Monday morning found Cass and I standing in front of a huge warehouse just west of Alphaland in Magallanes/Pasong Tamo Extension. Thank god for the glass wall aesthetics of the place or else if this were the usual Pinoy movie and there were bad guys meant to maul us, we’d be so helpless it’s embarrassing.

See, over the weekend Cass’ parents have been pressuring her to finish the furnishings of her new apartment, one which they meant to put up for lease very soon. That kind of meant having to go around malls and interior designing places and meeting up oddly demanding people and tolerating very demanding parents—and this coming from a Friday graveyard shift and barely some sleep on Sunday. I, on the other hand, may have had sleep on Saturday and Sunday mornings, but I was awake the whole night of Sunday anyway, so that kind of meant I was spreading my energy thin. But

she asked me to go around Manila (North to South, literally) and unearth more stores and shops for the remaining furniture needed. There’s also this store in Magallanes, the one I showed you that says ID? she asks tentatively. I sort of don’t remember. She dismisses my poor memory. Let’s check that one out.

We peek through the glass doors of the warehouse that screams of a huge sign: ID IDeas for Living. The sign said closed and it was about 9am, and this place was ticked #1 on the list of places to visit, next to SM North Edsa’s Interior Zone, and an IKEA reseller at Madison Square in Boni. We were just about to cup our eyes and peek further through the glass when one of the store people opened the doors.

“We open at 10,” he informs us. “But if you’re just going to look around for now, it’s okay. I can let you in.”

We look at each other. Hmm.

So we go in. The place is more industrial loft type, and we can’t see much on the inside yet because our eyes were focusing on random objects. He ushers us towards the second floor, sorta giving us a tour of the place. We climb through the bare stairs and—

–boom.

“Holy fuck, it’s IKEA!”



Why it’s so def

To understand our giggly teenage crush of this interior design haven, let me give you a background: IKEA is a pretty huge interior products company that sells ready-to-assemble furniture, home designs, appliances and small novelty items. Originating in Netherlands, this industrial group has had stores all over the world, especially in US, and has had a rather strong cult following especially after the launch of their product catalogs and online shopping.

But what puts the magic in IKEA compared to the other furniture stores is this: It’s not in the furniture but the place’s the ability to really make you imagine your home the moment you step in without the intimidation. From the helpful mock common-sized room set-ups (showing which kinds of furniture would fit on a 28 SQM room, on a 48 SQM, etc), to beds that you’re free to lie on to test, to paper and pencils they give out for you to put your jots in. Their products are mostly very cheap as they claim to have cut some cost with some manufacturers by providing a price and working their materials around it, and even encouraging the DIY culture by letting you explore for yourself and treat the place as your own home rather than giving you a simple showroom. IKEA stores even have restaurants serving the traditional Swedish meatballs and other variations.

Recently, however, it became an iconic place for hipsters and indie followers after the release of (500) Days of Summer staring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel when the movie showed scenes of the two creating a mock family life inside IKEA; kissing on one of the beds and finding a Chinese family staring at them from the next room set-ups.

As we have yet to experience IKEA in the Philippines, I have had the chance to experience it for myself when we went to Shanghai, China, and although a huge part of me were drooling due to the indie reference, there was a comforting feeling to stepping into an IKEA and wondering how you can set up your own room and house. Right now, I think the nearest IKEA we have is in Singapore, and we have resellers ( check: http://www.designsyrup.com/v2/blog/posting.asp?i=62 and http://ikeaph.multiply.com/ ) but the experience with the actual store is different, of course.




What ID had a little right

> Photos are clickable! Feel free to browse.

ID’s second floor had the distinct feeling of walking into a huge showroom of different beds and couches, minus the clutter. If you’re used to shopping in SM, this is a welcome advantage as their effort were centralized on showing theme-based sets—something you barely could piece together when you’re mooning about one sofa and then looking at different set of beds and wondering which one goes with which. I walk around more and Cass starts to look at table sets, and almost immediately, you can hear the wheels in her mind turn. She takes out a pen and paper and starts jotting down notes, but Dennis, the guy who’s assisting us, stopped us from doing so and produced a pen and paper of his own.

“We’ll send them to you through email,” Dennis says, “It comes with the pictures and the measurement and prices, too.”

> Second floor look

> Shelves are adorable!

> another part of the 2nd floor

> Sample books, lol

We grin at the convenience of this and started pointing at relevant items. I find a small room set-up and another one after it. I tell myself, man this would have looked awesome if it showed the measurement of the room. And there, after walked out of the room, is a signage which showed 24 sm3, a common room space with condos, if I remember right. I chuckle at my excitement.

>Outside one of the rooms

> INSIDE the room

> The room size! Hahaha. Didn’t see that before I went in.

Their furniture are all labeled with the measurements (height x width) and truthfully reasonable prices. Right now most of their furniture are available in brown, off-white and dark brown/black, and laminated wood is a common sight. It’s a yuppie dream come true. Some of the prices are:

King-size bed: PHP 22,995
Japanese looking Lamp: PHP690
Rugs: PHP9,000+
Sofabeds: PHP40,000+
Floor lamp: PHP2,150
L-shaped sofa: PHP45,900

We go downstairs and find carpets, sofas and tons of posters all on the walls. There’s a familiar one of Marilyn Monroe, which costs about PHP2,000+. A lot of them are ranging from the 1950’s films to random pop arts, all on about pretty much the same sizes. There are dozens of throw pillows around for about P600 each, in about 10 colors or so. Their sofa sets I find very remarkable, since a lot of them were foldable or had other uses, and they were priced at only about P40,000! Definitely not usual from the SM Household lineups.


  



  



  







“Our items come from Malaysia.” Dennis answers me when I ask where the inventory comes from. I guess a part of us hoped they came from IKEA, but hey, if it’s cheaper, then why not.



Definite improvement

We conclude our small trip and run over to North Edsa. Cass were already enumerating things she could possibly buy, but later on finds out that she can’t buy much anymore as most of the items for her condo unit were already pre-ordered.

To be fair, this is a definite huge welcome compared to the usual interior design shopping experience of the usual malls. You can go to ID anytime and not feel alienated about looking around and checking out the place. If you’re looking for top notch furnishings, though, you won’t see mahogany here. This is mostly budget shopping, not high-class fittings.

I’m not sure when they started out, but the place kind of looks bare. They still need to improve on the stocks as we didn’t see much computer tables and mirrors, though; pieces which Cass were specifically looking for. And they don’t have a website yet, I believe.

But please do see this place for yourself! If you want a different experience, try walking around the place. It gives you all sorts of ideas just like IKEA usually does with everyone. But of course, they have a differm on their own. It IS kind of awesome. You can find them at 2100 Chino Roces Ext, Makati City. They’re just 1 building away from Alphaland Magallanes.

>Look for this building…

> …or this sign (NOT the girl)

Ideas for living
ID Furniture Design INC
2100 Chino Roces Ext. Makati City
Tel. no. (02) 519 – 7083
Fax no. (02) 519 – 8236