Pictures of some blooms in my balcony today:

Orange Hibiscus

Fragrant Jasmine

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Worried about the state of those lovely Gerberas and Dahlias in your balcony garden? Are your plants turning yellow and brown in turns? Do they look lifeless? Water, repotted soil, ample sunlight, no pests  - a quick look at the checklist says everything’s taken care of.  So, what’s killing them? It’s easy to step over the fine line between caring for plants and overdoing it. As Stephanie Donaldson says, our kindness can prove fatal for houseplants. Over-watering or lack of water are the most common reasons for healthy houseplants dying with a couple of weeks after being brought from the nursery.

Look at the images below.

Drowning plant

If your plants look anything like this, then it is an indication of overwatering. Take a closer look at the leaves. Towards the bottom of the plant, close to its roots, the leaves have turned yellow, and the plant is bent outside.

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Has your wooden cabinet in the kitchen lost its sheen? Do the wardrobes in the bedroom wear a outdated look? Does the prized artifact, which you proudly show off to your visitors, retain its original shine?

Restoring the look of wooden furniture, art work, and cabinets is easy. You don’t need to hire a painter or the polishing person, or worry about spending thousands on restoration or replacing them. All you need are some dirty clothes, old newspapers and a few hours to spare. Game for it? Then, let’s get started:

If it’s your first project, then start off with something small.

What you’ll need:

1. 1 bottle of Sheenlac wood finish. Available at all hardware stores in different sizes.  Suggest buying the 200 ml bottle initially.

2. Old newspapers to spread on the floor.

3. Emery sheet - P150

4. Clean cotton cloth

5. A old bottle

How to Clean:

1. Tear the emery sheet into two halves or about the size of your palm.

2. Sand the surface to be polished with the emery sheet. This ensures all the surface dirt is removed and is clean.

3. Clean the dry powder off the surface with a cloth.

How to Polish:

1. Pour a little of the polish from the Sheenlac bottle into a waste empty bottle.

2. Use the clean cotton cloth to apply the polishing lacquer on to the cleaned surface.

3. Let it dry for 10-15 minutes. Apply one more coat if necessary.

Estimated time for polishing a 2*2 sq ft area : 10 minutes

If you are satisfied with the results, extend it to larger areas.

Before we get to the wooden collections from Jin Kuramoto Studio, let me tell you how I got there.  I have two identical terra cotta pots with an interesting shape waiting to be painted and planted. I got it on my trip to Mahabalipuram; so they’ve been sitting in my balcony for over a month. I can’t settle on a design/color for the pots, and am constantly looking for fresh ideas. While scouting for modern patterns, I discovered materialicious.  According to the folks who run the site, “materialicious™ (”shelter, materials and objects”) is a user-submitted visual curation site featuring modern architecture and design, craftsmanship, materials and products.” True to every word. You can’t get your eyes off the page once you start browsing, and before you realise you’ve spent enough time wasting looking at the stunners.

Now, materialicious is what led me to  Jin Kuramoto Studio. The wooden tea sets and mirrors in striking, contrasting, and complementary colors leaves a lasting impression. It’s easier to reproduce the same effect with planters. I need not delve further into the effect it would bring into one’s garden.  The traditional wooden tea sets in subdued earthen colors with simple stripes is unique too.

Striped planters

Consider growing a herb garden in the smaller ones by placing them on your kitchen windowsill.

For dark, bright colored planters

Black absorbs heat and can be harmful for the plants during the summer months. Go for a little lighter shade while retaining the effect.

White rules

When you’ve run out of ideas, a easy fallback option is a white planter. - you can never go wrong with this one. Give it a little texture, group a couple of them in different shapes in a corner, and you have a winner.

While we’re on the topic of painting planters, I feel compelled to share how discarded cups were transformed into eye-catching reusable pieces with a little design on them. And, if those designs happen to be characters from Alice in Wonderland, can one resist?

Alice in Wonderland ceramic cups

Images:

1.2.3. - Jin Kuramoto

4 - Dagens Design

Valeria Nascimento's creations

What's this? Make a guess!

What came to your mind when you first saw these images? Would you believe if I told you these fluid forms are made out of porcelain? Honestly, when I first saw the first one, I mistook it for a snowball tree or a creamy hydrangea bush. On a side note, I love snowball and hydrangea bushes. Does anyone know if we get these blooms in India?

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I want to continue where I left off my last post on styling ideas for apartment main doors. The featured shop stcks many hand-crafted, woven assorted items such as baithaks, mirrors, trays and cushion covers.

They are colorful, vibrant and lively almost resonating with positive energy. There is something rustic about them which makes for great accessories.

Bench

I loved this wooden, wrought-iron bench. Some day when we have larger garden, this one’s gonna find a place in the patio.

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A  huge cotton tree, ladies fingers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, chillies, potatoes, brinjals, carrots, cabbage, and beetroots - this was the backyard of our home when I was growing up.  The front section was relatively a colorful one in hues of bright reds, pinks, violets and oranges,  so much so that it was easy for the security guards to direct visitors to our place;  “the house with a large flower garden in the front” did it.  Marigolds, sunflower, dahlias, rajnigandhas, arali, and an assortment of flowers whose name I’m not sure of adorned the house.

My mother loved gardening. She spent hours and hours tending to the plants while my brother and I were at school. It came to such a point that my brother, all of three years, insisted on having only ladies finger for lunch and dinner every day. We moved cities and countries after three years in that small town, and never got to live in a individual house with a front and back yard. Years later, I found the same passion for plants in my father-in-law. He grew everything from palaks (the tastiest I’ve ever had) , mint, radish to cauliflower, potatoes and broccoli.  We rarely shopped for vegetables in the winter. Most of the produce from the garden was cooked.

That’s where my weakness for greens comes from. The limited 8*4 feet balcony space is no deterrent. Last summer, the pots mainly contained flowering plants. This summer, I’m repotting them with jasmines, and white and oragne hibiscus. I’m also adding some vegetables to the mix.

Certain vegetables thrive well even in pots. You can grow them in deep pots of 14″-18″ size or use planter boxes. It all depends on choosing the right vegetables - the ones whose roots don’t grow very deep. Get started with me if you want to grow your own vegetable garden.

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Doors. More than an entrance to a home. It’s a style statement and more often than not, an impression of what lies behind is made when you see an exquisitely crafted main door.

I spent a good part of my growing up years at my grandparents’ in two southern towns of Tamil Nadu: Madurai and Kumbakonam. The architecture of the ancient houses in Tanjore district has left a lasting impression on me. Several hot summer afternoons were spent playing hide and seek in the thinnais (the front porch), mitham (the courtyard) around the wide thoons (pillars) and maadi (open terrace) and behind those huge small teak wood doors. To this day, when I think of main doors, the first image that comes to mind is the heavy main door at my grandma’s which is over 140 years old now; it looks very similar to this one.

Old Styled Main Door in Tanjore Houses

Most apartment main doors these days are stereotypical leaving little to imagination.  With a neatly crafted main door, you don’t need to accessorize the entrance with sculptures, wall hangings or diyas. For as little as Rs.4,000 you can give a royale look to your main door. There’s this shop called Royal Ambience on Varthur-Whitefield Field Road that sells hand-carved furniture from Rajasthan. A few piece that I loved:

A traditional colorful carved piece

It is made from Acacia wood and colored using chalk powder. Most of the furniture from Rajasthan is made of Sheesham wood, which is a long-standing, hard variety. However, Sheesham wood is not suitable for fine carvings which is why such pieces are made from Acacia. Different views of the same piece:

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