Akemi Quality Set of Bed Sheet Product Review

Akemi exhibit at the SM Home Fair

I recently visited the SM Home Fair held at the SMX Convention Center in Mall of Asia, Pasay City. As I visited each showcase exhibit, I was able to learn so much. There’s definitely more to buying a set of comfortable sheets than just choosing the right color for your bedroom. Sounds sensible right? After all, you’re going to be sleeping on those linens every night for the foreseeable future, so shouldn’t you buy the best? We spend roughly 33% of our lives sleeping, according to the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research—that’s equivalent to about 26 years. Let that sink in for a moment. Picture everything that happened in 26 years of your life, wiped out in a dreamless sleep (a pretty sobering thought). Fortunately, sleep doesn’t actually work that way, but of course knowing exactly how much of our lives we spend in our bed—whether it’s blissfully passed out or tossing and turning—makes us want our sleeping conditions to be as conducive to a restful slumber as possible. And aside from choosing the perfect mattress, the most important part of getting that deep, so-good-you-don’t-want-it-to-end sleep is one thing: your sheets.

One of Akemi linens on display

The best bed sheets depend on more than just a rating, though. You have to pick the best-rated bed linens that suit your sleeping style, the climate you live in, how cool or warm you keep your home, and the feel you prefer.

So what are the things one must look for in a linen for it to be considered good quality? First, you must look at the details of the fabric, blends, and the reasons you shouldn’t compromise on linens for your bed.

Have you ever spread out new sheets on your king sized bed, slid in between the fabrics, and then regretted your purchase? Some sheets can be scratchy, uncomfortable, thin, and not at all how they were marketed. What happened? You may not have paid attention to the thread count, the fabric, or the instructions on how to wash your sheets. You’ll have to pay a little extra for the best sheet set, but not as much as you may think.

I recently learned about thread count. Are as unfamiliar with it as I once was? Thread count is an important part of getting the most comfortable sheet set possible, but you don’t have to pick up 1,000 thread-count sheets. In fact, in some sheets, thread count doesn’t even matter. It’s a matter of finding the right fiber and fabric, and we’ll get there in a moment. Bottom line here, though, is that everyone deserves the best because sleep is important, and your bed linens play a big part in you getting the bestnight’s sleep every night.

Another Akemi sheet at the exhibit

I came across a world-class quality brand called Akemi. It’s a Malaysian brand with a Japanese name which literally meant “Beautiful.” According to the sales guy I had interviewed, its real name is Akemi Uchi which meant “Beautiful Home.” But since in the Philippines, only the bed sheets and linen are being sold, hence, the owners dropped “Uchi” from its name because they do not carry other household products here. 

Unbeatable savings, expert advice, celebrities galore, the SM Home Fair had it all.

SM never does anything small, but those who came to the SM Home Fair that was held from June 28 to June 30 were left in awe by how much actually happened.  Held as a follow up to the successful SM Home Turnover Fair in 2018, just the scale of the SM Home Fair, the number of participating brands and eye-popping fair exclusive discounts would have made it the home store event of the year, but the SM Home Fair had so much more and was so much more.

For starters, celebrity interior designer Tessa Prieto-Valdez was on hand to launch the grand event.  Not to be outdone, many endorsers of SM Home’s premium brands also graced the occasion. The Kramer family was at the Uratex booth for an hour for a meet and greet.  Celebrity chef Nancy Reyes- Lumen showed how to cook in volume for family reunions for Masflex, Lifestyle’s Chef Next Door Jonas Ng wowed with interesting new ways to cook with Tefal’s clay pots. The great Gene Gonzalez taught professional cooking techniques for KitchenPro.  Japanese culinary legend Kei San shared cooking hacks made possible by Tacook,and Philippine culinary icon Reggie Aspiras showed how easy cooking can actually be with Cuisinart.

What came as a pleasant surprise to many is that SM Home actually carries appliances for making designer beverages right at home. Brewmaster Lloyd Eric Lim demonstrated just how easy it is to tweak a brew to fit your own definition of coffee perfection with Hario, and master barista Ernesto Mesina Jr. showed how Saoco and Gaggia have made it possible to be an instant home barista.

