Let's start at the very beginning

Here's a bit of background information about me which I think is pertinent to my Eclectic Boogaloo story.

I was born in the Philippines and at four years old, my parents made the brave decision to leave family behind to forge a better life for themselves and their young children in a prosperous country we call Australia.

This had a very profound effect in me in as much as, from a very young age, it made me aware of the differences in cultures, upbringing and style.  In particular, as perhaps only a four year old's brain can compute, the differences visually around me.  The aesthetics of my new surroundings, a very colourful 70s Australia, clashed with the memory of my aesthetics of 1970's provincial Philippines.  Solid, dark wood, polished in the traditional Filipino coconut manner,  neutral colours and organic material is what I remember.  Strangely, the garish colours on 70s plastic furniture really resonated with me.  I grew to love it and cherish it.  The brighter the colour, the more I was drawn in.

And thus, began my life long inner battle with finding my own personal style.  I loved the classic look.  I love all things wood.  Neutral colours soothed and calmed my life.  But the boldness of colour, the clashes of pattern brightened up my day.  My younger self could never reconcile that you could have both in your life.

But as I grew older, matured (?), settled into myself, I let go of that "never the twain shall meet" style attitude and started to mix it up.  And lo and behold, I found my own personal style.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that, a tweak of colour and a block of pattern, a fusion of eras, something commonly called "eclectic".  It is my design mantra.

PS.  As you can see from the picture below, I have always been stylish and refined.  That's me on the left.