout that would genuinely serve the people clocking in here every day. Getting the permits alone tested our patience becaus they had nothing to do with design at all, between the back and forth and the requirements the local government and building admin kept adding to the scope along the way.

What made it worth it was who we got to do it with. This client came back to us after we handled their smaller office space a few years ago. We value the kind of trust that comes with a repeat client, as it lets us push harder and dream bigger, since they already know how we work.

Now, before and after photos never show the full story. They cannot capture the site visits that ran long, the revisions that got scrapped and started over, the phone calls at odd hours, or the sheer physical toll of getting a space from empty shell to fully realized. There is blood, sweat, and tears in every project we take on, whether it's a condo, a house, a boutique, or an office, and what we have learned after years of doing this is that none of it moves forward without a team: our clients, our architects, our designers, our engineers, and every hand that touched this space. That is what gets a project across the finish line, especially the hard ones.

If you have a space that has this much potential but needs someone to see it through end to end, book a discovery call with us. We would love to hear what you're working with.

23/07/2026

Pledging to visit more neighborhood spots instead of holing up like a hermit all the time 🐚👵

Drop your recos for the QC Diliman area! Preferably walkable from Maginhawa-Malingap Streets, and wouldn't require me to spend an insane amount of cash! This needs to be a sustainable habit 😄

21/07/2026

WFH Sing-along, chips and Coke Zero optional (and highly discouraged by my doctor 😅)

17/07/2026

15/07/2026

What's a styling trick that upgrades a room without spending on a single new piece of furniture?

Add a plant.🌿

Look at the difference greenery makes in these three spaces (an Airbnb villa that the Gal at Home team styled some weeks back!):

1&2 - A tall olive branch softens all that black steel framing in the living room and gives the eye somewhere to travel besides the window.

3&4 - In the bathroom, a few sprigs against dark ceramic add the kind of organic texture that stone and metal alone can't fake.

5&6 - Even in the shower niche, a small potted fern breaks up the flatness of travertine and makes the whole nook feel considered instead of just functional.

Plants do a lot of discreet but EASY design work. They add color that shifts with the light throughout the day, texture that contrasts with hard surfaces like marble and steel, and depth because their irregular, organic shapes read completely differently from the straight lines everywhere else in a room.

They also bring dynamism: Furniture and fixtures stay still, while a plant moves, grows, and changes, which keeps a space from feeling static or a showroom too perfect.

If your room feels finished but flat, this might be the stylist's answer before you buy anything else.

11/07/2026

Did anyone catch that spare tire in our laundry deck 🛞😆

I don't know how many times I've heard, "You work in design? Your house must be so nice!" I used to feel almost ashamed admitting the truth. But not anymore. Here to tell you that the nicest homes you see on socmed take a LOT of work to maintain, and despite the mess I'm always complaining to my family about, I love our not-always-guest-ready house, spackled and water damaged walls and all.

What matters is that we're always working on it. When something needs repairing, we bring it to the house doctor (i.e. our handyman, or a specialist pro like a contractor/engineer). We try not to feed it too much junk (shout out to *cough* my husband *cough*), and we—okay mostly I—declutter as much as we can to keep our spaces open.

Decoration may be what makes a home look good, which lets us feel good in it too. But looking good was never really the point. When we take care of the home, just like when we take care of ourselves, we're honoring it. That doesn't mean obsessing over making every corner IG or TikTok worthy. That's just another layer of stress we don't need.

The most beautiful homes I've stepped into were rarely about how things looked. They were about how I felt in their spaces, and how much of the people living there came through. I could walk into a book hoarder's home and feel all the love they carry, just by how they display their treasured collections. Or step into a home built around someone's love of cooking and entertaining, and see how every room reflects it. For years I've asked my clients, "How do you want to feel in your space?" But maybe the better question is "What DO you LOVE, and how does it show in your space?" What looks good fades; what we love doesn't.

And finally, this one's more for me than anyone else. If it's not finished yet, it's OK. As long as we're taking steps to get things repaired, staying organized, making do with what we have, and keeping a plan for when the budget allows, there's nothing to be ashamed of. We're so lucky to have this house, and we love it in spite of its imperfections, and because of them too. It's part of our family, through and through 🏠�

10/07/2026

Just in case you haven't heard of these yet: Get these when trying out paint colors in your home! Instead of buying several tubs of paint that will just go to waste, test out paint colors from these tiny tubes 😉 Not an ad!