Teal Room...!

Hey there, how have you been?

I have been good, and no, I do not have any excuses for not being around in blogosphere. But I certainly missed being here and hearing from you guys..

Yes, the life has been busy. The work has taken over everything else in past few months. Not that I am complaining, the work has been super fun as well as super busy:)

There is this room at my home, which I call MY room, where I rest, relax and work. But somehow even after 12 years of staying at this home, this never came together. I was wondering whether a bedspread would do the magic. I was looking out for some out-of-ordinary choices. Good friend - Preethi Prabhu of Indya kaleidoscope, after seeing the room pics and after few WA discussions, suggested a fantabulous kantha patchwork bedspread.

So when I came home from work soaked to the bone, waddling through Bangalore's rain water, There was a packet from Preethi waiting for me..! It made a over-worked, sleep deprived, soaked to the bone person's home coming a happy one. :) So me and babies, without wasting anytime further spread it and admired it. What followed was a shoot and blog after ages.

Please come-in, have a look..!

My work desk..!

I love the green wooden pen stand, again from IK

My favourite work place..My compact desk..!

Yes, you can find tonnes of books all over home..!

More Books..!

Holder for my trinkets..!

Closer Look at the Kantha patches, the colours and the craftsmanship makes me happy person, does it make you happy too..?

Pursuit of Calmness...!

Hello All, how is the week treating you? My week is pretty interesting. Have been think mode for a while. I have been smiling, peaceful  and generally calm! Touchwood..!

Last weekend babies travelled with P to Kerala. They had a good time and I had a quiet time here. 

 

I and amma went for a yummilicious brunch at Rangashankara café and bought a new book “Chowringhee”by Mani Sankar Mukherjee from their book shop. I enjoyed his "Middleman", hope to have a good time reading "Chowringhee".

Post brunch, we watched a Kannada play ‘Akku’, It is an adaption of three short stories by Vaidehi.  It was a hard hitting play by a super talented troupe “Ranga Mantapa”. Through the play, I could hear/ feel audience gasp, sigh at various character’s quandaries. It was a beautiful experience. This play of 90 minutes quietened my chattering mind.

I also spent time buying plants and re-potting a few. some of the plants were moved around the home and I also spent sometime taking photos. Here is one for you.

 

 

 

Have great mid week guys! See you soon

Back, I Am..!

Hi there, how have you been? I have been surviving, good. A lot of things happened in last 3 months. As usual, mostly good and some not all that good.. These happenings along with babies' summer vacation and house guests have kept me busy.

In these three months, home like blog, have been kind of neglected. So one of these days, I pulled up so called clichéd socks and started finding my home and my blog. I have been able to spend some time on home and blog for last few days, hope it continues. The love shown on the home is reflected in some corners of my home. Here are some corners for you to see.

See you soon, have great mid-week guys!
 

Quietude

What makes you quiet inside? Well, for me, putting my hands into good use or completing a long pending task does it. My hands in use, shuts the noise in my head and brings back the quietude. Yes, if you have been reading this blog for sometime, you know that I am crazy that way.

That is exactly what I did when I had too much of chatter going inside my head, took out the glass collection, scrubbed them until it shined and I felt good inside! I was pretty pleased with my handy work. So,  out came the camera and here are the results for you to see.!

Let me know what works for you. What do you do reduce the noise in your head?

Linking this Colours Dekor's weekly story.

Repurposed..!

How have you been? while I have been missing in action at virtual world for past few weeks, (or was it months...?) work related stuff kept me on my toes. All the time..!

We had a good Dasara, followed by quiet Diwali .I know I owe you a Dasara Gombe post. A post would follow, very soon. I know I am late, but I guess you would like it late than never :)

Yesterday, just to get a break from my never ending work, I decided to clean a cupboard & store away all my Diwali buys. (I know that's the weirdest way of taking break, well I cannot help it, I am wired that way !)While I could manage to pack most of the stuff, I could not get myself to pack a pair of tea light holders. I found them too beautiful to be stored away, I know you understand that feeling :)

So couple of  tiny plants from balcony were brought in. Now the tea light holders are the new home for them!

 

 

 

See you as soon as I can! Till then love sunshine!

 

Shubha Deepawali

How is the festival season treating you?

At our end, hubby is busy working.  I am neck deep immersed, chasing something and babies are enjoying the mini break.

Deepawali has been a low key affair, us being busy. At least for today. Hopefully we will get  more festive tomorrow.

With the babies around, we were kind of forced to have .ini celebration at the least. So, the lights have been lit, marigold has been hung around the corners, tea lights have been brought, brass has been polished & fairy lights have been put up, with some festive dinner planned.

Here are some corners from our home. Wish you a very happy & safe Deepawali..!

