Profriends: Store Love-Regalong Pambahay

Since I am very much looking forward to our Pro Friends’ (Propert Company of Friends Inc.) Bellefort Estates home, I tend to research and plan about how we’ll furnish and live in the place. So after browsing online and offline for nice home furnishings and decors, I found Regalong Pambahay. It’s a very nice handicrafts and home furniture store. I actually went to their warehouse in a very unsuspecting place. It looks like an ordinary warehouse outside but when I went inside, oh wow! I felt like a kid in a big candy store!

I wanted to buy almost everything but of course, we can’t because we’re not that financially blessed…yet? Hehe! Anyway, we browsed and tried to find potential furnishings so that we could search for cheaper alternatives or have them duped by a master carpenter. I wanted to take photos but I think they might suspect what we were up to. LOL! Good thing hubby can draw. He’ll just use his amazing creative skills to come up with a sketch for the master carpenter.

When visited online, Regalong Pambahay only features home décor but when we visited the warehouse. There were dining tables and chairs, bed frames, and more. I really wanted the grand wooden dining set but it might not fit in our home so we would really have to set for a smaller dupe version.

I liked this lamp called Trellis Sphere Lamp (Php800) found on their website. It’s attractive and chic. I could change the shade’s design, too, if we get tired of it. I can DIY you know! The Internet is my treasure trove of DIY ideas.

I found this cute little Bahay Kubo (nipa hut) Night Lamp but I thought it was expensive. Hope we can find a cheaper one but just as nicely made, too.

There’s this interesting bottle chime which I think we can really dupe since it’s just made out of sticks, nylon, and twine. Cutting the bottle would be the hard part though but there are cutting bottles tutorials online. But it’s only Php 395 so I guess we could just buy it instead.

There were other great decors in the warehouse that aren’t in their website – the cute pillows, modern lamp designs, and more.

Upon further research online, I stumbled upon the story about Regalong Pambahay. Eoyphils.com states, “As a seven year-old girl, Ms. Mary Ann Cruz Dela Vega would help out in the family’s store – Balikbayan Handicrafts – which started as a stall under the Quiapo Bridge. From this small, cramped space she saw how her parents built the business through sheer hard work, perseverance and determination.

After working in a bank for three years, Ms. Dela Vega decided in 1993 that banking was not her calling. The handicraft business beckoned and she joined the family trade which catered primarily to tourists. Ms. Dela Vega, however, was convinced that there are other innovative ways to design Philippine handicraft that would appeal to local consumers and help change the perception that such products are only for the export and tourist markets. In time, she hit upon her breakthrough idea. With a partner and P50,000 initial capital, Ms. Dela Vega set up in 1997 the Bluer Than Blue Joint Ventures Co., and opened the first Regalong Pambahay shop in SM Southmall.” I find the story very impressive. It’s nice that she found her true calling which led to her success.






For more related post:
http://www.lifehomerealty.com/profriends.html
http://www.caviterealstate.com/2013/01/bellefort-estates-of-pro-friends-in.html
http://alteredtapestry.blogspot.com/2012/06/pro-friends-transforms-lives-in.html