Dervish

Saw this here

Was struck by the colours, the peace it exuded

Tried it with my pastels

The Sufi Dervish whirl - The Sema ritual began with the inspiration of Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi (1207-1273) and was influenced by Turkish customs and culture.

"By revolving in harmony with all things in nature -- with the smallest cells and with the stars in the firmament -- the semazen testifies to the existence and the majesty of the Creator, thinks of Him, gives thanks to Him, and prays to Him. In so doing, the semazen confirms the words of the Qur'an (64:1): Whatever is in the skies or on earth invokes God. "

Dont you feel a sense of calm and peace looking at the photograph?

Accent wall

The DIY bug bit me a while ago and I've been making full use of the incubation period.

As I was saying in my last post, the ugly bar cabinet was slated to go.

You can see the mirrored cabinet at the far end of the room ( behind my cute daughter, u can also catch my reflection trying to capture the moment)

The initial plan was to do an accent wall or get a professional to put wall paper till I finalised on something. However my  frenetic passion for DIY would have none of that. Husband was only too happy coz the helpful handyman quoted a whopping $ 1200 to paint and lay the wall paper.

After months of procrastinating, We ( I ) finally decided on the date to have it removed.

In just under 3 hours, the helpful handyman  and his team expertly unhinged  the eye sore door to door.

He then handed over the naked wall to me and left with a pocket full of cash.

It was now at the mercy of my vagaries.

I cleaned it lovingly and thoroughly.

I moulded putty into all the ugly cracks and crevices

I should've sanded and primed it but you see I was too impatient. I would regret this folly much later


I proceeded to paint it a light powdery blue

I had earlier ordered a lovely paisley wall decal from walldecal.com. The best part was I could customise it to any colour. I chose gold because turquoise/ light blue and gold is my all time favourite combo.

Four gruelling hours and a broken back later, I must say I am quite happy with the tranformation. My cute daughter and patient helper helped me put up the smaller decals.

Those of you who have tried their hand at wall decals know how frustrating it can get sometimes, especially with intricate designs. 

The afore mentioned folly of not priming the wall promptly came back and bit me in the rear.

The paint started peeling with the stcker and in few places the decal wont stick flat to the surface. Thankfully this was in the niche wall that was not facing outside.

All in all I must say I am happy with the end result ( for now).

Feature wall

The ugly bar cabinet that inhabits most of my living room space has been slated for dismantling ever since we laid our eyes on it when we first saw our place. The previous owner was obviously a man of the world and really enjoyed his drink. In our household, drinking is synonymous with entertaining, neither of which happens at regular intervals.
The idea is to dismantle the eye sore of a cabinet and in its place add a tidy little feature wall.  Ive been shopping around for ideas and ofcourse the friendly internet is always there to help.

I liked a few ideas...Let's see if we could agree on one :) ( Not that I can afford all of them.. but hey! who says I cant dream)

Contemporary Living Room by Nashville Photographer Rachel Paul

Modern Dining Room by Nashville Interior Designer Beckwith Interiors

Contemporary Dining Room by Minneapolis Architect Charlie Simmons - Charlie & Co. Design, Ltd.

Contemporary Bathroom by Montreal Architect TOC design

Eclectic Entry by Salt Lake City Interior Designer Meld Design



"This wall is made of hand applied real silver leaf with an antique glaze on 3/4" MDF panels. The panels are applied to the wall with finishing nails and liquid nails and the nail holes are hidden by the applied walnut moldings that are applied between the panels"

Contemporary Living Room by Miami Interior Designer Arnold Schulman Design Group

Absolutely love this idea- reminds me of cots we had at home when I was little.

Couldnt resist this one

If only...

Isnt the whole white on white gorgeous?!!

So what if I was just day dreaming? It was all worth the weight in drool..

Something is brewing in the bathroom...OK that did not sound very good!

OK Im DIYing my bathroom

Just a sneak peek of whats coming up later...

Dream a little dream

Many years ago, I had a dream. I was in this beautiful white washed room with a large balcony facing the ocean. My bed was a soft mass of white linens. What I remembered loving the most about the dream were the billowing white tulle curtains playing peek a boo with the view outside. I decided that would be my dream house.

Even to this day, swaying palms and white curtains dancing to the evening breeze bring about such nostalgia- probably a throw back to my childhood summers!

Can you feel the gossamer breeze on your face?

The bed is winking at my groaning body saying " Try me!"

Reminds me of our make shift tents made out of bedsheets during our summer holidays

Yup! I left my heart in Bintan :)

All pics from the helpful internet

Weekend getaway

That was awesome Bintan !!

Learnt a new word today

Pulchritude!

Had to look up the dictionary when I saw this on an interesting blog +Priya Sebastian  http://theplumtree.blogspot.sg/2008/09/pulchritude.html

It means great physical beauty and comliness.

Do these qualify?

A cornucopia of colours

I am on an Indian spree right now! As I am going through all those lovely Indian decor blogs out there, ( Rang decor, An Indian summer, Celebrations decor to name a few) I am amazed at the talent and wealth of culture in India. So Im rummaging around the house for all things Indian and putting them under the spotlight again, so to speak!

Jewellery box that sits in my shelf! My daughter admonished me the other day for buying 'totally useless objects'

Hand painted post card - how retro!

Had bought some lovely stuff from Jaipur six years when we went on a holiday. We had stayed at the majestic Neemrana fort.


Unfortunately that meant we were a long way away from the hustle and bustle of Jaipur.



Cut work bedsheet - now being used as a screen panel for the skylights! Love the shadows!

The chest is actually Indonesian on which I painted some flowers
Cut work table runner- admire the love and patience of the artisan women!

Just frame a pattern to you like - voila! an art piece!



Are'nt these door stoppers cute?

Kalamkari back panel - once a part of my dress! (Is'nt the husband cute ?!)

My daughter was about three and just about developing a personality. Shopping naturally took a back seat- which I regret to this day. The last day of the vacation was alloted for my retail therapy and that meant I was running around like a headless chicken most of the time!

Got conned by the taxi driver into buying everything at twice the price on the first day. Ya NRI and all.
But managed to bring back some treasures. 

We even got a heavy wooden Jharokha shipped all the way to Singapore. We are yet to put it up coz I havent found a suitable spot for this massive peice. It could also be because I havent found nails heavy duty enough to hold it!

Told you I have a thing for boxes :)