Inside Bea Ledesma’s bold, salmon pink Makati flat
“My favorite artwork is myself, because I’m God’s favorite creation,” says Bea Ledesma, creative and PR consultant behind Blah Blah Inc. True enough, you enter her home and that’s the first thing you see—well, aside from pink flooding your vision as the door opens—a painting of her, done by artist Nikki Luna.
“It used to be in my bedroom, but I moved it to the foyer so everybody knows when they enter whose home this is.”
Her dry-wit humor (better heard than read) and her wry smiles contrast against the bold salmon pink walls of her living room. But if you’ve met Ledesma, you’d understand the design choice.
“I feel like it’s a reflection of my personality: a little loud, a little garish, a little over the top, a little in need of therapy.”
The bright scarlet and vibrant salmon hues of her walls are inspired by contemporary architect Luis Barragan’s house in Mexico as well as American fashion editor Diana Vreeland’s red apartment.
Initially, she had wanted the entire space to be red, but decided against it. “I thought red might make me too angry all the time—which I’m trying to change about my lifestyle. So I thought pink,” she says. Either way, it was still a Vreeland-approved color. “Pink is the navy (blue) of India. That’s a Vreeland quote, right?”
To be welcomed into someone’s home is like getting a glimpse into their inner world—and Ledesma’s space could very well be the expression of that.
“The space used to be completely white. And now that it’s pink and red, I enjoy the vibrancy of the space. I’m always entertaining, but even when I’m alone at home, I enjoy seeing color,” she says as she takes us around her home, pointing out favorites, an eclectic mix of thrifted and reworked pieces, vintage finds from her trips abroad, gifts from friends, locally made furniture and fixtures, and a variety of artwork and portraits—a number of them of herself and her dogs George and Tiger.
The striped armchairs in her living room, for example, were thrifted and reupholstered, now matching the bold color scheme of the room. Across it, she placed a sage green sofa for contrast (further contrast if you zoom in and see the tiger-themed pillows, an homage to one of her dogs). Being next to her flat’s large windows make the sofa the ideal reading spot.
Her shelves are filled with books on style and food, sitting alongside framed collages and photographs by photographer friends, and several quirky accent pieces. She shows us a few: an old tiger sculpture beside a heart-shaped Glorious Dias mirror with the words “Mahal kita, hayop ka,” and on another side table, a candle shaped like a lobster, aptly placed on a plate.
Even her coffee table by local furniture brand Bubk bears marks of her personality: “Underneath the glass is a collection of objects and things that I like. This is a vintage Interview magazine that was given as a gift. That’s a photo of me and my mom at a theme park. Some old Fornasetti items. There’s a book called the ‘Little Book of Big Breasts’ and it was a gift for my mom. I guess my big breasts are from her.”
Finding your way into her Makati home is pretty much like getting to know her—perhaps a little inscrutable, maybe low-key intense (is this a universal Scorpio thing?), but once you’re granted access (and it isn’t impossible, especially with Ledesma’s love for hosting and entertaining), you uncover quite a character.
What’s your favorite artwork? You have a lot.
My favorite artwork is myself because I am God’s favorite creation. So Nikki Luna painted this portrait of me a few years ago, and I love it. It used to be in my bedroom, but I moved it to the foyer so everybody knows when they enter, whose home this is.
And then if you zoom in, below, somebody made a Christmas cookie with my face over Mariah Carey’s Christmas album body. It’s By Sonja. So even though Christmas was six months ago, I keep the cookie there on my foyer to remind myself of the spirit of Christmas. Because Christmas is every day.
And then, these are the portraits of my dogs by Kat Ko (@katchuaart on Instagram). Above is a portrait of Tiger, he’s a native, pre-colonial dog. That’s his breed. And below is George. We don’t know his breed because both my dogs are from the shelter. They’re adopted. Adopt, don’t shop.
And if you look to the right, that is a portrait of George from an Inquirer Red shoot. This was before Tiger, so I’m not showing favoritism.
Then there’s artwork by Dina Gadia. People often tell me to smile, but I don’t like to smile for photos. So I thought I’d let the painting do the work.
We know you love to shop vintage. Do you have any favorite vintage stores?
Yes. I went to the Paris flea market and bought a lot of silver. These are vintage silver, and this is a vintage pitcher that I also bought at a Paris antique shop.
You also entertain a lot. Do you have any signature dishes?
I like to do family-style cooking. I like sharing dishes. So one of the dishes I made recently was a lentil-style munggo salad. It’s using munggo instead of lentils, with vegetables, in a red wine vinaigrette. That’s one of my favorite things to make when I have people over.
When you get pieces, do you already know where you’re going to put them, or do you just buy and figure it out later?
No, I just buy what I like. I do have too much stuff. Friends loan me stuff. I loan out stuff. In fact, someone borrowed books from me and didn’t return them. And now I don’t remember who borrowed them.
Somebody has some of my cookbooks, and I want them back. Whoever it is—it’s a blue cookbook, Mediterranean food in the UK. Someone borrowed it.
