No matter how stylish and elegant modern homes get, I’ll always be fascinated by the traditional Indian architecture. At the risk of repeating myself, I continue with this post

Most houses in the olden times were built on rectangular plots and, in certain places, adjacent homes shared a wall. Vast open spaces inside punctuated by thinnais and mithams, skylight, courtyards, red tiled flooring, huge cylindrical pillars along the mitthams or courtyards, a small hole on either side of the main door to light lamps, and high ceiling supported by wooden beams were some of the common characteristics of these eco-friendly homes. With such years of wisdom going into building of houses, can they ever be wrong? Little wonder there was no dearth of light and air while we feel suffocated, stifled and leave the lights on evening at 9:00 a.m. in a 2,000 sq.ft apartment. What a shame!

Another typical design feature of the old houses in Tamil Nadu was the linear corridor - one could stand at the main door and see the other end of the house. Everything else flowed seamlessly in between with no obstruction as the rooms and courtyards fell on either side of the corridor. Usually, a tulsi plant was what met one’s gaze from the open wooden-carved main door.I regret I don’t have any pictures of our ancestral homes. Maybe this time around, when I visit my grandparents’ I will do a photo shoot before the 100-year-old houses get renovated.

Homes in Chettinad, Kerala and north-western parts of Karnataka such as as Coorg and Mangalore share a common  element of design - courtyard. It is known by different names though in different parts such as thotti mane, nadu mittham and mittham.

While scouting for homes that adopted elements of our architecture, I discovered GoodEarth Homes’ Orchard project on Mysore Road.

Courtyard used as an indoor garden

I fell in love with the project (but for the price) as soon as I saw this picture. Isn’t it beautiful - a small green space inside the house that receives sunlight? Imagine waking up to the first streak of sunlight in the morning.

A modern verandah or porch

Long open corridor - where are the pillars?

Vineeta Nair of artnlight featured a traditional home in Palakkad a while ago.

I agree such vast spaces are beyond one’s affordability in metros. But there’s nothing stopping us from incorporating some eco-friendly concepts in apartments/penthouses such as skylights for better illumination. Although it’s tough to implement in normal apartments, penthouses can do this by placing glass on the roof for natural lighting. This can be extended to certain sections of the bathroom as well. I’m sure you agree that no fancy light can compete with natural light.

Chitra Vishwanath is a Bangalore-based eco-friendly architect. Some of her projects use these concepts of natural top lighting, stone arches and no fans. The project she has designed for the Rays uses the courtyard concept.

Have a story to tell about your ancestral home? Write to me with pictures and I’ll be happy to feature it here.

Images:

Kolavara heritage

Vembanad Lake Villa

For all you stained glass art lovers, I would like to share another discovery. Glasshopper, a stained glass art studio in Defence Colony, Indira Nagar, is close to the Glasscrafter’s studio I featured last week. I’ve not visited Glasshopper in person, so  it’s tough to talk about their products with the same conviction. Glasshopper’s portfolio is not as extensive as that of Glasscrafter’s since it’s only a year old. Though the studio claims to specialize in Tiffany-styled glass lampshades, it’s portfolio is diverse. Here are a couple that I found impressive, but I’m not sure if it’s stained glass or painting on glass as the textures are not clearly visible:

Chinese Calligraphy

Peacock Panel

Edited to add:

(this section was missing in my original post, so I’ve added)

Image courtesy: Glasshopper’s)

We’ve been apartment hunting for the past two months. The apartment where we live currently has more pluses than minuses: practical utilization of space within the apartment, ample lighting and cross-ventilation, large rooms, functional amenities within the property, great location for public transport, highly convenient for groceries, reputed schools within a 3 Km radius, hospitals, well-maintained public parks, and is safe. The only reason we’re looking to move is because I would like to have a small space for indulging my green thumb and more open area for our son to play. Having looked at 27 odd old and new apartments/row houses/villas over 8 weeks, we’re on the verge of taking a break now. This would be our second apartment, so the expectations are high. And, it’s a little strange but true that we will need to spend double the price of our current apartment to get a new one, and still not get one which is satisfactory.

But, I’m very glad we did this exercise for I’ve learned a lesson or two in design by looking at all those tastefully decorated model apartments. Those perfect living spaces got me thinking: what if we spend just a fraction of the amount set aside for buying a new house and transform the interiors of the apartment we live in currently? We may fall in love with this place all over again…who knows? I may find new ways to pursue gardening indoors - with more varieties of houseplants in balcony, indoors and the utility area.

Have you ever fallen for a property with a bad floor plan but great model apartment? There was this apartment which had a kitchen to your left as soon as you entered and another one that opened to a guest bedroom.  So, I prefer seeing the floor plan first before falling for the interiors.

