Where your brain starts working ...............

People find peace in so many places, and we all know that a lot of them have said so many times that bathrooms are on of the places. All the brainstorming happens there, be it bath or shower. You are with yourself completely and the thoughts flow in freely. Keeping and decorating this place is to one’s liking becomes very important as we spend some of the most peaceful moments of the day - well if you take away those rush hour wars that happen for it. When I did my old house, although it took time, decorating the bathroom was a very entertaining task. I started with picking a colour scheme. I wanted colours to represent fresh & clean atmosphere. The bathroom itself was very bright and had lot’s of light coming in.

So, considering all this, I went for yellow and grey which worked really well in the small space.

I got rid of the bath which was taking too much space in the small bathroom and went for a power shower.

Kept decorative pieces to a minimum and had lots of shelves so that I can chuck everything inside. Planning the space and organizing the hundreds of shower gels and shampoos is the main aspect. However, putting the finished product together and decorating it is the entertaining bit.The below picture is my old bathroom, we had to move to this new house only after a year I was done with this so that’s a shame and I am back to square one where I have plan and decorate this one :( and thus I go to my rescue crew pinterest to pick up ideas for it :)

I love the mirror:) picked up a white one for 5 pounds in homebase and painted it. It has embossed flowers and I am so proud of the finished product given my patience and painting skills :) 

Again, the laundry basket was painted and the my son's idea to have grey stripes , so we used a masking tape and painted grey stripes on the top 

The tiles are grey which makes the space look bigger and brighter with all that light through the window. 

Really love the patterned tiles !!

Can do with some dark colours now !!

Oh...I love that green - isn't it pretty ??

There are more on the DID pinterest board for you to gaze at :)

G

The entryway effect

With all this house hunting taking away a huge chunk of my time, and with us kind of closing in on a house, I am now a bit obsessed with certain aspects that i most certainly want in 'the house.' Much of which the husband disapproves, but who's listening.

An attractive entry way is one of those things and i think it absolutely makes a difference. If not overtly presented, I think a minimalistic, evenly toned entry way makes for a lasting first impression. I mean even using a pretty shoe storage cabinet at the entry way can act as a show piece- the options are endless. 

I strangely notice entry ways in houses and I've started collecting bits and pieces to put on a beautiful console table. Below are some of my favourites, and I'm hoping that they will provide me enough inspiration in the future.

I love the Indian touch here. The cushions, although absolutely gorgeous, I'm not sure what purpose they serve in a basket at the entry way. I will have to come up with another idea. The green recycled glass bottle- swoooon!

This is not really my style but I love how the pop of green from the Maidenhair fern breaks the monotony. Note to self- a pretty plant makes everything look fancy.

Call me boring, but i absolutely love this setting. The colours, the candle, the skeleton branch, the minimalism. I can see myself adapting this style at some point.

This my dear friends is a dream entry way and while we are at it, a dream stairway too. This would be my entryway if i win the lottery and buy a summer house in Palm Springs, California. 

You could go all out and do one like this with a place to sit down and put on your boots, hang coats etc. It would need a wider space i feel, for it to not look cramped and in your face.

Another beautiful Indian setting. I love everything about this image.

Images are all courtesy of Pinterest, original sources linked here

Garden Inspirations: Sissinghurst Gardens

Now that British summer has arrived it's time for the great outdoors. Finally we can use our balconies, gardens, patios, pretty them up, have friends over and talk late into the night, long after the sun has dipped down the horizon and the stars are out. People in the UK are keen gardeners and though I am not one of them {sadly} I love gardens. I mean who doesn't? But I am the type who made husband buy the annual membership of National Trust and drag him every other weekend to some garden or the other.  Recently we went to Sissinghurst Castle gardens. My husband thought it was an okay garden, I loved it. Sharing some photos of garden inspirations.

That view!

And this!

Check out this space! Isn't this absolutely gorgeous? Imagine sitting here with your morning cup of tea or entertaining guests here!

Now I am no flower expert, I tried to keep a track of the names, but soon gave up!

Can't get enough of these windows and the trailing flowers!

Garden Furniture & More

A part of our homes that come to life in summer is our gardens. As we live in the great hope of sunshine, it is only our gardens that enable us to enjoy that 20 minute interval of sunshine :). Jokes apart, if you have a decent garden with a simple furniture like a table and  a chair, one can enjoy that bit of sun even if you are working. we have had a garden in our previous home, but totally unfit for leisure or even strolling. It had an ugly looking garage and even though we did do some planting , we never enjoyed the garden properly because of it’s layout. On the other hand our new garden is so much better in the sense, it has got a decent layout, well grown tropical trees, bushes and climbers. Honestly, I was scared, because I have previously managed to kill cactus:( . My dear old neighbour, on the other hand thinks that the previous owner was too busy to maintain the garden, and so she kept it as a ‘low maintenance’ garden. It does look like my neighbour has high hopes on us :) . So, far apart from planting some lavender and some flower beds, the only thing we could come to a conclusion is that should have a proper seating in the garden. With some house parties to be planned in the summer, I thought it’s a good time to invest in some garden furniture. Having shopping all around the city and online, we finally settled for Homebase which is like 2 mins from my house:). We fell in love with their new ‘Almeria’ range which has a deep and bright colour along with a red parasol and cushions . I have spent some quiet and peaceful afternoons with a cuppa and gazing into the sky in the garden, thanks to this garden set.

