Ah, what a lush life!

Unlike the studied elegance that practically screams from every surface of every interior decorator’s domicile, Tess Vargas’ home goes against the grain. Her modest Parañaque residence is as unassuming as it is homey, as relentlessly organic and un-put-together as it is stylish.

Purchased 20 years ago, when the couple had only been wed for three years, the residence was originally a bungalow with a sprawling garden that’s about half the size of the entire spread – a sizable chunk of real estate many people wouldn’t sacrifice for a garden. "We renovated the house as the family grew," Tess says. With four sons (two in college and two in grade school) currently cohabiting, the home has become a halfway house (although not of the sordid kind, more like a country club in fact) where her children’s friends are always popping up to chill and hang out or, as the game has increased in popularity over the past year, play poker.

Now with two stories of her home done in what Tess sums up as "very Asian in design with a tendency towards Balinese décor," it’s become the kind of generic home decorators are used to showing off – except, of course, that it’s not. It’s filled with surprising ornamental elements only a designer with a trained eye would purchase, knowing instinctively that it would pull a space together. Tess’ home may have all the accoutrements of an interior designer’s home – art flown in from other countries, oriental rugs (a weakness of hers), and interesting fixtures – but it doesn’t have that austere sheen that often comes with pre-designed, pre-fab spaces. In many of the homes featured in magazines, the living rooms often look as though no living creature, except perhaps the maid with accompanying vacuum cleaner, actually lived in the space. "My living room isn’t stiff," she says. Tess’ space invites people to sit down and relax. If a guest were to take a seat on her couch, with throws and cushions artfully tossed about, it wouldn’t detract anything from the look. "You can throw a pillow on the floor and it wouldn’t hurt," she says with a laugh, "because it would look just as right next to the coffee table as it does on the couch."

Shanghai Express

Though, technically speaking, she refers to her design scheme as oriental, there are eclectic touches about the house that add depth. Asian-style homes are typified as modern, almost spare in furnishings (the stereotypical Zen aesthetic comes to mind), but Tess’ is the opposite. Almost every available space is crammed full of knickknacks purchased on buying trips for clients in locations like Vietnam and China. The sideboard in the dining room, for example, hosts a monk figurine, several candles and a large chunk of wood she hand-carried herself from China. "I couldn’t resist it," she says, admiring the patina and texture on the piece. Instead of feeling cluttered, the pieces add to the hominess of the residence – as though each piece told a story about the occupants and their quirks.

The home is divided into two large partitions. The first is by the entrance, flanked immediately by the foyer and a staircase leading to the bedrooms. A few steps down is the dining room, steeped in ornate orientalia. Down right is the kitchen, while directly ahead of the dining room is a pocket garden, complete with cement fountain. Though it’s blindingly hot the day we meet, a breeze moves briskly through the house, aided in part by the cross-ventilation provided by the tiny space.

The pocket garden brings in natural light into the cozy space. One can just imagine the serenity that comes with owning a small piece of well-ventilated space – only families who live in the tiny, stifling confines of a condominium unit understand the need for small breathing spaces like this.

To the left is the living area, dominated largely by a pool table, an unusual element in an Asian-themed home. "My sons spent years convincing me to get one," says Tess with a good-natured shrug. The living and dining areas are partitioned only by a glass divider, a clever way to make small spaces seem larger and to create a visual flow between rooms.

Green Lagoon

The garden is where things get really interesting. Instead of a flat landscape, with a few shrubs and hedges lining the sides, Tess divided it into different sections, creating cozy blocks that efficiently utilize space and make for interesting recreational areas. Dominated by a kidney-shaped pool just slightly to the back of the property, Tess marked certain areas, like a quiet shaded corner by the sliding glass doors that lead to the living room, for lounging. Here, people can smoke or have a glass of iced tea without being bothered by direct sunlight. A table set cast in dark, burnished wood adds a naturalist feeling. Everything blends perfectly with the surrounding foliage so that everything looks as though it were organized organically, with large coconut trees providing shade and mingling with potted plants and exotic flowering shrubs. On the other side, by a small whitewashed building oddly reminiscent of an old-fashioned Italian villa which houses the driver’s room and a storage room (where Tess stows her Christmas tree among other things), a rustic, wide-planked swing rests by a swath of pink bougainvillea.

The piece de resistance is just a couple meters away. The corner of the property is covered by a cabana built for family dinners, poker nights with friends or a place to contemplate the garden’s lush landscape. Built almost entirely of bamboo, the place channels Morocco and the Mediterranean and Rachel Ashwell’s shabby chic show all at once. With overhanging fabric in bright ochre, dark furniture and rustic accessories, the cabana is the meeting place of the entire family. A walkway, also made of bamboo, creates an even greater feeling of intimacy. Created as an afterthought –"We needed a way to get to the cabana without getting wet!" Tess adds – it functions as a divider, demarcating space so portions of the garden have shade and can operate as a spot to relax (where benches line the path).

"We spend a lot of time here," says Tess, who is seated by the cabana’s large table, which has space for about eight to 10 people. The cabana has seen more than a few noche buena dinners and a lot of poker nights. "Sometimes, when it’s cool, we’ll have dinner here outside. With the lights on and the cool breeze, it’s a really nice way to spend an evening."

Guiding Light

The CPA-turned-interior-designer likens her style to that of a practical housewife. "People think of interior design as the haute couture of home décor," she explains. "It’s really more about function. In the end, the simpler looks prevail." Though she claims that she keeps her design firm Bowery on a small scale so she can give each project her full attention, she has done the homes of ABS-CBN publishing GM Thelma San Juan and Allure’s editor Joanne Rae Ramirez.

"Listen," she adds, "I’m a housewife. I understand that the home should be about function first." True enough, this mom has furnished a charming home for a happy family. If only all homes were as lovingly-furnished as this one.

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Bowery Interiors is located at 322 Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes, Parañaque, with tel. no. 820-0091.