If you are planning to design the interiors of your new apartment or redoing the one where you live in, here are few tips that could be of help:

Crisp mustard yellow curtains to match other furnishings

Curtains:

1. Replace the rods. Or better yet, hide them if you can, like in the picture above.
2.Take the curtains all the way up to the ceiling. High curtains give the illusion of high ceiling. If you have a false ceiling, the top of the curtains can go behind.
3. Try sheer curtains for contemporary/modern furniture and heavy silk curtains for solid wood/teak/antique furniture.

4. Experiment with different fabric/material like a old silk sari or bright cotton sari/dupatta to make a blind or curtain.

Let the light come in - sheer curtains

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After doing a couple store/studio tours, I’m returning to my first love - gardening. Thanks to Natti, I discovered the nursery at Jeeven Bhima Nagar in Bangalore. Managed by physically challenged people, the nursery is well planned, maintained and customer-friendly. In absolutely no hurry to rush back home last Saturday morning, I indulged myself looking at the plants. Over to you all now

Flowering plants:

The nursery stocks only basic flowering plants as of now. According to the manager, they should be getting more of the Gloxinias, Star clusters, Passion flower and Petunias by this weekend.

Frangipani

Hibiscus

Roses

What I liked about the nursery:

If you are a novice gardener like me, these are questions you will relate to. Do I need to water everyday? Will this plant require too much sunlight? Will it grow well in semi-shade? Sometimes, our questions tend to irritate the nursery folks. This nursery solves that formidable selection problem for us. The nursery is segregated into three sections: full sun, semi-shade and full-shade. Every plant in each section, is further labeled with its name and price making it a lot easier to choose. If you still have any doubts, the folks are pretty helpful and knowledgeable.

Price is another talking point of the nursery. For instance, you can get an aloe vera plant for Rs.15 or a lilly for Rs. 50.

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Nestled in the by-lanes of Indira Nagar is a studio named “Glasscrafters“. Glasscrafters was started by Asad Hajeebhoy originally in 1991 in Bombay, followed by a four year stint in Muscat, Oman,and finally at Bangalore in 1996.  A physicist by education, Asad pursued stained glass as a hobby to take it up full-time in 1996.

Glasscrafters, Bangalore

Contrary to most Indian interior decor sites, Glasscrafters is well-designed replete with product pictures, portfolio, and course and service offerings. But, I still prefer to visit any studio/store in person to feel the pulse of the place.

A brief chit-chat on last Wednesday evening with Asad on art of stained glass was an eye-opener for me.  Tucked away from the hustle-bustle of 80 feet road,  Asad’s studio-cum-home is a flurry of activity with clients walking in, a designer working on some new project, materials spewn around, and finally, Asad talking about his passion for stained glass totally unfazed by his surroundings.  He demystifies the common perception that stained glass art is painting done on glass. In reality, there is no painting. Stained glass works are actually different pieces of colored glasses joined together with a copper foil to create a jigsaw-like piece of work.

According to Asad, his business broke even within 3 months of starting. Initially, he got his assignments primarily through references. The fact that there were no suppliers of stained glass materials in India back then made it a challenge. Mainly people who lived abroad placed an order for a specific piece. They brought the glass and materials with them for Asad to create. Word spread and now Glasscrafters has a impressive portfolio of over 2,000 projects. 90% of them are residential including some well-known ones such as Rishi Kapoor’s Mumbai residence.

A wide ranged of glasses are used such as wavy, wispy, opalesecent for the swirls and streaks, cathedral, streaky, textured, baroque, antique, and jewel.

Stained glass lampshade

A decade later, things have changed for the better. Glasscrafters is now a stockist for Spectrum glass.  The amount of  work involved in making every piece is mind-boggling. So, there’s nothing called a bulk order. A single piece or 100 pieces, to create each piece, small pieces of different colored glasses will have to be cut individually and joined together.

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I’m glad you all liked the name plate series. Today, I’ll feature another area that Confluence specializes in - wall murals.

If you’ve been thinking of doing up the children bedroom and are looking for ideas, this is a great place to start with. Wondering if you should call an artist to paint that favorite character, or get a wallpaper done, or go in for the Asian/Berger Paints’ solution? No doubt, each one of them has its own benefits and drawbacks. One of the reasons why wood-based murals from Confluence appealed to me was because they have a long life and you don’t end up damaging the walls for the same price you pay. The damage is limited to a few nails on the wall unlike wallpapers.

Confluence has a good range of wood-based murals to chose from. The treated wood is decorated with embellishments, textures in stunning colors using emulsion paints. Price of a mural ranges from Murals starts from as little as Rs.500 and go all the way upto Rs.4,500 for Barbie or Rs.7,000 for Winnie, the pooh. Again, I guess the designs can be tailored to one’s budget. Glass and metal embellishments are expensive.

