Living big in a small space

For a makeup artist known for her flashy use of color, Xeng Zulueta has a home that’s surprisingly subdued. Located in Salcedo Village, Makati, the famous apartment building is a hotbed of sex, drugs, and gossip – or as close to Melrose Place as it can get. "That’s actually a joke," Xeng clarifies. Aside from Xeng, two other makeup artists live in the building, along with models Cat Alano and Brent Javier, several DJs and a lot of advertising people. "Martin Nievera used to live here. Even designer Jojie Lloren’s work room is just a few doors down from mine."

The building is filled with a veritable who’s who, all living and working in an industry powered by beautiful people and big money.

Xeng, as many people know, is one of the major forces in the beauty industry. Currently the accredited chief makeup artist of Shu Uemura Philippines, a Japanese cosmetic brand under the luxury division of L’Oreal, she helped launch the brand almost three years ago with Tina Tinio. The creative force behind numerous magazine and newspaper editorials, with a consistent makeup credit appearing in STAR’s YStyle section, Xeng is in charge of all product knowledge and skills training for all local Shu Uemura staff. Not bad for someone who started working in the business only in 1999.

For a person of her creativity, it seemed only natural that her home be a reflection of that: Splashes of color on the walls, vibrant paintings and bright accent pieces were supposed to have been artfully arranged throughout the home. Instead, the opposite seems to be the case. With a 50-square meter studio space – the high ceilings kept the space from looking small and cramped – the design seems to be an ode to an unfussy lifestyle.

The layout is simple enough. Once you enter Xeng’s home, to your immediate left is the bathroom and to your immediate right is the kitchen/bodega. "I never cook, so you don’t have to mind that space," she assures me hurriedly. Instead she eats at work since shoots often come with meals, and when not at work, heads to Greenwich or Chowking just down the street. "If I cooked," she says reasonably, "the whole place would smell."

Move into the main area, past the unused kitchen to the bathroom, and what you have is a smartly decorated space that makes fashionable use of each inch. The focal point of the room is the large bed in dark wood, which Xeng bought for a steal at SM. With strips of diaphanous white fabrics hanging from the mother-of-pearl lantern over the bed to create a low-key canopy effect, the inspiration seems to have been a high-end tropical spa.

"I was worried that if I did a full-fledged canopy effect with the fabric, it would make my place look too small," she explains. "Later on, I realized that since the bed is facing out, the canopy shields me from the draft of the air-con."

Facing the window, the Shaker-style bed frame’s slatted back creates a clever demarcation between the living and sleeping spaces. Next to the bed is her dresser, which transforms into a workspace as soon as she props a barstool against it, her Mac on top playing from a large iTunes library. On the dresser is a framed photo of her taken for a Bayo campaign in their first fashion show. "It was for Bayo women achievers. They chose 10 Filipino women achievers, then exhibited it in Glorietta."

Xeng’s home is a display case for her savvy shopping skills, as well as her talents. "I got the couch at 50 percent off," she says of the classy, low-slung piece. "It’s a leather two-seater from Italy, which I bought at Dimensione for only four grand. What I love about it is that it’s low enough for me to put a huge piece of art behind it because my ceilings are high. And for storage, you can just stack magazines or books underneath."

The whole place appropriates storage functions as a stylish way to display things people normally hide. Standing proudly next to the bed is a large rack of shoes, containing glittery heels and comfy sneakers, which shows Xeng’s weakness for pretty things. As does the large book case she uses as a display cabinet for her bags. When asked whether she preferred bags or shoes, Xeng can’t deny her love for either. "Both," she says sighing, "always both." At the moment, the rough count of bags to shoes is 100 to 300.

As for clothes, "I still have about 10 balikbayan boxes full of clothes in my former home in Alabang," she explains ruefully. "I have no idea where to put them here." Surely, the budding interior decorator in Xeng can find a place. With plans to utilize the ceiling space by building more closets, she’s found a way to personalize her home without being too loyal to the Ikea catalog.

The best thing about living on her own? "I’m answerable to no one but myself, plus I love the freedom to express myself in a given space, to be able to choose unique pieces which best reflect my personality."

Just like her philosophy, quirky touches can be seen throughout Xeng’s home. Adjacent to the couch is a shelf containing knickknacks she has collected. The bottom middle box holds a set of Correl tableware in a batik print she inherited from her grandmother. "She bought the set of dishes for about P75 from the very first Rustan’s Department Store in Manila."

Beside it is a mosaic dish containing green glass disks, a plastic urn in light green and pair of vintage shoes she bought on eBay that’s – you guessed it – also green. Above, on the top-most portion of the shelf, is a white bowl filled with grapes, a personal favorite of Xeng’s. "My lola’s semi-precious grapes are a definite favorite. They’re made of jade, jade quartz, and tiger’s eye. When she died, they raffled off all her belongings so no one would fight over them. My mom ended up inheriting it, but since she lives in the States, it was impractical for her to transport it all the way there."

Parasols and a large fan, purchased in Chinatown, Singapore, decorate the top of her closet. The large fan contains symbolism close to her heart. "The drawings on the fan, the galloping horses, bamboo, and cherry blossoms, symbolize prosperity, love and good health," she says.

Even the move to this building was influenced by thoughts of future luck. "They say that people who move here have become lucky in their careers," Xeng said. "Cat Alano moved here, and soon after, she became a TV celebrity/model. Brent Javier moved in, then got to be part of the Addict campaign. They say everyone who’s moved to this building became lucky. That’s why I chose it," she finishes, pausing. "That and there’s a cab every five minutes, regardless of the time of day."

The apartment’s transformation when Xeng moved in cannot be easily described. While the building itself is far from pretty – drab-colored hallways are a staple in this place – she was able to make over her place into a tranquil oasis, one that holds no relation to the bustling city streets below it.

"There’s another joke about it aside from its being a Melrose Place," Xeng says wryly. "It’s called Cardinal, after the hospital, since it looks like a mental ward facility. The walls are dingy and they kind of resemble a mental asylum."

She even recalls a story about one of the former residents who tried to cheer up the place. "Martin Nievera painted his outside door a different color to spruce things up and they told him to put it back to its original color."

"I was lucky, though," she explains, "since the person who occupied this apartment used it as a storage base so no one lived here. So from the time he moved in, the paint was fresh. Look at the walls, they’re brand new. It’s a Prada green, a very drab celadon. Nice, isn’t it?" The paint juxtaposes well with her dark wooden furniture. "When I first moved in, the place had this awful fluorescent lighting. A guy I was dating at the time, upon first seeing it, got so annoyed he changed the lights to low-key, yellow-light 25-watt bulbs."

The change of lighting is just one of Xeng’s many tricks for adding a cozy ambience while eliminating the hard-surfaced effect of fluorescent lights. Plus, everyone automatically looks better under yellow light. Skin looks healthier, pores look smaller.

"The recurring theme in my home is dark wood since, if you have a studio, you need a uniform look to make your space look bigger. I haven’t found a way to throw in different-colored pieces without making it look too chopsuey," she says of her decorating style. "I realized my room has no color because the work that I do is full of color. And I think that, subconsciously, when you come home, you don’t want to associate your home with your work," she explained finally. "I think if I saw color again, I’d go nuts."