Mais con Yellow

...at yellow cab drivers

Cory Tee

Cory-Ninoy tribute t-shirt. The faces of democracy, our modern day heroes on one yellow ribbon. A design that touches the heart. Print is with Ninoy’s most famous line… “the filipino is worth dying for.” Available for Filipinos and Filipinas of the world. Still P250.00 ONLY.

Art Nouveau Book

Another mini-coffee-table-book we use when we shoot our center tables & end tables, the Art Nouveau by Flame Tree. The book also doubles as an inspiration… the great designers of the past truly knew STYLE. I am no art guru but based from the read, the Art Nouveau style came about before the birth of the Art Deco style. And a proof of how semi-naive I am when it comes to the arts, I didn’t know that the print design for this umbrella jar is by one kickass artist from the Art Nouveau style.

Art Nouveau follows the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most glamorous and extravagant styles in art history, exploring works from some of the world`s best loved artists and designers. From architecture and furniture to jewellery and sculpture, this beautifully illustrated reference book captures the very best essence of this most lavish of styles. via

Presenting Philippine Presidentiables

Noynoy Aquino
Dick Gordon
Ping Lacson
Chiz Twitter-boy Escudero
Fernando, not Poe, but Bayani
Akala Mo Manny Villar
Jejomar OBinay
Gibo Teodoro
Eddie Villanueva
GMA Parliament
Erap, one more time
Mar Roxas y Sanchez
Kiko Pangilinan-Cuneta
Angelo "What-Have-I-done-Recently" Reyes
Jamby Ann Santos
Bongbong Marcos
Mike Velarde, Amen?
Angel Bong Revilla
Noli De Castro aka See-True voice-over-guy, Ate Luds...?
Loren Legarda y LEVISTE

101 Photos

We’re able to finally print some of the photos we got. Printed primarily for offline viewing and second, for filing/archiving. After getting the copies and inserting them onto the album, I must say, the cost (print + album) is worth it.

The good ol’ photo print is still the best way to look at the imagery. Better than wide screen laptop, better the LCDs, better than any other hi-tech photo viewer gizmo out there. There’s something about looking & holding the photo paper. About a hundred pictures all in all, see tiled thumbnail above.

Check the 101 photos here. It's my "utility" Flickr account.

The actual album...

Don't Try This At Home

Just one little milestone at Leoque website. We have posted 499 juicylicious posts encompassing our furniture products, displays & accents, some fun photo shots of products, a bit of industry tips and news, interesting site links… and more.

And so, we got 500 posts now!

With just a little over half a year, we get to be at half-kilo posts. On average, we are producing over 2 and half posts per day. I’m just lazy to dig, but I know, there are over 2000 copyrighted photos at site, all photographed and processed by us. Over 400 pieces of distinct & different items-for-sale scattered all throughout the four hundred ninety nine posts.

But wait, there’s more…

The back-end part of doing this online furniture shop, that’s also a handful. Making sure that the plug-ins are working, the contact form, doing back-ups, the pages are showing up correctly, ads are all good and more.

I’ll tell you, making a shop-blog for furniture is not for the faint-hearted. Kids, don’t try this at home.

Marketers always have the statement… “we are the fastest growing network…,” “we are the fastest growing food chain…,” etc… well, we are positive, the House of Leoque furniture website, is one of the fastest growing weblogs-con-shop in the Philippines. And this site will only get bigger, bolder and better.

Here’s to another 500 posts!

FCC DSLR Remote Controller Shutter

Finally got the prize for the photography contest.

Supporting Smart Gilas

Reading the reports surrounding PBA or Gilas, the majority really sided with Smart Gilas taking it over. And I agree. After another failed attempt by PBA-backed team, I too voted for the programmed version of SBP’s Smart Gilas. Thirty year-old PBA superstars are simply over-riped for them to learn a whole new ballgame (so to speak) and in such a short time. Too old to be taught of the game that suits international game. Too hardheaded to throw away their fetish for one-on-one showtime. We’ve been wanting a basketball program for the longest time, and now that it’s here, let’s support them.

For PBA backers and fans, you don’t need to pout, looks like SBP is to hook up with at least 3 pro PBA players anyways, so we’ll get a taste of both (amateur & pro) worlds anyways. Guys like Jared, Gabe and Japeth were mentioned. The three, certainly, will get heavy minutes plus one naturalized player. The core will still be PBA players + an import, so c’mon SBP, show us your “non-PBA” national team next year, we’ll support you (and hit you) all the way. Be better than 9th, eclipse the 8th!

(AND I WILL JUST ADD THIS: If this Smart Gilas team does well, I mean triple-very well in its international forays, this could be the end of the PBA as we know it. You can save, bookmark, quote, me on this.)

This Vase Set Is Mine. Mine! Mine! Mine!

