The holiday mood is setting in. We’re off to Pondicherry for the weekend. Beach vacation score high for all of us in the family; we don’t share too much of a liking for hill stations. With Bangalore getting incessant rainfall over the fast few days, soaking in the sun at Pondicherry will be a welcome break.

Sri Lanka was the first place we holidayed together, in 2002.  Several places followed over the years but the Indian Ocean island remains my favorite.  It’s rather sad that some of the places we stayed at in Bentota and Galle were washed away during Tsunami.

Some gorgeous pictures to kick in the weekend and holiday mood…

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If you feel like your living room is missing that wow factor, don't worry. You can spice things up by adding a couple Crate & Barrel chairs to help complete a unique look for any living space. My personal favorites are the Tess chairs, or if you are looking for a splash of color try the Klyne chair.

Have you been to the Chitrakala Parishath in Bangalore? The place hosts several arts and handicrafts exhibitions round the year and a visit to the center has been on the cards for months now. And, I’m glad it’s going to happen this weekend. Thanks to an exhibition by Maati Crafts from June 30 - July 2nd.

Ever since I saw the beautiful applique curtain on  Once upon a team time, I’ve been asking my husband every time he visits Mumbai if he would be around that area. Just like any Indian hand crafted piece, you’ll fall in love with the work of their artisans once you see their FB page. The vibrant colors and miniature figures are mesmerizing. My favorite is the miniature pottery collection and the curtain.

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Last December, we changed the look of the focus wall in living room with Asian Paints’ decorative paint as part of their Surprise your Spouse campaign. Now, I’m looking at various options to transform a wall in the dining room for a budget under Rs. 10,000. The partially open wall divides the dining area and the kitchen. I would love to give a fireplace look to the wall with some lanterns and low-seating wooden dining table. The look is fresh in my mind but I’m having trouble deciding on the tiles.

For a fireplace look, the choice is easy if the area is large. Any deep-red brick color should do but I’m skeptical as it would make the small dining room much smaller. While scouting for ideas, I came across these lovely well-lit rooms with a rustic feel in the 2008-2011 BBC Good Homes CD collection (have you seen it?) and Houzz.

After looking at these images, I’m leaning towards a lighter color palette - a mix of silver and grey with a brick pattern to give that rustic look.

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The weekend is just around the corner. I’m thinking of de-cluttering the home by giving away some of our furniture and artefacts we’ve collected over the years: my way of freeing up the mind and creating space. While looking for Zen homes, I came across this beautiful bed and breakfast place in Marrakech called Zen House - Riad (nothing related to the zen way of living). But the place is lively and for those of you looking for easy and frugal makeover ideas, there are tons of them in these pictures.

Noticed the huge cylindrical pillars, archways and wooden beams in the courtyard? The blue and whit vase with fresh roses is an icing to the tabletop.

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Don’t you think “going green” has suddenly become so easy? I mean, with so many resources available and widespread awareness, it’s a lot more easier now to procure and nurture plants. I discovered Wingreens, an initiative by Anju Srivastava of Women’s Initative Network (WIN) that retails herbs and oxygenerator plants at malls.

You may already own some oxygen generating plants in your balcony garden without realizing that the greens are doing more good in cleaning up the air around you than you ever imagined.

herb

The herbs come in fancy  planters, so no initial work is needed around them, if you are short on time. Just nurture them regularly by watering and ensuring they get ample sunlight. And see your dream of having a herb garden come true.

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Before I sign off for the weekend, I wanted to share with you some inspiring ideas for decorating your garden. This month’s Better Home and Gardens has some lovely ideas for creating a relaxing nook in your garden. Don’t worry if you don’t live in a sprawling bungalow with a huge garden. With a little creativity you can create one in your balcony too.  I saw the fuchsia bench on BHG’s facebook page and fell in love with it. If you have a old cane chair, how about  painting it in this color.

Add a little drama to the setting with a water fountain or urn.

Isn’t this a perfect setting for a summer evening?

Image courtesy:

June 2011 images from Facebook page of Better Homes and Gardens and digital version.

Tending to balcony garden has been long overdue. I lost some plants this summer to pests including my favorite orange hibiscus which has flowered maniacally over the past two years. Sometimes, the white sticky pest you see on these plants come from the neighboring infected ones or there could be something wrong with the soil itself. In this case, it came from the adjacent white hibiscus.

It was a busy gardening day yesterday. Got half a dozen plants from the Jeevaa Bhima Nagar nursery. If you haven’t been in a while, it’s a good time to drop by as the nursery is well stocked with flowering plants, edible herbs and vegetables. I picked a 7-layered scented jasmine, large red hybrid hibiscus, Ixora red,  okra/ladies finger/bhindi, hilli, and tulsi. Repotted them myself so it was quite some task but loved every bit of it. Redecorating the balcony is in store over thenext few weeks. So stay tuned..meanwhile I leave you with images of the new plants..

See you Monday!

Image courtesy:

Chilli - (missyredboots)

Garlic Chives (slideshowmom)

Are you, like me,who fancies lovely crockery that’s different than the regular whites and florals? I fell in love instantly with ceramic/earthenware collection of Alice Mara - in particular, the hanging people bowls in red.

I was happy to find a similar concept on quirko shop called little people on dinner plates in monochrome colors.

Image courtesy:

Quirko shop

Alice Mara

Do we have any readers from Kolkata here? During a trip to a interior village in West Bengal, we stopped over in the city for a night. Flipping through the pages of a daily, I came across an ad for Green Mall that piqued my interest. Going over their website, I’m pleased to have discovered.

Is there someone here who buys plants and other accessories regularly from the place? I wish there was something like that in Bangalore. The place is a nursery-cum-restaurant that houses about 2,500 types of indoor and outdoor plants - a treat to any gardener. Yes, you read it right. 2,500. I’m drooling over the images and wish I had the time to drop in for a lunch and some garden shopping.

For folks like me, who don’t live in the city, I think we can benefit from the site by looking at the categorization of plants and picking ideas for house plants and plants that thrive well in semi-shade.

Image courtesy: Green Mall

Appearing for the big exam calls for a brief hiatus from the blog every time. Now that it’s over, the quant-analytical brain can be given a rest to indulge in the simple pleasures of life. And for me, it always starts soaking up images with a riot of colors.  For three months, the BBC Good Homes magazine piled up waiting to be opened on June 6. Without fail, I did that yesterday and loved the recent issue the most for two reasons - it has dozens of ideas to decorate kids spaces and practical tips on gardening.

If you remember, I hand painted my son’s bunk bed last summer. The project is not complete and I intend to finish it now.For the benefit of international readers, I’m posting pictures from the issue.

Letting kids paint the pots is actually a brilliant idea. This summer vacation, I let my son paint all the diyas and pots with no instructions. Just let his imagination flow and you’d be surprised at the results. Shall post soon.

Like the chequered carpet?

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