AT HOME WITH ISA ESQUIVEL -- The French-Manila connection

All of us have a vision of what our dream house should look like, but how many of us have the guts to actually take on a concrete shell, paint it, furnish it, and flip through reams of swatches to find the perfect wall covering?

Isa Esquivel has just that kind of passion, and though her day job involves freight forwarding, not interior design, she almost single-handedly decorated her Bonifacio Ridge condominium and turned an Eliza Doolittle of a space into a My Fair Lady.

Stepping into her apartment is like stepping into a different country altogether. Outside, we’re in the heart of Fort Bonifacio Global City, meters away from Stopover with its big fast-food chains. In Cypress Point – one of Bonifacio Ridge’s two towers – past the modern, Magcase-designed lobby, we could be in the quaint Marais district of Paris, in a European apartment where the owner has a distinct fondness for Chinoiserie.

"I wanted the feeling that I’m not living in a condo but a house," Isa says.

After living for years in a Parañaque townhouse, Isa decided it was time to buy her dream home. A single lady with a longtime beau, she envisioned a cozy two-bedroom – three bedrooms were too big and too pricey for her – in a central location, done up in the grand style of the colonial hotels she so loves.

Bonifacio Ridge met all her requirements, with its uniform two-bedroom, one-den units and panoramic views over one of the most verdant, spacious, well-planned cities in the metropolis.

"We’re all equal here," Isa says of the complex’s equitable 113-sq.m. cuts, where the only difference is what floor you’re on and what view you command. "Because it’s centrally located, I can easily go to Manila, Mandaluyong, Makati, and the airport area where I work. I also knew if it was Ayala that they would be able to meet their delivery schedule, and they did."

A week after viewing the unit, she paid for it in cash, excited about how she would customize the space. In the living room, picture windows facing east overlooked the mountains of Antipolo, which she chose over a western golf-course view to avoid the afternoon sun. The unit also came with three toilet-and-baths, maid’s quarters, a laundry area, an air-conditioner in each bedroom, wooden floors and a modern kitchen minus stove and fridge.

Seeing the logic behind the layout, Isa kept to the original plan, deciding that knocking down walls was a waste of money.

"It’s good because the bedrooms are hidden – there’s a hallway that separates them from the living room and dining," she says. "I didn’t want a bedroom that was near the kitchen, because I didn’t want it to smell like food."

She transformed the existing rooms into ornate havens rich in Old World charm. Each bedroom boasts an antique table or chandelier given by her boyfriend, Allyson Artes, who in turn inherited them from his grandmother. Isa paired his authentic old pieces with vintage lamps and reproduction cabinets, desks and chairs to match the period appeal.

In the living room, two of the standout pieces are retro, mirrored tables she found for a song from Kish: one a low coffee table formed by three separate pieces; the other a painted console for displaying European décor.

The couch was made by a Pampanga artisan, while the beautifully rococo mirrors were from Jo-Liza, where Isa salvaged a number of 20-peso, flower-embossed metal tiles that were about to be thrown away. Isa configured the tiles into diamond patterns to decorate her wooden kitchen cupboards. To liven up the Condensada-painted kitchen and dining area, she stenciled in dragonflies and a botanical pattern.

"I really want to have a balance of old and new, acquired and inherited, gifted and saved from the trash," says Esquivel with a laugh.

But the boldest statement-makers are her wall and window treatments. In the opulent master bedroom, both the bed and the walls seem to be covered in the same red-and-white toile de Jouy fabric, but that turns out to be an optical illusion.

"I really wanted a toile-fabric wallpaper," Isa recalls. "When I went to Townes to purchase fabric, I asked if they also sold wallpaper, and they gave me a name – Elisa Rabino of First Edition – she’s a fantastic lady because she always delivers on time. I got this wallpaper from her."

Isa found matching toile fabric for the bed and curtains from China and another favorite source: Market! Market!, for P85 a yard. Needless to say, she bought the entire stock.

When you enter the apartment, the first dose of drama is provided by the living-room wall, covered in red-breasted birds hiding in a gilded thicket, drawing your eye to a maroon corridor leading to the bedrooms. The bird wallpaper was also found at First Edition, while Market! Market! supplied the shimmery chocolate curtains framing the picture windows.

"I fell in love with the color," Isa admits. "I think it’s very rich."

Like a true interior designer, Isa loves to comb markets and stalls for interesting fabrics and accessories. Every morning after a jog around the Fort, she looks to Lifestyle Channel shows like Decorating Sense and Interiors by Design for inspiration. Her real passion, though, is wallpaper samples – so much so that her bedtime reading consists of swatch books! "Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I keep going over them," she wryly admits.

Despite the varied provenance of her items, the condominium is more than the sum of its parts – it’s a cohesive whole that manages to be elegant, resolutely eclectic but still powerfully feminine, in the manner of the Anita Magsaysay Ho paintings she adores.

Acquiring anything from the artist is one of her fondest dreams. Also on the to-do list is distributing imported, low- to high-end wallpaper and fabrics locally, starting a preschool in the Fort, and studying interior design.

Now that’s she’s decorated her dream home, perhaps she can scratch the last item off her list.