Friday 7 October 2011

"Home is Home...be it ever so humble..."


    I was born and brought up in Allahabad which is in Uttar Pradesh. But my parents are from Karnataka. After my schooling, I came down south for my graduation & higher studies.  Uttar Pradesh is a colourful state famous for its rich heritage of art & craft. Whereas Karnataka is a land with abounding scenic beauty & charm and also well known for its lovely garden cities, ornate temples & historical monuments. So I think I’ve got a bit of both the states in me…!!
There were some conditions put down by the owner before I moved into this beautiful & spacious rented apartment in Bangalore. One of the conditions was that I was not supposed to mess up with the walls. At first, it made me a bit disappointed. But then when I looked from the owner’s perspective, I felt that he was absolutely justified. It’s natural…Every owner has a kind of possessiveness over his/her house and issue conditions to see that their property is well guarded. I respected the owner’s possessiveness and assured him that I would take proper care of his apartment. I decided to decorate this apartment with the available space.
Since the apartment was on rent, my mother and a few friends discouraged me from designing and decorating this place on practical basis. But how could I just live in this beautiful apartment without doing anything, that too being an interior designer!! I wanted to make this apartment “a beautiful, colourful, warm & a humble home” to live in…
I, personally never wanted my home to have a very contemporary look or a “Do Not Touch” feeling. It’s not that I do not like modern or contemporary designs, but I must admit that I have a soft spot for earthy, rustic look with a little bit of traditional touch to it.

Entrance- I bought these mud pots from pottery town. The irregular shape of these pots caught my eyes. The corns (actually I do not know the name of these) which are hanging from the neck of the pots were given to me by my sister. She got these from a park and asked me to do something with the same. I gave it a thought and decided to tie the corns to the neck of the pots. Hope the idea worked…!!


Living room- I like red colour and the same dominates in my living room. Red brightens and energizes a room. 






Since the apartment had an open living & dining space, I wanted to give the dining space its own privacy. So, I bought this wooden partition screen from an old antique shop in Commercial Street. I liked its unique, unusual cuts & carvings. I also bought the old beautiful Victorian wall clock hung right above the door from the same shop. 


While buying wood from the bamboo bazaar for the sofa and dining benches, I came across some beautiful yellowish green long bamboos in a shop. Not knowing what to do with them, I bought these also and asked them to cut into different lengths. Once home, I thought of the different options which could display the beauty of these raw bamboos beautifully. Finally it struck…!! I remembered the big black pot which I had bought along with the irregular shaped pots. First I cleaned the bamboos and the pot thoroughly and then varnished them. Varnish acts as a protective layer and increases the beauty of the wood also. After the varnish dried up, I placed the bamboos systematically inside the pot to avoid the pot from toppling over. 



This is one of my favorite and coziest spaces. I usually prefer a living room which has a formal as well as an informal seating arrangement. Most of my friends love to sit on this and chat hours together.



The bed spread was bought from a charity exhibition. It’s a beautiful piece made by physically challenged people…!! 
                                  

Pottery town has some amazing pottery works. I just loved the funny & cute faces on these…

   

View of dining from living room…


There is a shop in Infantry road which has some stunning collection of antique furniture. It also deals with Kashmiri home décor products. I bought this table from here. The shopkeeper told me that it was not a dining table and just a wooden creation for display. But, I was very much impressed with the brass work on it & off-course the design too and did not want to lose it at any cost. I placed a beveled edged clear glass top and converted it into a dining table. I asked my carpenter to make 2 benches matching with the table design which turned out to be cost effective and beautiful too.

                         

This table has a unique foot rest too which is so very comfortable…


 Nothing can beat the beauty & simplicity of natural flowers…!!



 There's still lots to do...


5 comments:

  1. I simply loved your humble home!!

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  2. Lovely pots... !! You have got a beautiful home... Love the dining table and the cozy sitting area... !!

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  3. Hi Emreen...Thankyou very much for the kind words...!! It's really so encouraging to get appreciated...:)

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  4. I loved your way of displaying the corns tied to the pots(1st pic). I have collected such seeds but don't know what to do with them. May be I could try it like yours..

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  5. Thanks Vasudha...After much thinking I had come up with this idea of tying the corns to the pots... :) ...

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