Modern Homemakers

Vanna Garcia: Creating The Heart Of A Home

by Kevyn Gohu
March 4, 2022

Vanna Garcia shares how our expectations for our dream homes can change and how to manage them when kids come along.

“There is beauty in simplicity” — the old adage that interior designer and mompreneur Vanna Garcia seems to live by. Each of her designs reflects her desire to bring out the beauty of being neutral. From her clothes, her interior design in Neutral Spaces, and even to her skincare in First Bloom Lasers, Vanna stays firm on her path to bring out the beauty in simplicity so that it would withstand the test of time.

Finding Beauty amidst the Chaos

The pandemic brought in a chaotic mess that led Vanna Garcia to try to find that perfect balance. She shares, “We are alright. Coping well since we have done adjustments to our schedules and how-to’s for our routines. We also get to spend more time and bond together since it started. It’s normally quite rowdy at home with the 3 boys and the 4 dogs but it’s good in a way because they entertain each other despite the disagreements.”

Even with their differences, Vanna enjoys how quickly it simmers down. “The occasional disagreements between them we all normally resolve them at the end of the day. It’s a great support system that we all have for each other here,” she relishes.

But to maintain the balance between those moments is hard work, something that Vanna knows that she hasn’t mastered completely either. She admits, “This is something that up to now I still have not mastered. It is hard to find that perfect balance. What I do to try to achieve that is to know which ones to prioritize first. Although one thing I have to give time to is some self-care for myself because I really know that if you feel good about yourself you are able to attain much more, I become a better mother, friend, person, and business owner since I make much better decisions.”

Keeping the Dream Home

As an interior designer, Vanna Garcia is no stranger to the multiple changes that can occur in a house especially when kids enter the picture. She advises, “One thing for sure is that we need to lower down our expectations that we will always have a neat and picture-perfect home. Having our children around means there will always be clutter we need to fix up somewhere. We just need to tell our children to help us clean after their messes and we need to let them see how nice it is to have a neat home where we can easily find things and where we can feel better mentally and emotionally when we have a neat space we can all call our own.”

It doesn’t help with lands getting smaller, Vanna knows that designs must have a more pragmatic approach. “If we know we will be living in a much smaller space. We need to be wise about the items we will be having in our home. Everything has to serve a purpose. We need to really minimize what we buy since space would be an issue. We can think of wise storage solutions and great organizing ideas to be able to maximize the small space,” she explains.

All the way down to even furniture’s material and color, she prefers something with less maintenance. Vanna explains, “It’s like choosing a grey sofa instead of a white one or a leather sofa instead of suede. We also choose pieces that demand less maintenance for us so we do not have to worry much about it. Choose colors and materials that are easy to clean and furniture that’s easy to move around.”

Vanna Garcia’s Pursuit of Her Own Style

Vanna Garcia’s ideology of finding a sleek and simple design to withstand the test of time became the backbone of her business: Neutral Spaces. She shares, “Yes I do love clean lines and sleek designs. It is much harder to work with minimalism and being simple than being able to place every single concept or style in our homes. Neutral Spaces is the embodiment of my wanting to create designs that are very neutral in nature so that they’re still appreciated even after.”

But Vanna knows that designing and keeping the balance at home for kids and one’s dream can be quite tricky. She advises, “Having a dream look can be quite subjective since we all see beauty and style depending on our own preference. One thing I can share with you that we may have in common is to choose the pieces that serve a purpose for you and your family. We need to always think of our flow and how we move as a family and how we live our everyday lives. If we are a family who likes to stay together then we create a space where we can all spend and share more time together. We create a space that would be the heart of our home.”