 

For the Love of Festive Seasons...

With Dasara round the corner, we are an excited lot at home. In spite of being high tension mid year assessment season for A1, babies are super excited as we go for Gombe V0.2, this Dasara :) Here is the link for  last year's Gombe.

Lot of planning & discussion happening into what new ideas should we bring in this year. The dolls/ toys babies can spare for 10 days are being listed & put in Dasara gombe (doll) box for this year's display. There is a festive air at home in spite of exams being round the corner. Babies have started the count-down for the last day of school before vacation & Dasara :)

Some minor projects around the houses are picked up & completed, as we wait for Ma to walk into our humble home.

 

 

 

Season's greetings guys! see you next week!

Life is What You Make It....

As the wise people say, life is what you make it...

  

I picked a beautiful neem comb at Mango Collective by A  Hundred Hands in June this year. I was at work, late in the evening near this location. I visited the place for about 10 minutes or so & I quickly grabbed this one before I moved out in haste. I knew that I would never ever use it to comb hair but still had to have it! I had many ideas as to what I wanted to do with this one as I travelled back home.

 

As all other things in my life, this beauty also had to wait for a long time, before  she could see the day-light. One day A1 generously donated one of his used craft canvas. I re-painted the canvas board in mustard & promptly handed it along with the comb to my favourite framer at Jaynagar 9th block! As soon as he saw the piece & the canvas, he enthusiastically discussed what we could do with them! We soon finalized the design. Three days later, this is what he handed me! The moment I saw it, I knew why I travel 6 kms one way to have every little thing framed!

 

 

 

 

 

He also did a fab job of framing my blue tiny  tile from Jaipur, it was 6" * 6" tile with pretty shade of blue. It was displayed on the kitchen shelf, I always feared that the "A" duo found it too attractive not to throw a ball at! I could not use it as coaster, as the edges were fairly sharp/ rough, which scratched the wooden surfaces. When it came back framed, I could not stop staring it for sometime...!

 

 

 

 

 

Now they stand pretty, together in the red room.

 

Have great week ahead guys!

Monsoon

It has been raining off and on in my part of the world, mostly it is cloudy.  How is it at your end?

As a child, in large terrace of a old home in a small town of interior Karnataka, I found that the sky was most colourful & interesting during this season. I would watch the clouds, make up my own stories and imagine all the clouds to be some or other characters of my story. I loved to stare at the sky lying down on a mat on this terrace, until I was forced to run into the portico for protection from huge drops of rain.

As a teenager, new to Bangalore, happy making new friends, longing for old ones, learning to live away from home, enjoying the hostel and missing the home, I fell in love with "Bangalore" weather in monsoon - cloudy, chilly & light showers. It was sheer bliss to walk around in MG road, Brigade road & Commercials in this weather, with a cup of hot chocolate in hand or munching on the salted peanuts/ spicy puffed rice.

Yes, things have changed, some for bad & most for good. Though it is still a pleasure to watch the cloud, about to melt down in the sky & the meltdown it self, somewhere I have stopped, slowing down & enjoying it. Today I did slowdown & what I saw out of window was just beautiful...

Some moments before the meltdown today, as I saw out of my window...

 

 

For the Love of Ceramics & Glassware...

For last few weeks, I am not able to spend time on home. It kind of makes  me feel guilty. A viral, A1's tests are the excuses this time! I plan to do a deep cleaning of home over weekend. That definitely will make me feel good all over again!

 

I am also starting a personal improvement project that I have chickened out from in past, more then once :( More details, if I survive the 10 day duration of the project & have something good to talk about.!

 

I have always loved ceramic, glassware, stoneware in all forms. Well then, who does not? I was running through some of my archived photos. (Obviously meant for some posts, which never happened!). These are some of the absolutely ordinary but extraordinarily loved stuff at home.

 

Cook Book Nook!
 

I go crazy when I see white & blue, don't you?

Some more white & blue!

 

A cut glass decanter brought God knows when & Shot glasses bought from previous life time's visit to US!

Rajastani mini pickle jars

Some  more blue & white love

Have a great weekend guys!

A Prayer

Yes, this is the fourth abode for the lord of rhythm at home  in last year :) We would want him to grace every corner of the home & bring in rhythm in every aspect of our lives. Here is signing off with a little prayer...

 

Dear God,  

May we grow wiser;

May we grow patient;

May we get calmer;

May we grow tolerant,

with every new dawn please.

 

You have good week guys!

 

For the Love of Pre-loved Things..

I have always had a thing for pre-loved stuff. I feel a feel for them.. you got the drift, right..?

I have always scouted for pre-loved stuff. I never really like the gleaming brand new stuff  at showroom, show me a pawn shop full of pre-loved stuff. I can spend hours there...!

