Designing Compact Spaces (some Tips) and a Peep of my home

http://www.homz.in/articles/designing-a-compact-space.

And while at it, must share some morning-evening shots of my home. Enjoy my Peeps :)

All images clicked by me and copyrighted to 'limegreenwalls'

Did you miss my article on Huffpost on Diwali DIYs !

Please read : http://www.huffingtonpost.in/homzin/8-ways-to-get-your-home-d_b_8449332.html?utm_hp_ref=india

On my way to Yoga on Diwali day

Trust you had a wonderfully lit Diwali. Have a Year ahead full of lightness & glow!

I ended up spending time with the two boys in my life in one of the most beautiful hotels in luscious Goa. Didn't really click pictures with an intent to post though am sharing some, more to be able to rewind later - for my own self.

Never imagined that simple leaves in an Uruli can create such magic

Beautiful floral Rangolis were created overnight, in every possible open public space that the hotel has. Yes, we were met with such resplendent glory on the Diwali morning

At the Foyer

Beautiful Bliss 

How to get the Contemporary touch!

For those of you who don't follow my Facebook page :
http://www.homz.in/articles/5-ways-to-get-contemporary-interiors-without-major-overhaul

Luscious Indigo for this Season

I get a lot of mail being the curator of this page. A significant few are from young entrepreneurs, about long-held dreams put into action or taking shape, from start-up ventures that’ve received funding or are looking for it, young dreamers, artists, architects, designers bringing their creative talent and subsequent degrees in fashion, design, engineering, consulting (yes all of that) to the interiors/ decor/ design space. Much of this communication is with a request for reviewing their products, their online store, feedback on their designs and requests for writing about their new line / new season launch and such like.

So far, all of them have met with my polite no with a congratulatory nod for their continued success. To confess, I do admire and stop by to read about some of them, those who seem to have their heart entangled somewhere in the proposition.

One recent introduction from the 24-year old duo of Gazal and Nayanika rocked my heart when they said that their venture “...was born out of numerous car ride discussions to and from college.” A rush of memories about many discussions and dream-weaving chats with some in my own life prompted me to engage further with them and led to this idea of a photo shoot of their creations at my favourite and only studio – my home ! And how the color and patterns would look in the different settings within my Home! 

The venture is named IDAM, a print and surface design studio that wants to bring its aesthetics onto contemporary home and lifestyle products www.idamstore.com. If you’re a follower of my Blog you would know my absolute love for Indigo and blues and how it has (repeatedly) showed up in numerous spaces of my life and home on this blog. IDAM's Indigo bandhni collection caught my fancy for the sheer richness of this natural dye and the patterns they have been able to dream up in the shape of this collection of cushion covers. 

My Daybed Indigoed in the morning Sun

Some gorgeous Indigo MoodBoards

Mood boarding Turkish and Indian blues

 

And in my master bedroom  

Work-in-progress

Gazal & Nayanika (was refreshing to receive sheer Joy as profile images) Good luck girls!

All IDAM images copyrighted to limegreenwalls.blogspot.com. All other images pinned from Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/niveditad/indigoed/

Lights, Camera, more Lights

The festive season is upon us and soon enough we would want our homes to reflect the mood of the season in all earnest. I face this urge unfailingly this time of the year with Autumn setting in and as the fragrance of the jasmines wafting in the breeze reach and kindle my growing-up memories. For me, this somewhat nostalgic urge is about making the home speak the language of the festival of lights – fresh, warm, inviting, happy, awash in colours and patterns and above all as special as it can possibly look.

What I suggest here are some handy tips, an easy checklist and some simple Do’s that all of us can easily access to glide into this happiness-setting inside-out:

Read on : http://www.homz.in/articles/8-ways-to-get-your-home-ready-for-diwali

Timelessness of seasons and festivals

Namaste

Greenscaping a Welcome

They say घरकी मुर्गी दाल बराबर and it has been very real for me (in fact for my eldest sibling, my dear DiDi). 

I pen and curate this site and am always game for that infusion of inspiration from decor ideas, genius and creative twists aka treatment to spaces be it homes, exteriors, resorts, anywhere at all. In the same vein, I've forever been in awe of what my sister has been doing so beautifully with greens and landscapes for almost a decade now (www.facebook.com/Arishi-Greens-226453180739698/timeline). Arishi Greens (as some of us know it) has so gently grown into a venture of the heart, labor and creativity.

Today's post, however, is more pointedly about the unequivocally creative welcome lobby of her home in Lajpat Nagar. Every-time I visit (which is once-a-year) there would be a certain something new; another unique grouping of various art, craft, green-life; or an entirely genius twist to all notions I have of a welcome patio. And this time I decided I MUST pay homage to her 'special welcome space' on this space and share with you all, my Peeps.

While you're at it, notice the small happy details, the mood 'flavour' created by the different sizes and colours in grouping, notice how potting greens in simple, everyday, make-do-genius cups 'n pots brings the 'charming' to life! and Mind you, all the greens and landscaping are her own!

I so wish to export her to do one such transformation to my welcome lobby (if I ever have one)!

See, swoon, salivate :)

My absolute favourite 

The landing of the stairs; at the entrance to the lobby

All pictures copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.com

Boxes, not Pandora's

Boxes in all sizes.

