We won a REAL LIVING makeover!

Ok, just to clarify, the makeover wasn't done in MY house. Rather, my sister and I won the monthly makeover contest of Real Living magazine for my mom's living room area which you can read all about in the AUGUST 2013 issue. :)

Just to give you a background, I've been reading Real Living for so many years already. It has been like a bible of mine on how to achieve having a stylish, affordable space. I especially love their makeover section where you can see how they can really transform a room or even an entire house into something you wouldn't even dream possible.

I've always thought of joining that contest back when I was still living at my mom's house, but it seemed like such a long shot. My sister and I always dreamed of giving back to my mom, and one of the things we had always wanted to do was fix up her living area. It used to be such a nice sala when we were younger and back when my lola was still alive. But then through the years, it has become such an eyesore already with our dog Rusty literally taking over the space. Budget for improvements went to other areas of the house like the kitchen, and that's where everybody would just hang out and watch TV. So the kitchen/dining room sort of became the living room as well and this space just became a storage area. In the rightmost picture below, you can see a bulky wooden cabinet that my mom had made to house some of our wedding gifts, among other things. And the rattan sofa and table beside it used to part of a complete set, but somehow that is where our dog sleeps now.

I don't know why, but my sister and I decided to join the Real Living Makeover contest last year. It was exactly a year ago on July 2012 when my sister sent in the entry to Real Living. My mom had no idea and we kept it a secret since there was no guarantee we would get chosen anyway.

Fast forward many months later... It was last February when my sister got a text message from Real Living saying that we were one of the finalists chosen (this was supposed to be for the MAY issue) and they needed to do an ocular on the space. It was really unbelievable because it had been more than 6 months since we had sent that entry and we almost forgot about it already! We just couldn't believe it! Well, we had to tell my mom already and of course we were all praying and hoping that we would win. The ocular went really well but unfortunately, they decided to go with another finalist. Of course, we were disappointed but the representative from Real Living said that there might be a chance we could still get chosen in the coming months. We honestly thought they were saying that to make us feel better. But they called again last May to say that yes, we were finally the ones chosen for the AUGUST issue! Thank you Lord!

Everything went really fast from there. They started working on the space around mid-June and I believe everything just took about a week or more. It was too bad I never got the chance to be there during all the oculars, renovation, photoshoots, interview, etc. but I felt like I was there every step of the way. And when I saw the space for the first time after it was done, I was simply amazed. I felt like I was in a different house! :)

Dreams do definitely come true because now the living room looks FABULOUS! I still can't believe they fixed everything up and furnished the space completely. It's really such a blessing. Check out the photos from the magazine below :)

I wish I could have met the interior designer Catherine Cena because she did an amazing job. I love all the furnishings, decors, accent pieces she used. It's just the stuff I would buy for myself. And the color combo of orange and blue is something I've been dying to do (remember my post about ideas for my son's room?). Now I can just raid my mom's living room haha! I love that she did a study area as well so the space is more functional. If you noticed, they also changed the flooring and fixed the lighting as well. I just love, love, LOVE everything about this space! It looks so young, modern, and fresh! :)

But seriously, we can't thank Real Living enough for choosing my sister's entry. We never knew anyone personally who had won before and we thought that they would only choose houses that had been struck by floods or something. But now, we can say that yes, this makeover is real and anyone can really win. We'd jokingly say that "grabe, ganyan pala kapangit un space natin, imagine napili tayo?" hahaha! I guess it's really God's will and in His time that all of this happened. Our mom is so happy and now can't wait to invite people over to check out her new living room. ;p

So please grabe a copy of Real Living's AUGUST 2013 issue if you want to read the entire article. And don't hesitate to join their monthly makeover contest. Who knows, your space could be next! :)