Bath renovation ideas...



Universe never seem to deliver on your terms... it just does when it does!

I'm gonna skip the background story and just mention that we had some extensive water damage in our house last month which has forced us to look into remodeling bathrooms in our house.

Although it was on my wish list to update the bathroom when we moved in last year but right now is not a convenient time for a remodel... but as they say, be careful what you wish for!

Needless to say its been stressful around here, it seems no good contractor is available to work on an emergency remodeling project, most of them are booked months in advance. So, while I wait to for the schedule of plumber and dry-wall guy and carpenter to line up, I decided its a good time to go on an inspiration trip on the internet.

I like clean and straight lines and white for me is the best color when it comes home décor, its peaceful, calm and timeless.



A quick Wall Mural

Its been a few months living in California and I have made a few friend, met some of my neighbors and still some days are very tough to get through. This change is a daily reminder of the inevitability and unpredictability of life… tomorrow is not guaranteed! 

This mural happened during one such day where I refused to give in and decided to channel my confusion and desperation into something eye-catching. DH was out of town for business so he couldn't pull me out of my trance and I made it with the expectation that if he doesn't like it, I'll paint right over it and bought a pint of background color in advance.

Easy Canopy bed for kids

A few years ago we started out our girls in a shared bedroom and playing room but keeping in mind that the furniture is coordinated and flexible for the time when the girls would want their own rooms. Well, my younger one decided that she wants a canopy bed… something I hadn't planned for. Even though Pottery Barn makes beautiful canopy beds, I couldn't order a canopy kit for the Catalina bed that we had and I didn't want to upgrade the whole bed for what might end up being a passing fancy.

From my kitchen - Dutch oven chicken...

I was inspired by Chandan's traditional kitchen style post and the other day while I was busy preparing a quick meal for the family, I decided to click a few pictures. This meal or my kitchen is a good representation of my life in the Here & Now...

Potatoes and Onions waiting to be chopped

This post is not about my decoration style or recipes or my collection of serving dishes,it is about the slow metamorphosis of a being that is beyond mere existence.

With roots buried deep and clean into Indian culture, the spices are a remedy for everything from a well cooked meal to runny noses and tummy aches. The demands of the palate, the schedule and the American way of trying to fit a lot in little has turned it into a one pot meal.

Whole spices to accompany chicken 

Mortar and Pestle from IKEA

Can't go wrong with a little garlic and rosemary

In the end it’s not India and it’s not American either… it’s a meal teetering on the edge of both and neither. A sample of my feelings and my belief and my creativity and most of all the necessity…  

A few capers and fresh green chilies thrown in at the last minute... 

Jungle themed Playroom

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The Bedroom

Sharing a few pictures of our bedroom here...

I think the color of the room was the most dramatic considering our tastes and that set the tone for the rest of the décor as well. I fell in love with this color during my then frequent visits to the Restoration Hardware store located on Grand Ave. The store has since closed so my visits there are not so frequent anymore. The Grand Ave store had this slate Grey on its wall and seeing it come alive in different forms among the various lighting conditions was the trigger for inspiration. The color for this room was decided while this house was still under construction.

Kids Play & Work Room

Don’t be afraid of bright colors; colors specially the bright ones don’t need to come in pint size. 

This is something that I realized while decorating kids play room.
When I picked the color, DH was skeptical but since it was the play room, he didn't object. I had posted pictures of kids bedroom a while back and I guess this is the counterpart of that room. The furniture in the bedroom and playroom were decided based on the fact that in teenage years the girls might need their separate spaces and so the beds and the secretary desks are in matching paint colors.


It took me a long time to share kids playroom because I wished the room to be done before I present it and it was kind of a learning curve for me to understand that design and decor evolves continually and it is tough to reach the ideal state of 'completely done'.
So here is a quick tour of the girls playroom, you might recognize some of the elements from my DIY posts but it all comes together here in this space...

Spring Wreath

This post must come across as a contradiction after the last pictures of February snow but what can I say, my relationship with winter is a classic Love-Hate…

Some days I welcome snow with my arms open and on other days I am gently suggesting that it has overstayed its welcome. And on days in between, I realize my minuscule power over nature and I keep telling myself… it too shall pass, just like all the other winters preceding this one.

Yesterday evening as I pulled into the driveway and witnessed the battle between the glow of the setting sun and the mound of the snow-ice mix in the yard, I decided to empower the feeling of warmth and change the wreath on my doorway to something spring.

House plants - natural accent pieces

Hubby recently bought me a Jasmine plant from Trader Joe's and it just started to bloom yesterday. 

The girls although suffering from plugged noses, impairing their olfactory senses, were able to sense the sweet smell and commented that it smells like conservatory in here. Oh! What a compliment. 

Since I have a plastic thumb that I am trying very hard to paint green by planting veggies in my patch during summer months and maintaining the house plants the rest of the year, I am still basking in the wonder of that compliment. 

