A home for art and furparenting

Spouses Lourd Ramos (right) and Jerome Owens Budy’s home is filled with love, art, and fur babies. —PHOTOS BY JOMAR FRANCHE

When people visit Casa Lucas, spouses Lourd Ramos and Jerome Owens Budy’s cushy unit at Tuscany Private Estates in McKinley Hill, they get off their car, cross the lobby, and walk straight to the door. Being on the ground floor hardly makes it seem like they live in a high-rise condo and, according to them, that’s the way they like it.

“It gives us the nature vibe. It’s peaceful, you hear the birds chirping. It’s beside the pool. It’s beside the playground,” said Ramos, celebrity hair stylist and founder-CEO of Creations Salon. He told Lifestyle that he likes feeling “human” and connected when he wakes up to the morning sun and things happening around them.

The first artwork in Lourd Ramos’ collection, which he bought back in 2012, hangs in his kitchen where he shoots his vlog “Kusina ni Lourd.”

The space opens to a veranda with a view of the surrounding greenery—the same veranda where Budy found their first three cats while cleaning. Soon, the couple would be sharing their home with a clowder of 18 (25 as of this writing).

But save for the occasional kitty roaming, lounging, or swatting at wiggly things, there hardly seemed any tell-tale signs of furparenthood in the exquisitely decorated and immaculately kept space.

Unsurprisingly the celebrity hairstylist has his own salon room which he uses for photo shoots, vlogging, and to cater to his VIP clients.

“Budy studied cleaning, cleansing, and littering. I studied how to feed them properly, how to shower them,” Ramos told Lifestyle, adding that the cats also get groomed and take vitamins. “We have a vacuum, and they drink coconut oil and salmon oil to lessen the shedding.”

A much closer look, however, reveals that some pieces of furniture have been thoroughly loved, rubbed, and scratched. “They love the Milano,” said Ramos. “Sabi ko, ‘Talaga ba, yung pinakamahal na sofa pa?’ (I said, ‘Did it really have to be the most expensive sofa?’)”

The McKinley home, nicknamed Casa Lucas, is a balance of Lourd Ramos and Jerome Owens Budy’s contrasting yet complementary personalities.

Mercifully, the Cab Nov painting (“Mental Landscape: Sky High Visions”) that hangs above the cats’ favorite sofa has been left unscathed. In fact, the cats seem to know not to mess with the artworks that pepper the interior of Casa Lucas—not even those within clawing reach, like Ambie Abaño’s floor-to-ceiling “Lalaki,” whose bare, headless figure stands at the head of the wooden dining table.

Immediately visible upon entering, the artwork says, “Come, let’s feast,” Ramos, who loves to cook and host friends and family in their home, laughingly said.

Ramos, who loves cooking and entertaining, jokes that the eye-catching Ambie Abaño piece at the head of their dining table is an invitation to feast.

Contemporary art

The couple’s bold, sometimes irreverent contemporary art collection (from Arturo Luz and daughter Paulina Luz Sotto to Christian Tamondong, Renato Balute and Cocoi Base) lends a splash of vibrancy to the otherwise easygoing atmosphere set by the textured walls.

The space was bare when they bought the property back in 2022. In fact, Ramos proposed to Budy in the empty sala (Budy proposed to Ramos in the parking lot as they finalized acquiring the property). Soon, they were filling it with their own blend of personality and cherished wedded memories. The mix of eclectic modern (Ramos) and contemporary minimalist (Budy) resulted in a tasteful balance of contrasting yet complementary styles.

Renato Balute’s work greets guests beside the shoe cabinet Budy designed himself.

“He redesigned it,” said Ramos. “Originally, he wanted all white, but I’m not a white kind of person.”

So while the main space remained a chill pale cream shade, there is color everywhere else, with the rooms painted in rich, deep hues to make them “a little more inviting to sit down and relax in.”

For the bedroom, Budy chose deep blue. “It’s very serene, very calming.”

The bedroom, with its deep blue walls and accent pieces, is a tranquil sanctuary for the couple.

“His only demand was to have a moon inside the room,” said Ramos of his husband, referring to the lunar night lamp in the master’s bedroom that make it seem like they are sleeping outdoors. “He loves nature and he wanted to have a piece of light.”

The salon room, with its charcoal walls, is where Ramos caters to his VIPs. It’s also where he shoots his vlogs and does photo shoots.

The kitchen where Ramos records his “Kusina ni Lourd” vlogs for his LourdRamos TV YouTube channel is palm-spring green. “It’s not overly hard green so that when you cook, the bounce of light goes back to the food. We don’t need a lot of light,” he added.

The first piece of art he ever bought—Roel Obemio’s “Sunrise”—hangs on the painted wall. “That was back in 2012. During that time, I had so many challenges in my life, and I just needed to remind myself that if it’s dark now, tomorrow it will be bright again.”

Since then, Ramos has just kept at it (Budy has his own collection as well), with no particular regard for the artist. Instead, he goes by feel: “It’s more of, ‘Hey, that’s mine.’ They’re talking to you, they’re pulling you.”

Back then, he would only stash away his accumulating collection, saying he would only bring it out when it’s time. “Turns out, I’d only be able to bring it out when I was already married!” he said, laughing.