Time for visual treat (pictures include generic murals as well). Kid’s murals (order-based) are often installed and not available off hand at the store. So, pictures are limited. This was about the only one getting ready at the studio.

Elephant Mural

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So, shall we get started? The first in the Store Tour series is “Confluence” art store on the Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road. For folks who’ve been living in and around Indira Nagar with a slight inclination towards home decor, I’m sure you would’ve noticed this store next to Ek Bote furniture showroom. But, may be you’ve never stepped inside.

I know you are waiting to drool over the images. But, hold on. A little bit about the store owner first.

Parul Saraff, a trained interior designer from South Delhi Polytechnic for Women, started Confluence in 2000. After getting married in 2000, she moved from Delhi to Bangalore. It’s been 10 years since. Parul beams when she says she manages two babies now: her two-and-half year old daughter and Confluence.

I was intrigued by the name Confluence for which Parul said, the store doesn’t confine itself to any one art like Worli, glass or Tanjore painting. Since the store houses all kinds of art and she mixes a bit of everything in her creations, she felt there couldn’t be a better name than Confluence.

This will be a two part series with tomorrow’s post being exclusively about murals.

You get a taste of what to expect inside from the decor outside the store.

Confluence at Indira Nagar, Bangalore

What does the store sell:

Shall we step inside now? Confluence takes custom orders for name boards, murals, gift items, pottery and paintings. The theme for Murals vary from traditional and tribal settings to  abstract and kids-based cartoon characters.

Name boards

What I liked:

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One hundred posts in 1 year. “Dress your home” completes a year on July 1st, 2010.  My dashboard currently reads -

99 posts

263 comments

130 tags

12 drafts

Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for taking the time and effort to appreciate something, ask for a suggestion or leave a valuable input. It’s your readership that has kept me going, encouraging me to post week after week, and sulk on days when I haven’t been able to. I’ve enjoyed reading what each one of you has had to say.

To bring in the first anniversary, I plan to feature a few home decoration stores around Bangalore that sell accessories which fit in a modest budget - primarily home-grown businesses that were started out of passion. If you have any suggestions for store tours, please leave a comment.

Here is a teaser of what you can expect in the first post of this series. It’s a kid’s room decorated with murals.

Barbie Themed Mural

Barbie Mural

Are you constantly looking for ideas to spruce up your walls? Adding accessories to a wall, re-painting walls with themes, or hanging murals/artwork are some of the easiest ways to change the look of a room. My parents sent me two boxes of DIY wall art stickers in white and green colors. These are wood-based, primed decal like stickers that can glued on to a wall using any adhesive. I was contemplating where to put them up as the floral leaves would have been a perfect fit for the balcony, the space I love the most, but the hard exterior finish of the walls made it difficult to stick them on. So, I chose a bedroom wall instead.

3-D Wall Sticker

Pattern - 1

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Asian Paints is one of the few companies in India that offer comprehensive painting and makeover solutions for interior and exterior walls. Their Signature Wall series is a rage in metros like Bangalore and Chennai. However, my experience with them in Pune was frustrating and I discouraged people from considering Asian Paints. A regular reader of this blog, among a few others in Bangalore, spoke positively about their experiences with Asian Paints and how the painters agreed to re-paint the walls if they got it wrong. Surprisingly, almost every one I spoke to mentioned at least one wall being re-painted in order to get the right look.  Anyways, I requested a few pictures and a reader of this blog was kind enough to share them. These may help you in deciding if you’ve been contemplating a wall makeover.

Wheels Theme from Asian Paints

This is the wheels theme for the kids’ room which uses the chalkboard range of Asian Paints.  The chalkboard range is a collection of six themes which includes Kites, Santa, Jungle, Light house, and Duck Trails. Wonder how the most sought-after characters such as Barbie and Spiderman are missing? Chalkboard is a 100% acrylic paint which makes it easy to maintain and wipe any dirt off the walls with a clean cloth. The brilliant blues and enticing pinks, no doubt, can transform any boring kids’ room into a lively one. I’m not sure if the painters do any customization to these themes. It looks like they have standard stencils to get the uniform (advertised) look.

French Riviera - Signature Wall

French Riviera - Signature Wall

Another stencil from the French Riviera Signature Wall series. Have you ever wondered why the interiors of a model apartment or the colors in a paint catalog look elegant and stylish, but not so much when you replicate the same in your house. Well, more often than not, the type of flooring, lighting, furniture and the soft accessories can make all the difference to bring the desired effect to a room. So, what necessarily looks good in a catalog may not be the right choice for the size of your room.

Metallic Effects : Spatula

Finally, the special effect called Spatula in the metallic series. Sponging and ragging are my personal favorites in this series, preferably, in some other color.

Image courtesy : A reader of this blog (thank you very much for sharing them)