This is NFS (not for sale) but I am posting it anyway. Being a co-owner of a home accent store, it's surprising that sometimes our home, is left with very few deco of its own. Some of the home decor we sell, we photoshoot them inside our home and some would sit there, mesh & fit with our home design and feel like it ours. Sometimes, we get/buy home displays for our home but end up being sold coz buyers like the accents. Who are we to deny the clients? They are after all, always right, the clients. And so sometimes, we can’t define the line as to what belongs to the furniture store - “House of Leoque” - and what should remain in the “house of ours.” And so we promised ourselves, this time it’s defined, for the 2 pieces tea candle holders shown, this is for the house of ours.

Book of Basketball

I'll get this book come Nov 2009. By hoop or by crook!

There is only one writer on the planet who possesses enough basketball knowledge and passion to write the definitive book on the NBA.* Bill Simmons, the from-the-womb hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com’s Sports Guy, is that writer. And The Book of Basketball is that book.

Nowhere in the roundball universe will you find another single volume that covers as much in such depth as this wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining look at the past, present, and future of pro basketball.

From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens–and then closes, once and for all–every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind, five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

Manila, Manila

sorry tita cory & manong ninoy, but sometime you gotta feel for this country. sometimes i want to pack my bag, just leave on a jet plane and head to The Netherlands and live there. one heavy mad-rain after midnight and the city of manila is submerged. what follows afterwards is chaotic manila traffic. qc bound lane of espana became 2way, nagtahan bridge was or is (im sure it still clogged as i write this down) a big parking lot, parts of araneta ave were closed, the traffic lights were useless, the traffic enforcers, were, of course nothing new here, useless too. forbes is gapang, the inner streets of manila where i tried finding shortcuts are flooded too, worse, the padyakers were ruling the inner streets. buset! I come pram da phlippines! malunod! este mabuhey!

Tindahan ni Chuck Taylor

Isang araw...
Pumunta ako sa tindahan ng sapatos
Para bumili ng pang-sipa
Pagtingin ko, aking nakita
Isang logo na nakadungaw at nang-a-an-nyaya
Natulala ako, laglag ang puso ko
Nalaglag rin ang Nike-ng hawak ko
Napasigaw ako ng tunay
At inamin inlove na sa tindahan ni Chuck Taylor!

Wood Tiles

One Leoque buyer had a special requirement for wooden tiles and tagged us as his supplier. We’re told that he’ll use it to customize one of his own home cabinets using these wood tiles (mahogany). We decided to over-produce the tiles so we have spare that we’ll use ourselves or sell in case you too would require a set of these. Can be used as accent wood blocks/tiles, paper weights, can be used as uber-huge unique coasters, can be used as photo frame, and more. It’s P35.00 a piece.

Us, what we did? We made some special formations and got ourselves nice little abstract wood accents.

Check Stool 1-2-3

Ladies & gentlemen, this a momentous occasion, for the first time ever, the most admired, the best selling, the well-received, the most desirable wood accent stools (small - medium - large) inside the House of Leoque are now photo-captured side by side for comparison and your appreciation. Get the whole ensalada for only P2000.00. Available per piece too: small - medium - large.

Basag Ulo

Kobe Bryant T-Shirt

Our third Kobe Bryant t-shirt.

Still P250.00 only.

KB24, highlight on "4", for his 4th and sweetest championship ring.

For men only. Limited prints available.

From small to XL, we have got.

Croc @ Night

Shot these three photos daytime and were in fact all overexposed. But thanks to adobe lightroom 2 (I recently installed), it can easily salvage failed shots. Can turn daylight to dark night, can make infrared look as well, just make the tone warmer. Hope to learn more about LR.

the real shot...

Condominium Furniture in the Philippines

I’m checking the website logs, and I saw online Philippine furniture hunters were searching for “condo furniture” and “condominium furniture.” And the great news (well, at least for us) is, some of them landed in here, the House of Leoque. And lucky all, we do have some furniture designed and custom-made for condominiums.

With Philippine condominiums going as low as 20 square meters (studio units), space is a premium. Owners should be able to maximize the space without ever compromising comfort of living and the functionality of the furniture. Living in a condo is far more different than living in a single detached home, same is true for the furniture in it. And so much care, research, thought, measurements are needed before finally deciding what to get.

It is recommended too to sought the professional, friendly (or in my case, family) advise of an interior designer or architect to achieve a more functional & sophisticated home furniture selection.

You cannot expect to get all your condominium furniture & decorative accents in one source by the way. Getting it from one source I believe is a mistake. You should find the courage to mix & match styles to make one interesting home design. That’s where your furniture research & educated advise will come in.

Condo living provides an ideal setting for urban dwellers but a lot of the comfort depend on the furniture you pick. And so, good luck on your condominium furniture buying spree!

Cory Magic Ride