Small. big. medium. in-between.

Lined atop each other

face-down, bottom-up

side-by-side.

Can't remember anytime when it wasn't like this;

Can remember every time it has been their turn to be boxed and lined up. 

'Packers have arrived' tralalalala

the song paired with the screech of scotch taping,

the thud of the cardboard boxes on the bare flooring,

the fine dust that puffs up with every haul and manoeuvre.

The laughter, the banter, the whimsical whistling of the packer-boys bent-on filling them up, 

box by box, space by space, room by room.

Rounding off the days, four days in row

till the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life' are ready to board,

to be driven away boarded up, on wheels 

to travel homewards in the waters

to sail away and touch the shores at the other end,

much later than we touch home ourselves.

Like two-parts-of-the same traveling home on different time-capsules!

And maybe, just maybe

so that we are home to welcome back : the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life',

made up of the familiar, of the comforting, of pieces of memory and memoirs.

Each time a box is opened, a piece is revealed 
- a tiny familiar lurch augurs a memory, 

and a vivid inspiration for its nesting place

in the new home! 

(@Cliveden@Grange 10:45 pm Day1 of Packing)

Pausing, ever so gently

fresh flowers, fresh bedspread, freshness and anticipation; before flux takes over

Tell me if you ever feel this sense of Pause in the midst of the most ardent state of flux, a sense of weightlessness, a certain lightness in the mind which has allowed the body to relax ever so gently into a warm, glowing kind of stupor, not numbing; rather sharply aware of each sensation, each fleeting thought, each breath that leaves and flutters the edge of the lips - an acute awareness, a state of being!?

I managed to get into that Pause today in the midst of a colossally busy day - sending my son off to School on the last day of the year though only after a joyous reminiscing through his years there, his first day forebodings and many such tender memories; a jog in the sun;  two meetings with Clients in different phases of their journey with me; a moment to notice and fish-out the camera to capture the silence that rested in the different corners of my home this morning; readying the house before the arrival of our last visitors - our dear friends.  And yet I look at the clock and find time to bring these thoughts to paper.

Yes, our visitors are about to arrive and be with us before we say goodbye to this country, once again. This Country which effortlessly took us in— second time over— made us fall into its easy rhythm and of course, managed to get the tear glands active as we approach departure. 

So it is only fair to say to you : THANK YOU Singapore - you are that special home where every-time we get a little bit closer to ourselves, we travel inwards into the authentic a little bit more and find that special place inside of us that we missed noticing so far and thence, marvel at Life  !

(Images copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com)

The Case for Joy

Some travel-buys come to mean a lot later, than when the impulse manifested. This particular tile representing the magical ritual of the Sufi swirl, has become one such special one N picked up on his trip to Istanbul. It makes a strong case for reaching deeper into the source for true Joy and abandon of the Ego in the search. It made perfect sense thus to make it a part of a more permanent fixture at home, a beautifully wood crafted shelf that hosts some other stories too! 

Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning) is a form of Sama or physically active meditation which originated among Sufis, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a customary dance performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes (also called semazens) aim to reach the source of all perfection, or kemal. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun. As explained by Sufis.

All photographs copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com

Overlooking a rather cloudy Thursday morning!

As we step into a long weekend,
and pack our bags to a short break away from the 'this & now'
I pause - ever so gently:
Did I give you enough attention?
Was I really here, while I was here?
Familiar tugs, known longings,
stirrings-of-emotions pulled out from the DNA-pile
like always,
every-time it's time to move on.
I pause
(looking around)

Wish we'd use this pretty space more often!

Reflections - is what I see!

Colors @ home today

Inspired by the undying colors of the roses in my Uruli

A Post-Script & a day's Vignettes

Do not Define yourself

Lest you have to Defend Yourself

Be Everything;  
Be Nothing.

My guest room in the morning sun today.

{All photographs are copyrighted to limegreenwalls.blogspot.com, please do not reproduce without permission. All pics by me}

Books are everywhere (ought to be)!

We've been nomadic, leaving homes and arriving at a new, moving houses and/ or cities, averaging a shift every two years! Some others have travelled all that distance with us - most are subjects of many of my posts on this blog and some others un-mentioned though stoic in their presence!

Today I talk about the latter - our books.

If you've followed my home tours you would have spied them in various frames - lined up in my living room, framing my dining areas, standing tall in my study & bedrooms. Consequently, many bookshelves were acquired, and some given away! I can remember a year or two when we had to acquire more than one new bookshelf to ensure our books don't feel too nomadic and to give the new joiners some respectable seating!

Our current home is gorgeous in the many window shelves (a.k.a ledges) that it offers—potential home to the various hard backs and paper backs —within their breadth. Of all, the most dramatic is the little book-cum-reading nook in my bathroom!

 

Cosily inviting, right!

You can do it too! You can literally inject life into a dull space by placing some of your favourite titles - lined up, leaning, lying down or simply between fun book-ends. Here, I share some more ideas from my picture-treasure trove of bookshelves - stuff of dreams! (courtesy : various sources)

Ah, soaked in books!
Source : unknown

This one could surely be about books
Unknown Source

Source : unknown

Source : unknown

They sure deserve framing
Source: unknown

All pictures of my home copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com, and taken by me.