Lamps on the ramp

I need to buy a lamp. Just got some new book shelves, media furniture and couches made for the lounge, which can do with a feature lamp or two, or three :-). While I am yet to launch the lamp search at my usual haunts, I found some lampicious stuff on the net. Some are from stores I frequent whenever I travel - so am quite looking forward to my next trip :-)

From www.2modern.com (love the color of the art deco lamp's base)


From: www.ikea.com (the blue one will look even better with a patterned or printed shade)



From: www.kernsnursery.com (base material = metal. similar to second ikea lamp)



From: www.lighting-direct.co.uk


From: www.nichemodern.com and www.potterybarn.com


From: www.markandspencer.com and www.westelm.com


From: www.dwr.com (portable lamp!) and www.designpublic.com



Paper and fabric lamps - the kind available at Fab India also abound - the difference being the price at which they are available in India and outside India. They are much cheaper in India and you would also find many more designs. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any good online resource for lamps in India...so would need to do the good ol' actual window shopping and going back and forth from one shop to another to finally pick up lamps worthy of new furniture :-)

Rent a Tent!

Tents always remind me of childhood - when we would play make-believe 'house-house' (literal translation from hindi: 'Ghar-Ghar')...I remember trying to convert corners, space under stairs and attics into cozy 'houses' with bed sheets or loose fabric tucked under a chair, hooked onto the door. Sometimes even position one of the younger kids to sit still with a pole in the center of the fabric so that our 'tent house' doesn't fall! Ah...'twas so much simpler to build a house then! ;-)

Covering (no pun intended!) tents in this post. Not too many people (with enough moolah) actually live in tents, but quite a few vacation resorts (on beach, wildlife reserves, mountains, desert) offer accommodation in tents. Some of these are faux tents - with walls made from bricks/mud but designed and stylised like a tent. Take a look at these yum images below:

From: http://aseascape.com/ (Goa)

From: http://www.miravananatureresort.com/ (Rajasthan)

From: http://www.sherbagh.com/ (Ranthambore)

From: http://www.samode.com/ (Rajasthan)

And, now some uber luxury stuff ...

From: http://www.oberoihotels.com/ (Ranthambore)

From: http://www.amanresorts.com/

Some from outside India:

http://www.wildretreat.com/ (Canada)

And www.finchhattons.com/ (Kenya)

Sigh...am ready to pack my bags and live the nomadic life... well...luxurious nomadic life that is!

If this inspires you to get that tent up and running in your back yard, you can find some good options here and here too. A room (ideally a sunny room with a view) can also be styled as a tent with fabric on walls and a canopy. Use wall scones shaped as lanterns and some nice rustic furniture pieces, a planter or two, and you have a tent in a room ready!

And I, can't help, looking at walls...Wall Art Part Deux

Continuing on walls...

One trend which is picking up again (yes, even in India) is that of wallpapers. I am personally not big on wallpapers; I like them more on a feature wall, or as a diagonal/vertical strip. Presenting some latest wallpaper designs from Designer's Guild (UK). The F&F store in Delhi and Gurgaon apparently stocks products from Designer's guild too:

And ofcourse, the other option with walls is cladding them with stone or brick:

Images: www.pointclickhome.com and www.islandstone.com

And even mud (traditional rural house building material becomes 'in' now!)

Image: http://www.makeitmudbricks.com.au/

Other interesting wall installations found on http://www.2modern.com/




DIY - I guess the above effect can also be achieved with some ingenuity using plaster of paris (?) :-)



There are so many other wall finishes - wall decals, faux wall finishes, fabric coverings, wall mural art etc...shall cover all of above some time later

Color me tender, color me true...Wall Art Part I

As I gradually do up my home (trust me, it does take time for some one as 'selective' as I am- that's what I call myself, but others might just call it being in the state of 'can't ever make up her mind!'), I become fascinated with one aspect of interiors from time to time. My current mind space occupier are Walls - colored walls, patterned walls, textured wall, wall papered walls, rocky walls - you name it, I have visualized it!

While there is an amazing variety of options available in the US and UK, I did some research for what is available in India. In this post, I will cover some interesting options provided by Asian Paints , and also what I will do MYSELF [:-D] to one of our master bedroom walls

First, some Elvis Presley for walls by aforementioned paints:

Quite nice...though I wonder how long can one live with a dominant wall color...in any case, there is no harm trying!

Now, what I want to do MYSELF...

1. Pick up a wall and color it in ochre- which along with sounding quite exotic, looks somewhat like the color tick marked in the shade card below:

Pic Courtesy: http://www.apaints.com/

2. The paint would be textured and would look something like this:

3. Now, pick up a nice wooden handblock (see pic below):

Pic courtesy: http://www.eastofhere.co.uk/

4. Some of the maaany designs available in handblocks are given below:

Pic courtesy: http://www.craftrevival.org/ (ask me why I put the link before the image and spoiled the consistency of this post...^&*@# formatting trouble)

5. Dip the handblock in deep cooper color and run amok printing on the ochre textured wall (not run amok exactly - but do some thinking around spacing the prints out, symmetry etc)

6. And voila! the wall that I did MYSELF...ahem, will do MYSELF will be ready! :-)

Well, there will be a day in the near future when I post the pic of the finished wall!

More to come on walls in Part Deux of Wall Art...