Almeria Garden Furniture 

And then we needed some guests in our garden. I have a friend who looks after her garden so well and has a huge bird feeder. Every morning, they are greeted by variety of birds and squirrels. I just loved the sight of it and wanted something similar. But, I went for a small, pretty tea cup bird feeders from notonthehighstreet.com  . So far, there is only frequent visitor, a naughty little squirrel. Birds are hardly showing any interest in these feeders, which got me thinking if I have to get that big birdfeeder with bird bath, and proper space to stock variety of bird food.Maybe then, they will visit us. 

Tea Cup Bird Feeders 

Other inspiring ideas for garden furniture from interest are on the DID board 'Garden Furniture and Accessories'  .Some of my favourites form the board are below. 

Perfect if you have a small deck in the corner. (Pic Source : Pinterest, www.hayneedle.com)

Corner Seating

This is my favourite ... Isn't it cool ? I will definitely work on getting this done in my garden.

Pic Source : Pinterest, Found on indulgy.com

LED lighting in your garden 

Can anyone say no to a party in the garden like this ? Looks so beautiful, even with the washing line in the background :) couldn't help :)
Pic Source: Pinterest , Found on lootvintagerentals.wordpress.com

A Night Garden Party !!

Wishing you a fab time in your garden and enjoy the sunshine while it's there!! 

G

DIY distressed photo frame

Beginning of this year, S and I attended an Annie Sloan workshop hosted by Home & Pantry in Angel, London. We've been fascinated by the whole distressing effect on surfaces and was on the look out for an affordable workshop which gave us a basic insight into the various techniques. It was a day long session and we absolutely enjoyed it to say the least. we were taught 6 different techniques and then given a project at the end of it to create our masterpiece.

We both picked up an Annie Sloan starter kit and i couldn't wait to put it to use. I decided to transform this old photo frame into a show piece and eventually add some vintage hooks at the base to use it as a coat hanger of sorts at the entry way. At that point I was sort of obsessed with block printing on any fabric and didn't spare this either. I used a wooden stencilling block and fabric paint stamp the paisley prints and then stapled the fabric on to the wooden frame. It took me an hour start to finish and I'm rather proud of how it turned out.

Things I used:

Old frame

Paint brush

Aubusson blue chalk paint by Annie Sloan

Soft clear wax (for furniture and walls)

Wax brush or an old piece of cloth

Old white chalk paint by Annie Sloan

Sand paper- lowest grade

I started by painting the entire frame with Aubusson blue, rather roughly. It doesn't need to be clean straight lines of paint in one direction. Just make sure all the areas are equally covered.

Leave aside to dry completely, or if like me you don't have the patience, use a hair drier to fasten the process. Annie Sloan chalk paint is rather easy to dry and even if left aside, if you haven't gone a bit crazy thickening the surface with paint, it would dry in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes.

Paint another layer with the old white chalk paint, this time focussing on making it smoother. Leave to dry completely.

Once the paint has dried, rub in a layer of wax on to the frame. The paint gets a bit darker and that's fine. Make sure you get into the nooks and crannies and cover the entire surface and sides of the frame. I used a wax brush for this but you can use a piece of cloth instead. 

Now using the sand paper gently rub at the edges and corners, where you want the Aubussion blue paint to come through. Don't over do this, or else it would look forced, and not naturally weathered. 

Put in your favourite picture and voila, you have a beautiful distressed photo frame.

PS: You can of course use any colour of choice. Try and use contrasting colours if you want them to stand out in an obvious sort of way. I love the blue and white combo and hence went for it.

N

Fresh flowers for your home

This conversation started the other day. We were standing on the bus stop facing an artificial flower & plant shop. Now it was Kensington and the window display was beautiful. But if you looked a little  closely you could understand that those were all artificial flowers. We got talking about whether it makes sense to buy artificial flowers or  go for the fresh ones.

How do you like decorating your home ~ with fresh flowers or artificial ones? In hot countries like India where flowers spoil rather rapidly, I guess it makes sense to buy artificial ones. Now a days in the market there are such lovely artificial ones. I love those silk flowers, created with so much attention to detail. They look pretty darn real.
But if you buy artificial ones, you are stuck with that bunch and can't buy different varieties that you can with fresh ones.

Do you like buying seasonal flowers like tulips for spring or do you like sticking to the same flowers which you always buy?

Though I don't have a traditional brass urli, I like arranging flowers in an earthen pot once in a while. This one came from the sweet shop when we bought misti doi (Bengali sweet yogurt). Once the doi was over, I cleaned the pot and kept it for my flowers.

Fresh flowers can bring in a pop of colour and brighten up a space instantly even on grey and dull days.

You don't have to buy expensive flowers all the time, a few from your garden/pots in the balcony can make all the difference. I love picking up wild flowers and putting them in a jam jar.