This is first of the series in Pre-loved stories. The red enamel containers were picked from a lady who sells stuff from old Chettinad houses & the glass bottle was picked from last year's visit to Chor Bazaar.

Are you as crazy about pre-loved stuff, do let me know!
 

Home Tour - Uma Chellappa

Things have been super busy for couple of months now. New client at work, grand parents' visit, little A turning 3 & starting the big school, a career awareness program for high school kids at MSS Bangalore for my work partner's NGO, hubster's job movement , his travel to meet his grand mom, big A's school re-opening  & his new teachers were some of the good things that kept us busy & happy.
 
MIL had to go through an emergency surgery during this visit. A good outcome of this unfortunate incident is that babies, in-between-job hubster and grand parents are having a great time together as grandparents were forced to stay back in Bangalore for recovery for a month more than what they had initially planned..!
 
That's my excuse to stay away from blogging for last few weeks...!
 
I had been reading fantabulously talented Uma of My musings for long. When I saw her new home pictures in her blog, I was super fast to request for a home tour for us. Uma has been extremely nice & sent all those gorgeous corners of her new -house-turned-warm- home along with the stories of how it became one. here we start..!
 

Tell us about the wonderful people at your home

 

Home comprises of my husband, I and our 4.5 year son. The husband is the cool cucumber while I’m the firebrand in terms of temperament. Jokes apart, he’s completely my support factor; encourages me to pursue my interests and also eggs me on to do better in my chosen field when I tend to slack.

Our son, an inquisitive, bright and energetic pre-schooler, is the light of our lives. Both, my husband and I, are equally involved when it comes to parenting and parenting decisions.

 

Tell us about your home and the love involved in making the house a home.

When we bought our home in 2011 ideas to do up my home began to take shape in my head and as the house started to near completion, I began to chisel those ideas at a more concrete level. The internet and Facebook groups like Bangalore craft lovers were my messiah. I’d spend hours at the lovely home décor blogs, yours included, to zero down on my idea of a home. The home tours and tips helped immensely to understand my own taste and refine my needs.

 

I did not have the bandwidth to go all the way in designing my home, hence took the help of an able designer, Neelu. Read more about Uma's experience in working with Neelu here.

My house had to be Indian ethnic-warm and cozy with a lot of warm colours –that’s what I told my designer when I first met her. I was completely involved in the process and loved every part of it. I’m glad that my designer was super cooperative and tried to accommodate all my needs and suggestions. There were many mini-projects that were handled by a creative set of people (at the Spinning Wheel) that truly gave a personal touch to my home.

Look at some gorgeous mini projects of hers, they are truly inspiring..!



The tiles on the doors & the ceramic knobs are such a beautiful idea..!



Some more tile in-lay projects..!

 

 

 



Her puja nook..!

 

What did you like about in doing up a home?

Everything! From scouring the net to find the best possible rates for a particular material to finding the right kind of store that matched my budget, to discussing every detail with my designer, all of it gave me great satisfaction and happiness. There was one DIY project (a stencil wall art) that my designer and I got it done on a wall. It was my very first DIY project and was pretty kicked to have my hands on it.

Uma's DIY paisleys! Beautiful..!

Isn't that a beautiful wall decor?

 

I tried to get every furniture and accessory customized to suit my taste and of course budget. For example, the sofas came all the way from Jodhpur. I had a painting which I didn’t like and viola; it got transformed into a table top! Similarly the curtains are all custom-made by a creative person I found on FB. The creative head of The Spinning Wheel who has now become a good friend helped me put together a lot of conversational pieces around the house from existing old stuff. (The coffee table with a painting as a table top, a weaved pot, customized large mirror, the swing and many more). The swing was actually my son’s cradle that I got converted to an adult jhoola.

 

I love those sofas, don't you?

 

 

That is an awesome idea!

Which is your favourite place at your home & why..?

It’s difficult to pick one corner since I’ve mulled over in great detail over most nooks and corners. However, if I had to pick one, it would be the swing in my balcony. The openness of the space, the lovely view and chance to be with nature makes me feel blessed. Even 5 minutes of a quiet morning spent here energizes me to take on the day.

 

 

 A lovely reading nook by the breezy balcony, wow how gorgeous is that ...?



Love the muted colours of this room..!

I saved my favourite pic for last, isn't that most uncluttered, awesome kid's room you have ever seen? Love the breezy feel of the room. Gorgeous curtains, aren't they?

 



 I had loads of fun seeing through Uma's world & talking to her. Hope you did too!

If you have a gorgeous home to be shared with our readers, please write to padmamanasa@gmail.com;  I will be super excited to feature your homes.