A Home Tour of colourful proportions

Came to this blogspace after years. Importantly, because I felt the need of space to say what I want to say (not ideal on Insta). And, possibly, also as the circulating hormones of a brand new 2023 are in play. 

Cutting to the chase, onto the tug of space that inspired me today, we are just back from a holiday in KL, Malaysia, graciously hosted by our friends Vernika and Anshu Nahar, their kids Ira and Viraj and Bagel, their darling fur-ball. Their home is located in the quietly posh Mont Kiara, (often stylised as Mont' Kiara), an affluent suburb at the northwest of downtown Kuala Lumpur, consisting mainly of high-rise residential condominiums and office complexes, with a robust ecosystem to support all daily and social needs. 

Their home-apartment, that they invested in and moved into recently, is spread over 4000 + square-feet of space, in a layout that lends as much credence to the living and kitchen or utility spaces, as to the  well-appointed bedrooms, lobbies, balcony and landing areas. For someone used to the pigeon holed expectations of Mumbai-living, it was a delirious entry into this home.

My attempt here is to share the rest of the drama of this home, in photos— the drama as much in the choice of colour on the walls, as in the choice of upholstery, contrast and detailing, and in the staging of art & artefact— a collection that they say, they are keenly building.

Mixing feminine flourishes with chic elegance into a vibrant, kaleidoscopic living space. From dramatic pops of pink, delicate tape trim details, jewel tones and florals, plush velvet, to lacquered, oriental console and sideboards, porcelain garden stools placed casually, embroidered throws for contrast and cosiness, to gorgeous Srinathhji on Pichwai -welcoming you at the entryway. Yet, the best part about this home for me is the sparse, uncluttered quality to the interiors, the unhindered flow of energy and vibe it lends to its spaces, despite the deliberate riot of colour, texture and form.

Eclectic, bold, brave and thoughtful.  

As always, I am ruing the many corners and rooms that I did not click photos of. Nonetheless... enjoy the visual splash!

Fountainhead of all things Beautiful !

I owe an immense lot to writing and blogging!

Blogging birthed limegreenwalls and the other blogs I write. What began as a space for uninhibited reflection and, as I now see, as a placeholder to sustain my connection with the outside after a 15-year long hectic Corporate life,  became a medium to help pause, think and spontaneously weave stories at every life stage. Blogging aided my sharing of myself in a highly personalised medium, in sharing my preoccupations both visually & textually—of timelessness inside an activity-laden day—with the world outside of my own little silo. This love-connection continued for years and within the discipline of life, writing a blog-post has been a luxury, an urge and often a getaway from the mundane, inescapable parts of a much altered life—bearing, birthing and bringing up a sunny boy, moving to a new Country twice over and the intrepidness of building a new career from ground-up! Even while the new vocation was being stitched together blogging remained a Fountainhead of inspiration in myriad ways.  

And then entered Facebook and the bigger poacher Instagram - convenience, instant expression, gratification from a highly orchestrate-able audience, hi-resolution visual appeal has gradually eroded my instinct and propensity for longer, laborious expression in prose, particularly on this Blog. The erosion has continued until near total eclipse despite a constant awareness of my culpability in this drift from prose to shorthand. :)

With this post I am simply hoping to break the stalemate! I really am, Peeps, and Thank you for being here all this while! <3 <3

Various vignettes of my home on different days and seasons this year.

And a Happy Diwali ahead!

IKEA is here in India. An aankhon dekhi from Almhult Sweden, IKEA's birthplace.

Hej dear Peeps,

If you've followed me on Instagram and Facebook you'd know I was in Almhult, Sweden last week, the place where the iconic company IKEA was born; now the Product Development and Design hub for this much loved Swedish household brand.

Invited to the IKEA DEMOCRATIC  DESIGN DAY 2017 - a big, global, vibrant showcase of design, products, future collections, product developers and designers, collaborators and the happy vivacious IKEA people. All in a setting brought together with people, music, freshly baked and delicious food and yes, drinks! Such a happy place to be :).

I'm back totally energised seeing so much up close, with some fabulous sneak peeks at the upcoming collections, having seen the future idea for our homes that IKEA is envisioning & collaborating on and coming back with the imminence of buying IKEA products in India (and in Mumbai). Seriously excited!

"There's an air of Celebration about opening in India," chirped Mia Lundstrom, Creative Director Life@Home IKEA - the impressive lady in Indian Ikat and silver; chairing and championing the research and insights that provide the bedrock for IKEA's India entry.

As for me, having lived away from India and having had easy access to IKEA products, IKEA has been a vital and substantial part of my life (setting up and settling down) after marriage and has been a big part of my child's toddlerhood up-untill the 9 years of his happy life. In fact, a significant part of our everyday kitchenware, tableware, kitchen equipment, storage boxes, much of my bed linen, table linen continue to be from IKEA, despite having been back in India for close to two years.  

So, when I sat down to blog today I asked myself 'What am I feeling so excited about?' It cannot just be the imminent easy access to IKEA binge buying. It's a much bigger and bolder pattern that has become obvious to me after this IKEA immersion. It's the synchrony, the synergy of mindset between us as Indians and the values behind the Democratic Design Framework that IKEA is holding so close to its future vision and products. A global brand with a fundamental promise to deliver on Form, Functionality, Affordability, Quality and Sustainability—more categorically now than it has ever done before.

"We want to shake the world up, make it a better place. And we thought we'd start by making everyday life better": so begins The IKEA Democratic Design Manifesto.

The Manifesto goes on to say "...Our mission is bigger than just design, bigger than just low prices. Our mission is the almost impossible idea to combine beautiful form with good function, long-lasting quality, produced in a sustainable value chain with low price.:" and when I read this I see the India- relevance ticked in all the boxes.

