Such was my immediate reaction upon exploring the interiors of the home of a youthful couple who designed it themselves. A fleeting initial look enabled this writer to spot the overall effect of the whole endeavor. I tell you, it is like a breath of fresh air, somewhat naive yet headstrong and decisive in its projection.
Marissa Alejandro and Rocky Lopa were married when they were quite young. The two started a family while comfortably quartered at Hacienda Luisita, Rocky being a scion of the Cojuangco clan. Provided with one of the comfortable chalets built for the personnel running the hacienda, the couple had first-hand experience in furnishing their assigned home while following their personal preferences. That was 20 years ago.
Today, Marissa and Rocky, along with their grownup children, reside in a sumptuous house they built together from scratch. You merely have to enter the home to experience a house different from any of the ones you’ve been to.
Chancing on this robust circular pedestal table featuring a massive one-piece top that the couple uses as a foyer table, you right away sense they do things in a nonconformist style. In some respects, they are almost laconic in their decorating approach. Few in number but enormous in size and proportion — that’s Marissa and Rocky’s philosophy in furnishing their residence.
Marissa and Rocky are addicts for rare items of furniture. They treat them like they were important pieces of sculpture. They position these pieces in areas where they become outstanding objects, putting them in camera-ready settings that exhibit excellent balance and composition. In place of a mural or a big-sized painting, a long wall is punctuated by a set of intricate antique doors in all their grandeur and the agreeable patina earned from years of wear and tear.
Architectural fragments and decorations have found their places of veneration in every nook and cranny of the residence. Some function as crowns atop door frames while others hang beautifully, bracketing horizontal frames of open doorways. Salvaged windows or doors glistening with multi-colored glass panes, not unlike the stained glass found in churches, abound in the Lopa residence. This is really a major feat since the lady of the house, when she’s not busy mothering, moonlights as an antique dealer in her shop called Amazing Space at the Edsa Shangri-La.
One outstanding feature of this house is its wooden floorings. The entire second floor where the bedrooms are situated is of wide slabs of acacia wood in all its striped glory. These planks were once upon a time the huge trees lining some major lanes at the Hacienda Luisita. As we all know, progress at times requires that some old trees go. Among the Cojuangco clan, it was only Rocky, then GM of the hacienda, who stopped and gathered them and had them professionally sliced by a well-equipped lumberyard. Now, he’s mighty proud to show it off to his kin who did not even notice those logs while they lay by the roadside after they were felled.
Airiness and an elegant atmosphere pervade the house with its high ceilings. This is enhanced further in the public areas by the vaulted ceilings, achieved through clever masonry work and precise plastering. Save for the space that will be built later as a formal dining room, the rest of the walls and ceilings are in museum white, an effective backdrop for the richly textured furniture.
The kitchen is a curious conglomeration of things outgrown by their former users. Stainless steel cabinets salvaged from some restaurants or discarded china cabinets of rich families found their way into the Lopa manse. We especially admire the ancient antique cast-iron winding stairs connecting the kitchen to the second floor. This is a practical feature since members of the family can access the kitchen without being seen by guests who are being entertained in the living or dining room.
Marissa’s mom, Marilou Alejandro, recalls that her daughter displayed her artistic bent early on. While her siblings grabbed regular birthday cards from stationers, the young Marissa would draw and paint her own cards to greet Mommy and Daddy a happy birthday. To this day, this young mother of two insists on having just a few reliable items of dress accessories than a truckload of cheap knockoffs.
Nothing in the Lopas’ interiors is a final choice. Some windows that need curtains still remain bare. There were garden chairs keeping the elegant dining table company in the dining room when we did the shoot. The Lopa couple is not in a hurry to complete their house. To this couple, beautifying a home is a continuing and evolving process. They will only grab the ideal dining chairs, the perfect curtain or shade when they finally find those that suit their conjugal taste and preference.