By now you must have guessed we love fresh flowers, ah the sheer variety of them in the market and the different shapes and colours, not to mention the smells. Let us your preference.

Climb those stairs in style !!

Something I was very intrigued and thrilled at the same time when I was doing the research for our house. Stairs ?? Really ? Did'nt think you can glam up staircase in so many ways. I found loads of photos of people Jazzing up the stairs. Back in the 90’s it  began with using different types of materials to build the stairs, nice wooden stairs, glass ones look gorgeous and elegant. Then the intricate carvings on the pillars , lovely family photos, paintings have started showing up around the staircase area.

Today, the virtual world is filled with pictures of DIY stairs. Oh, what can i say about the staircases over which the artists creatives juices are flowing with no limits. The ideas are so fresh and unique and immensely pleases one's eyes. I so wanted to this when we were moving but even though the builder was enthusiastic about it my husband dearest didn’t give a damn :) of course, his excuse was time and budget because we have to do all the stairs all over. The wood on the existing ones wasn't in a great shape and so carpeting it was a practical move. Well, I guess sturdy stairs is also an important aspect than the look.So, if you just moving in or renovating the house, this is the correct time to revamp the stairs as well. especially if they are carpeted previously. You just don’t know what’s underneath.

There are so many options, colour the tread bright and leave the step rustic, stencil some vintage design on them or go all out and paint sceneries. Here are some I picked from pinterest for you to get inspired!!

This is my Favourite. If I ever get a chance to do our staircase again, it's going to be these. Blue tread and a dark wood step. Just love it !

Paint them!

Love this stripy zig zag look. use a masking tape to achieve straight bold lines and get painting.

Stripy Staircase

Ever so glam !!

For the book lovers 

So, get inspired and jazz up your staircase to give your personal touch. Go to our DID board on pinterest for many more pictures of gorgeous stairs to climb those stairs in style !!

G

Cushion craving

Cushion covers are a weakness for me. I have so so many of them, and mixing and matching them is something i love doing. I think i get it from my mum who also obsesses over the colour combinations, embroidery and so on and the discussions we have over cushions are quite elaborate.

I love both Indian and contemporary designs. I have my moods, in which i sometimes rearrange things around the house to match it. Fab India and Anokhi are brands i absolutely love when it comes to Indian cushions. Sadly, i get to shop there only when i go to India, and once a year doesnt really quench my thirst for cushion covers.

I am in the process of putting together some décor inspiration for 'the house' and these are some of my favourites - Indian themed ones. I have a whole other batch for contemporary designs.

You can never go wrong with the blue and white combination. Works brilliantly when it comes to décor, crockery and even clothes

This is think is my favourite from the lot. So elegant and absolutely gorgeous. This is definitely an option i'm looking into

If you have a corner arm chair you want to accentuate, then an attractive cushion like this would do the job. I mean, just look at all those bright colours. I would be too possessive about that cushion if i had it at my house :)

Not as Indian as i'd like, but it could pull off the ethnic look, and its something different

This is another idea i'd like to give a shot at. Have mismatched cushions scattered around and with gold block prints. I am a sucker for anything with block prints.

This, i'd like to display on a white comfy sofa in my conservatory. It screams of summer and lazy days to come.

Images are all courtesy of the pinterest board called 'Cushion craving' and do check it out for some more inspiration.

Balcony Garden Inspiration

We are right in the middle of May and summer is knocking on our doors! I have a pretty long balcony which right now houses a couple of dead flower baskets and two rose plants. But come summer I have big plans of converting my balcony into a green space. Of having my morning tea in the green bliss, having summer parties, spending long summer evenings drinking Pimms and puffing on the hookah. Of course I have been looking at Pinterest for inspiration and I found oodles of it. If only execution was as easy, specially for a non gardener like me. Sharing some of the photos which have me totally hooked, I wish I could create something like this. Any suggestions on balcony makeover is more than welcome. But please remember I am a novice.

This one looks like a narrow Parisian balcony. What I like is the gorgeous sunlight of course, not too many plants overcrowding the narrow space, the blue furniture and the other blobs of colour. This looks doable. What say? Image source here.

Now this is a wow space! My dream balcony looks like this. Don't think I have the capacity to create something as beautiful as this. But it's worth dreaming, isn't it? Image source here.

These old wine crates seem all rage for planting. Lusting after them! Image source here.

How easy these guys make it look? I wish I could put up a green space as effortlessly! Image source here.

Ah to have such a nook in your house! Deep sigh! And utter longing! Image source here.

See the guy there in the photo I want to be him in my next birth. I am sure he is the gardener with a giant green thumb who used old pots and boxes to create a fabulous space like this and grows all his veggies there too. Image source here.

All the images are taken from Pinterest, on DID's Pinterest account we have a board called Balcony Garden Inspiration. The photos I have shared is just tip of the iceberg, there are loads more, do check it out and follow us on Pinterest. We are slowly and steadily building it up.
P.S. I have tried to link the photos to their original sites, but could not find the specific posts on which they were showed.