Inside ‘Bahay ni Kuya’

People like looking at other people’s houses (admit it!). They like knowing what people do in the privacy of their homes, how people act when they think others aren’t looking, and what they look like when their defenses are down. And so the Pinoy Big Brother House – Ang Bahay ni Kuya – gives everyone a chance to indulge their inner voyeur. Whatever!

Ang Bahay ni Kuya has become an extension of almost all Filipino households. People are familiar with the 920-sq.m. house –from the Confession Room down to the single bathroom. This is the house that has gone through two major interior overhauls in less than a year. This is the house that people have been watching 24/7 for the past months. And this is the house that only I got to see and shoot – way before anyone else (anyone else who matters, that is) saw it.

I visited the newest incarnation of Ang Bahay ni Kuya just 30 minutes – how’s that for a rush tour? – before the young hopefuls for the Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition settled in. Of course, the butter-yellow façade is still the same, as built by Filmal Reality Corp. according to the standards set by Endemol International, the company behind Big Brother and Fear Factor. Inside, the bright, colorful walls are back (the back-to-basics look of the Celebrity edition has been banished), but the rest of the house has gone pop art, thanks to the design team of students from the Philippine School of Interior Design (there are 16 of them, though I only met Carol Villanueva, Kristy Acosta, Marjorie Chua and Joan Lorica).

Inspired by Andy Warhol and the kitsch culture of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, the PBB Teens house is fun, dynamic and hip. When I was a teenager not so many years ago, this is the kind of house I dreamed of living in. And I suppose that this is the dream living arrangement of many teenagers these days – like having a sleepover party forever. Whatever!

Reminiscing with me as we walked through the house were PBB Celebrity Big Four Zanjoe Marudo and John Prats. I guess they were wondering why the house couldn’t have been fixed like this when they were here, and how lucky the PBB Teens are. I think what they envied most was the football machine from Tustin. As for me, the coolest thing in the house is the Coke chiller, filled with ice-cold Coke. Now nothing says "young" like drinking Coke all day – don’t all teenagers exist on nothing but soft drinks, chips and chocolate?

Though I’m partial to white in my house, I liked what the interior decorators did; it suits the age of the people who live there. Bright colors – red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple – on the walls, furniture, even the Akemi sheets fill the whole house. The furniture (from Our Home, Homeworld and Loft Details) are funky-comfy. The painted murals and portraits by Alfred Galvez go with the whole pop art theme. He painted icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee and Mao Tse Tung, as well as a portrait of each of the PBB housemates. I can only imagine the fun those kids are having inside Kuya’s house.

Anyway, with the new residents arriving in a few minutes, we had to quickly get out of the house. Congrats to the whole ABS-CBN team for making it such a hit. Oh, and special thanks to Linggit Tan, the producer of the show, and the show director Lloren Dyogi, for letting us sneak in.

I hear that there are more editions of PBB coming up. I hope I get to do the interiors for one of those. Maybe even have my birthday party in Kuya’s house! Wouldn’t that be something? I’m so excited!