As befits an SM Home Fair though, the three-day bonanza was loaded with designer-led talks by some of the most respected and impeccably tasteful designers in the business such as Rachel Medina and Grace Moslares; as well as rising star Erika Uichanco-Villanueva.

“SM Home has always been more than just a ubiquitous home store with unbeatable prices on a wide range of home items. We’ve always strived to have our customers think of SM Home as a partner in making their house a home,” shared SM Home AVP for marketing Tom Castaneda, “That’s why this year we decided to take the store on the road, so to speak, at the SMX Convention Center Manila, and offer three jam-packed days of activities to help more people make their houses, apartments or condos homes.”

Apart from the usual talks one would expect from a home fair, this year’s SM Home Fair also featured talks on more holistic topics such as “Healthy Slumber” from Uratex, conducted by noted wellness guru and stress management coach Mary Lagdameo.  There was also a very practical talk on the very new KonMari method of organizing, given by certified KonMari consultant Christine Dychiao for the innovative Asvel brand of storage solutions.

 For additional inspiration, SM Home turned the venue into an incredible show house for the entire weekend with creatively executed booth spaces, special pop-up vignettes and stylish photo booths.

“From the moment attendees reached the registration area for the SM Home Fair, we wanted to have design inspiration waiting for them,” explained Castaneda. “Along with our own special pop-up vignettes, we asked all participating brands to spruce up their booth spaces in stylish ways, as a way of inspiring people to say ‘Hey, I think I know how I can do something like that at home.’”

“With more than 60 branches nationwide, SM Home is your one-stop-shop for the home. So if you didn't get a chance to attend this year's SM Home Fair, you can still feel at home with SM Home by visiting a branch near you; where it will you can still get great bargains on the widest range of home items.” says Castañeda.

About SM Home:

SM Home is an affiliate of the country’s leader in retail industry – SM. It is a one-stop home shop for Storage and Organizers, Furniture, Kitchenware, Glassware, Linen, and Décor items for the modern home. The company started out as SM Home Center in 1975. As SM preeminently grew to be the largest chain of department stores in the Philippines, Home Center likewise received an overwhelming response from its customers. Prompted by the need to create a separate team to manage and control its operations, it was then recognized as an affiliate of SM on April 6, 1992, officially named as Homeworld Shopping Corporation. Come 2014, due to emerging trends where Homeworld felt the need of leverage for its overall identity, it was re-branded as SM Home on August 1 Today, SM Home is found in all SM department stores all over the country.

https://smhome.com.ph/

SM Home presents The Essentials of Condo Living

Living in a small space is tough, especially when your decorating options are limited by rental rules and landlord laws. With the rise of more condominiums in the metro, most of us have totally embraced condo-living to the fullest. There’s nothing like living next to the CBD or right next to the shopping malls. It saves you from the hellish Metro Manila traffic and gives you not just utmost convenience but some peace of mind. Undeniably, condo living also has its pros and cons. For one, it has a very limited space, some to the point of having that vibe of living in a shoe box. Of course, you’d still want to call it a home. Designing can be a bit daunting, but fret not. SM Home acknowledges this dilemma. And they are holding the first edition of SM Home’s latest design series, “Essentials of Condo Living” which features how to design your unit’s small spaces. Let these ideas inspire you to make the home (and space) you want.

The brainchild of SM Home assistant Vice President for Marketing, Tom Castaneda, the design series aims to help condo-dwellers to properly maximize their space, in the process making their units more lively. “Since small condo demands creativity when it comes to optimizing their space, SM Home has turned to design experts for help to highlight ways on what our clients should do for condo set-ups from the experts themselves,” Castaneda said during the media presentation held at the concourse of SM Makati.

In line with this, there will be a series of talks which will be happening from September 16 and 17, 2017 at the SM Home in SM Makati. For the Essentials of Condo Living setups, SM Home partnered with four talented architects and designers Maya Franco, Erika Uichanco, Ivy Crisostomo and James Razo. They were divided into two teams to create individual living spaces. Each pair was tasked to work together and combine their assigned areas within the confines of a limited space. Maya Franco and Erika Uichanco were assigned the kitchen and dining room areas, while Ivy Crisostomo and James Razo were given the living room and bedroom spaces to design and style.  Both teams were given free rein to select from SM Home’s full range of condo perfect items from shelves, beds, dividers, tables, and even appliances, storage bins and décor.