√ Beautiful form

√ Good functionality

√ Long Lasting  and √Low Price is already an Indian obsession  

√and socially relevant Indian entrepreneurs can locally deliver as Sustainability partners at various levels in the IKEA value chain {Some are already front-running IKEA partners - watch out for my post on this big IKEA opportunity}

So when I met up with Maria O'Brian, Creative Leader for IKEA on the sidelines (whose role it is to predict, forecast and thus influence trends and styles for future IKEA collections) she seemed wide-eyed and excited about this market, as though India is being looked at through a whole new "wow, this phenomena is happening here also" kind of viewpoint and for me, that's what globalisation is about! The realisation that we are interested in many of the same things and the view that we have lot of similarities from a humanistic standpoint - Its time has come!

On my prompt to forecast a trend for India, Maria pointed me to the big over-arching opportunity in the surge towards urbanisation and sustainability as well as the growing consciousness around 'How Do I express Who I am' amongst the India consumer. I was told that the IKEA insights show a growing affinity towards a more pronounced Individualism here and IKEA sees this already manifested in the home furnishing segment and in the way the Indian consumer is beginning to demand modification and personalisation of home products.  This trend, when I check, is certainly true for me and my extended circle!

To me, combining this trend with the Indian ethos of recycling, repurposing, quality and 'How can IKEA be more Indian?' is where it's all hinged at. 

Overall, as an IKEA India customer-in-waiting to be able to drive down to an IKEA store over a weekend, spend hours swooning over home-decor displays, buying some of the best designed home furniture, furnishing and essentials without bursting our wallets and making a meal of some of the best Scandinavian delights and gorgeous coffee on the way out; our Time Has (almost) Come.

My Pick, if you may, from the new collection :

√The immensely versatile Flottebo Sofa-bed-everything (Just what every living area always needed, a dream for the space parched Mumbai apartments)

At the IKEA Democratic Design Day : Design collaboration with the much celebrated Tom Dixon; with Marcus Engman, Head of Design IKEA

Although, the Flottebo a little too big to carry home in the new Yellow IKEA bag! Nonetheless...

Now to have our very own collection of these Yellow bags and say no to plastic bags:)

#IKEA. #IKEAddd, #IKEAToday

Of Makeovers and home love

Home makeovers exist in an ongoing, organic continuum.

In a satisfying way, only the homemaker knows what really is new and the newness.

It's in every art and accessory re-positioned, every wall modified, every corner re-jigged, every art put away and/or replaced, every cushion replaced, in short, every small detail added or removed.

Of course, the big modifications are more visible as also more demanding and time-consuming. They are very satisfying considering the havoc that was borne while the masons and carpenters were running amok. But for me these are relatively finite.

The infinite charm of the less noisy changes in a makeover is really what constitute the gooey, personal space of warmth and happiness for the homeowner. Well, to tell you the truth, it does big time for me!  And the flip-addictive-side to it is that it is never done; I am never truly able to commit on a given day that the makeover is done, or simply say freeze-frame!

Till the infinity lingers here's a #currenthomeview. Some select vignettes.

To tell you a truth : I have a grey fixation at the moment! All kind of Greys talk to me ; on walls, as upholstery, in flooring, as rugs. For now I've settled for this absolutely comfy pin tucked armchair! And thank God, my son loves this seat that's donning his comfort spot in the living area.

I have a grey fixation at the moment and a lots of colours to support the Grey:)

Before:

This Gujarati chair got placed in my bedroom

This beautiful sandstone Buddha bust : yet another at home but probably the largest we have. When N repeatedly insisted we get it, I only presented mild resistance! #whatsnottolike and that mirror frames him so very aptly. The search for a mirror was on forever; and as Murphy's law suggests found it at the most common, most underestimated place. All in all, it has all come together so beautifully.

You can see below the new textured wall - an audacious adventure for a home which has always believed in beige and cream for walls. And it looks so gorgeous : a sheer leap of faith.

And you can see the brand new entrance. I love how the door now stands grand and wide and lends fair gravitas to the entrance lobby.

This is what happens when both the homemakers have similar desires about their home. The bigger cog in the wheel to any move to minimalism is when both have similar aesthetics and urge to own. Both N and me fell in love with this chair at Sanskriti Lifestyle - Pune. Of course we brought it home with us.

Something about this Chair stole our heart : yet another addition from Sanskriti@Pune

All images are copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com

of Gratefulness and December

Hello Peeps, I've been gone but have been here all the time:). Hope you have been well too!

It's December calling—a month on a kind of default-setting of summaries, salutations, rumination, hope, gratitude, feeling settled, baking, waking up to the urgency of planning our holiday, questioning my comfort cocoon that built-up in the year and a-note-to-self to tease me out of it in the next visible time-frame. 

December is also the month when my boy-child rounds off another year of being in our life and yes all that benign beauty of Christmas.

As I write this post there are seven other things that I am reminded of, that I need to attend to, that needed to have been started (or closed) yesterday—feeling the sudden rush of the week sliding into it's second-run in the month. WE HAVE YET TO PUT UP THE TREE !! and the birthday party, and  the holiday checklist...!

So as I clicked some random morning frames, I thought of you and many others who so frequently stop by, read, comment or just send me love ('n Likes) that helps me write a few more posts through the year. And so today it is my turn to reciprocate a big THANK YOU and send you a grateful Namaste as I blow you a wish for many islands of calm and Being, amidst the rush of checklists, resolutions and the all-consuming-Doing.

 

  

All images copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com