Fabric as door screen

This Sunday presented to be a very opportune day when we could hang out at our home together as a family. The ice skating class for kids wasn’t there and had I know it before; I’d have scheduled us for another activity. We also wanted to go see our friends’ new baby but she wasn’t feeling well so we dropped the plan. And I don’t know for what particular reason but we scuttled our plan to go to ‘Mall of America’ too.

And since I started hyperventilating and wallow myself in guilt if at the end of a relaxing day I have nothing to show for but my calm nerves (hypothetically), it was fortunate that we (DH & I) could finish up this quick DIY project.

Our front door has quite a bit of glass in it and though it’s extremely desirable on long summer days, it left us wishing for a little more privacy during the short days of Fall. We wanted a quick, clean solution for the time being till our contractor can come back and change the door style for us.

I got this idea of using fabric as wall paper from ‘how about orange’. The execution once we got around to doing it was pretty simple, got the fabric from IKEA and made wall-paper paste from flour (Recipe).

Everything else is self-explanatory in the pictures; needless to say we love the results and don’t have to worry who can peek into our living room when it’s dark at 5:00pm in the evening.

Before

Wall paper paste on fabric

During

After 1

After

Sari-Party

Since, my sari pictures were so well received at the ‘discomania’ that I decided to share a few pictures of Sari party that I hosted at my place last fall.

I have travelled and moved so much as a kid that I always felt that I carried my roots in my arms, roots that go beyond my ethnicity and encompass the experiences and encounters that have molded me. I have lived in this state and this country the longest I have ever lived in one place and though it is very different from where I originated, it has significantly contributed to the roots that I have finally began to let go. I have caught myself saying that I don’t want to move again till my girls are in college and that is very unlike me as I used to be.

I have taken a lot from the culture that I now call my home and I have given back equally. It is not possible for any person to live in isolation and with interaction comes exchange of ideas, of philosophy, of books, of food, of hugs and love. Well, this Sari Party was my way of giving back to the community that I have received so much from as a person and as a mother through my kids; It was a pleasure introducing friends to the ‘unstitched fabric’ or the ‘pure fabric (something that has not been spoiled by the needles made out of animal bones). There is usually 6 yards of it but it can be longer depending on the style it is tied around the body and it can be of any fabric from silk to cotton to modern day mixed fabric and has a myriad of patterns and embroideries.

Inspired by styling

I used to frequent the decor8 blog very frequently and over a few moves at home and at work I lost links to my favorite bookmarks resulting in the rediscovery of decor8 blog some months ago.


Since presentation and styling is a favorite subject of mine, this site provides plenty of eye candy and inspiration.

We are still settling in our home and since I am trying very hard to achieve an un-matched look it will take me a long time to style my house the way I want it to be.

Away from the topic I am pursuing but on a similar note, I attended the premier show of the TPT and Goldstein Museum collaboration of the movie and exhibition ‘Smart House, livable community’ last month. It is primarily a design solutions exhibition for people planning for old age and still trying to live in their current homes as long as possible to maintain their freedom and integrity. I got a lot out of it even though I am not planning retirement anytime soon; it was especially cleansing me of the American ways. Where I come from (India), we don’t plan housing as a temporary abode for that particular phase of life, it is built for life and for the life of all the next generations imaginable. The main aspect that hit me in the heart was the discussion before the movie presentation and this particular comment, ‘don’t plan and design your house among things you don’t like and would like to change, try to enhance and embrace what you love about your current space’. I am sure it was spoken in a very different set of words but this is the gist that I am carrying from the particular discussion.

And this fit in my current topic because of my love of many things and they cannot be bought in a store and built/collected in a few months, living comfortably with your own choices is a process in its own. And I’ll share my choices with you in due time but for now since I am inspired by the shots shared in DECOR8 blog, I started arranging things and taking pictures while doing other chores and would like to share those with you.

This shot was taken while I was waiting for
the water to boil for tea.

DH was cooking us some Ramen noodles Chinese style
and the colors of vegetables begged me to take a picture.

I bought a new muffin pan that bakes in shapes of tulips and other
flowers; so, there’s my chocolate tulip, staged for eating after dinner.

If you can’t fight them, join them. I did join my daughters or maybe
they joined me. Here’s OUR collection of rocks, shells and drift woods
displayed on the mantle.

I have had this tea-set for about a dozen years abut haven’t used it a dozen time even. The other day I discovered it in the unopened boxes in the garage and was filled with nostalgia. I am displaying them on my kitchen counter for now, maybe that will make me use them more often.

My new favorites of the season, tulips, orchids, lilacs,

Gerber daisy,basically all flowers are my favorite but these are the newest in my long list.

And finally the favorite place of me, my family and our friends,

the center island.

Chambre divine des princesses

Sharing some pictures from the girls bedroom, it is still a work in progress and I suppose the intention is that the room grows with the girls but it is at a point where I can share it...

Things around me....

Things that make me think, that remind me to cherish each memory and inspire me to live in the moment...