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EXCLUSIVE: See The Major Renovation Of Laureen Uy’s Apartment—From Bright And Colorful To Tropical Industrial Luxe

 

“Redecorating your home is not as easy as it seems,” blogger, influencer, and jet-setter Laureen Uy says on her YouTube vlog. While fun and exciting, a major home renovation project entails a lot of time, effort, and resourcefulness. But just because the expected result of the renovation is major doesn’t mean the expenses should be major as well.

The transformation of Laureen Uy’s apartment is a perfect example of how you can overhaul a space even through small design decisions that make a big difference (e.g. change in paint color, reupholstery, or moving furniture and accents around). “I knew I really wanted to renovate my place, but I didn’t want to spend so much on it. I wanted to be wise when it comes to costing,” Laureen Uy tells Metro.Style.  

 

 

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When one goes through the process of renovating a home, it’s important to have an open mind in letting go of the things that are not as useful to you anymore and welcoming new elements that might have been out of character or too bold for your taste before. Such was exactly the mindset Laureen had—she got to a phase when she felt she needed to change things up at home because it no longer reflects who she currently is; she was more than happy to embrace changes.

She says, “I think I reached a point in my life where I was just looking at my unit and I said, ‘This is not me anymore.’ So this year, I told myself I want to renovate it. When people come in—kasi before when people would go in they would say, ‘This is so Laureen,’ so I felt like my style evolved so much and my character also. I want people to walk in and be like, ‘This is so you.’ So, this is me now.”    

 

 

Laureen, who became popular for her “Break My Style” blog, used to prefer colorful ensembles, so vibrant prints and pink and white stripes were designs you would not be surprised to see in her house. As time passed, however, she has matured into an edgier, hipper, and cooler fashionista who had ditched frilly tops for shirts with oversized jackets and pleated skirts for roomy pants. This change in her fashion style influenced her decision to renovate her home.

“I think style played a huge part—and character—I think it was an overall thing. When I decided to cut my hair short, I remember I visited London, and that was the first time I colored my hair blue green—that was also the year I experimented with edgier clothes, shopping at the men’s section,” Laureen shares. “My style evolved so much. Now, I am comfortable with wearing sneakers. I like wearing denim jackets, overalls.”

 

 

 

A post shared by Laureen Uy (@laureenmuy) on

 

 

A post shared by Laureen Uy (@laureenmuy) on

 

 

A post shared by Laureen Uy (@laureenmuy) on

 

 

A post shared by Laureen Uy (@laureenmuy) on

 

Initially owned by her brother, Vince Uy, Laureen’s apartment used to be a three-bedroom unit, but she converted two bedrooms into a walk-in closet and a home office. When her brother was still living in this unit, it had a masculine bachelor’s pad vibe. When it became Laureen’s place about four years ago, it took on a bright and colorful design. Now, the look of the apartment takes on a hint of masculinity with an industrial cement wall finish for the common areas of the house such as the foyer, dining area, and living room.

One of the goals for the renovation, Laureen says, is to have “less colors, more mature tones.” While Laureen clearly has taste when it comes to interior design—something she has developed by reading design-related books and being exposed to various architectures during her travels—she turned to the expertise of her interior designer/decorator cousin, Elle Uy of Décor Me Happy. Elle was also the one who helped Laureen in dressing up her place before. She helped Laureen decide on the paint hues, furnishings, and accents. She also advised Laureen to buy more neutral decor and complement them with dark navy colors and greens.  

 

 

 

Metro.Style visited Laureen Uy’s newly-renovated apartment. Scroll down to read more about every space in her home, and check out the gallery of its before and after photos:

 

[photos]

Photographs by Rxandy Capinpin and screengrabs from the YouTube accounts Laureen Uy and Elle Uy 

 

 

The Foyer

From the entrance (her door, by the way, was in bright pink; now it’s in dark gray), the first thing that you will see is a foyer with a hallway filled with some artworks Laureen has collected over the years.

 

 

 

The Dining Area / Kitchen

Upon entering, one is led to the dining area with a 6-seater dining set. Laureen retained her dining table but changed her dining chairs from wingback-style to a more luxe design, and had them customized by Danext Furniture. She also kept her statement gold chandeliers.

Her kitchen used to be separated from the dining area only by curtains; now, she has a sliding mirror door that likewise makes this space look bigger. Across her dining set, Laureen, who loves entertaining at home, has a buffet cabinet, also customized by Danext, which holds her entertaining essentials and collection of drinks.

 

 

 

 

The Living Room

With the orientation of the sofa set directly across floor-to-ceiling windows, this space has an unparalleled view of Makati City. Her living room used to be predominantly white with splashes of vibrant colors and prints. The frames of her windows were in pink and she had printed curtains, but now the window frames are in black and she opted for roller blinds instead. 

Her accent wall, a gallery wall, is currently in a dark gray shade. Her couch, which used to be beige, was reupholstered by Danext Furniture with a velvet burnt orange fabric, which gives the space a nice pop of color.

A corner in her living room was where her piano used to be; she has transformed this to what Laureen calls her “Tita” corner, where she likes spending her mornings contemplating or reading books. The statement piece of furniture for this nook is a royal blue chair with black frames that used to be gray and white, respectively. This area is also where Laureen gathers her collection of real plants (something she is currently quite obsessed with—"Once you start taking care of plants, maaadik ka talaga," she says).

Laureen defines the style of her home now as “tropical industrial luxe.” The tropical feel comes from all the plants that she mostly sourced from Tierra Plants and strategically placed around, the industrial vibe is from the concrete and cement wall finishes, and the luxe part can be seen and felt from how she accentuated each and every space with brass, gold and rose gold décor.

 

 

 

The Home Office

Laureen’s home office used to have walls in pink and white stripes. For an extreme change, she went with navy blue walls. She replaced her big wingback chair with a brown Scandinavian chair from Danext Furniture (her other Scandinavian tables were from her blogger best friend Camille Co's Curio Cavern shop), and the big statement cabinet she has in the office was painted from white to dark gray with gold details that gave it an art deco appeal.

 

 

 

The Work Walk-In Closet

A few steps away from her home office is her work walk-in closet, where she puts all the items that were sent to her as gifts. Separating it from her main closet allows her to easily find the pieces for her to photograph, wear and showcase on her social media accounts.

 

 

 

The Master Bedroom

Next to her work walk-in closet is Laureen’s bedroom, which used to have a light lavender printed wallpaper for the accent wall and white paint for the rest of walls. Aligned to her more mature aesthetic now, Laureen wanted a darker yet still inviting room. She replaced her wallpaper with a printed, deeper purple design from Studio 11. She retained her bed’s headboard, but had her bedside tables painted from white to black. Since she loves greenery, too, she also made sure to put small pots of plants by her windows.

 

 

 

The Main Closet

Laureen’s closet is truly every fashionista’s dream, and she is happy with the way it looks, so she excluded this part from the renovation. What she did change is her ottoman, which used to be in a feminine print; now it’s in luxe velvet green.

 

 

 

The Master Bathroom

Also excluded in the renovation was her bathroom, which features a clawfoot tub and a spacious vanity area that comes with big vanity mirrors with light bulbs. As an accent on the wall by her tub, Laureen simply added a framed black and white photograph of top model Kate Moss.

 

 

 

The Powder Room

The powder room is located by the hallway near her entrance. For this, she changed the door color from white to dark gray and the accent strips on the walls from green to purple.

 

 

Produced by Grace Libero-Cruz

Photographs by Rxandy Capinpin

Makeup by Mac Igarta of NARS

Hairstyling by Francis Guintu