Louie Ysmael, for those too young to know, is the former major league party man-about-town (before Cez), the "Disco King" of the ’70s, and now semi-domesticated man of this house. But make no mistake (to quote US Prez Dubya), Louie is still the town’s peerless club owner and operator par excellence. At home though, his spunky wife Cecille is CEO. That means Louie proposes and his wife gives the final approval.
After a few text messages and phone calls, Cez finally relented. "Para matigil ka lang," she demurred. "We’ve had so many requests from so many other publications," she tried to explain. "And I have had to say no for the meantime, because I still have a lot of work to do on the house."
Right, we thought. It turns out that Cecille is a domestic goddess who could put Martha Stewart out of business if she wanted to, and this passion for perfection is what this hesitation was all about.
When asked when they decided to do the renovation, Cez says it was decided (on her part) as soon as they got married in November 1999. But hammers and nails weren’t pounding on their hardwood floors till March this year. This didn’t mean though that Cez simply moved in and settled down in Louie’s familiar surroundings when they got married. In fact, as soon as he started inviting her to his house when they were dating and later engaged, Cecille promptly changed all the key furnishings in the house to signify that there was now a woman in charge of this domain.
"My God," she says, "the first time I saw this place the décor was all about this sofa full of cigarette burns, this molave center table and these big throw pillows all in black and they were all dirty. So I changed the furniture from that dark color to an off-white theme and brought in accents in black and white."
Because she also loves to cook, the kitchen became her next target area. She remembers, "All Louie had was a refrigerator that was as old as him and some flatware which were all in different styles. So I had to get a lot of utensils and glasses for kitchen and dining purposes."
After the wedding and the honeymoon, Cez went to work on a refurbishment program to make their place as home-sweet-home as she could make it. The first to go was Louie’s old bed. "I mean, after all, the ‘slaughter house’ was now closed forever," she winks. A queen-sized hydraulic bed was put in its place, "yung parang sa hospital pero maganda," she recalls. Since the wedding, she says, they have changed beds three times.
In March this year, Cecille and Louie finally buckled down to real work and embarked on a major renovation program for their house and this time with their future family in mind. They commissioned young architect Arnel Dayanghirang who was recommended by close pals Ching and Philip Cruz. They also engaged the services of hotshot interior designe- sisters Ivy and Cynthia Almario. This trio was to lead the renovation team. Cez herself acted as contractor, working non-stop from morning till night, "sometimes till two in the morning."
Cez insisted on purchasing all the building and finishing materials herself. She scoured Metro Manila for the best prices and building merchandise. She didn’t care if this mission took her to Caloocan, Escolta, downtown Manila or to Bulacan to get all the varieties of plants, shrubs and flowering trees at the best prices. She also found herself traveling all over Southeast Asia with Ivy and Cynthia for extraordinary finishing touches. This doesn’t mean that it was all leg and field work. Cez’s administration is also intact. She has kept the construction’s complete accounting ledger in neatly compiled folders that list all the expenses from the cement to the paint, nails etc. down to the "tricycle rides."
"This will be a valuable research tool when we decide to build again in the future," she says knowingly.
The work force they commandeered to do this construction job was quite a management challenge. They employed about 40 workers who all put in a full day’s work for the duration of the renovation project. Her only other administration assistant was her mayordoma at home, Marie, who took care of the weekly payroll.
This feat allowed them to finish the work in record time, which would otherwise have dragged on for another five to six months if they relied on third-party supervision. This DIY (Do It Yourself) method not only cut their expenses and ensured work done on time, it also guaranteed that the work done was flawless and materials used were only the best. They moved into the renovated house in August this year – August 17, to be exact, notes Mrs. Ysmael – a mere five months to the day they started the demolition job.
The hardest part of the job Cecille found was the finishing part, where all the details of what goes where and which particular material to use had to be painstakingly decided on. Since Cez is very attentive to detail and very particular about the end result, she had to be totally hands-on, from the ripping of the walls, columns, tiles, wood and ceiling till the last chapter of the work was done, down to the last bromeliad planted and the final artwork installed.
A very refreshing trait of Cez is her ability to get down to business, get her hands dirty and still enjoy the job. She is a fantastic worker with the finest taste who does not mind doing all the work herself, notes Ivy and Cynthia Almario. They are even convincing Cez to enroll at the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) because of her natural talent for designing.
As a matter of fact, Ces says, "they call me now for my suppliers so they can also use these for their other clients." Because she did all the sourcing and buying herself, she says she’s now "very famous in Chinatown." Her attitude towards work is that one should value the money that is spent or paid, cut costs as much as you can without sacrificing quality and finishing your work on time because time is money.
Compare that to some of us who may require a secretary to make even the most mundane phone calls to random suppliers.
At the end of the day, she summarizes her experience as "full-time and fulfilling."
The evening we did this interview, we begged her not to bother cooking or fussing over us anymore as she nonchalantly went about showing us around her gorgeous home. After we ooohed and aaahed at every room and corner she took us to, she sat us down in her cool and cozy living room, and we listened to soothing tunes amid the fragrance from candles.
Before we knew it, she was in the kitchen herself, whipping up the most delicious pasta with spicy sardines. The appetizing aroma from the kitchen made our mouths water. Soon, we were eating the yummiest salad with a honey mustard herbal dressing, which she herself concocted. After this a plate parade ambled out of the kitchen non-stop.
As we sipped after dinner chamomile and mint tea, we could hear someone turn a key in the front door. The man of the house had arrived. He then poked his head in the dining room as if to say, "I’m home." Louie asked, "Honey, is there anything I can eat that’s not too heavy?" To which Cez replied, "Haay Louie di ba you like my sardine pasta?" Louie smiled contentedly.
This was how the day was supposed to go: she, lounging comfortably in her cool domain, and Louie finally coming home.