Tuesday 24 September 2013

Helpful Hubby!

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See him up there?




He is the most helpful Hubby! Along with his helpfullness, Hubby gives himself to me all day for my birthday. Basically, I GET TO BOSS HIM AROUND!


Remember when I had painted the upper fireplace white to match the mantel (way back in February), but lacked the finishing touch...trim? If not, you can see that post HERE.


 So I asked Hubby to cut and install the
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Vastu Gyan: Master Bedroom Vastu

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Master bedroom in a home is occupied by head of the family and is considered as most private part in the home. It is the place to unwind and relax. Sound sleep is an important factor in maintaining good health. It is also a place where you start and end your day. Therefore utmost care should be taken while doing up master bedroom as you spend one-third of the whole day in this room. Here are vastu tips:

The best direction for master bedroom is Southwest direction other option is Northwest and North. Avoid Southeast direction. Bedroom should always be away from main entrance to prevent disturbance.
Shape of the room should always be either square or rectangular. As it ensures better arrangement of furniture in a room.
Placing bed in south direction is an ideal location so that while sleeping one's head should be towards South. Sleeping with head towards east is also a good option but avoid North. Only dead bodies are placed with their head towards North and legs towards South.

Image Source: Click Here
There should not be any beam just above the bed. Always keep bed little far from the wall for proper air circulation.
Doors of the bedroom should open fully, if it's not than it can limit flow of fresh air inside the room. East, West and North are the suitable direction for door.
Windows in East an North ensure morning sunrays and proper light throughout the day.
Avoid placing mirror opposite to the bed, Idols or pictures of God in bedroom, storage under the bed (it restricts proper air circulation).
Dresser should be placed in North.
Bathroom should be in the East or Southeast. Avoid placing bed facing bathroom's door.
Ideal location for cupboard is Southwest or Northwest. Safe or valuables should be kept in Southwest facing North.
Avoid bright colored walls for bedroom. Ideal colors are green, chocolate, light blue or gray.

These are some guidelines to bring happiness, prosperity and health to the head of the family and other family members.
Read about Dining Room Vastu here



Friday 20 September 2013

Our Fall Mantel

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Happy Friday and "Happy *Almost* Fall Y'all!"


I'm excited to be a part of the "Autumn Abounds" series, featuring Fall decor and recipes from several bloggers!  I've been so inspired with all that I've seen over the last two weeks!

Now, it's my turn ... for my part, I thought I'd share our Fall mantel, full of seasonal color:  



Okay, so, when it comes to styling mantels, my OCD-self always *has* to add the centerpiece first and work my way out.  Thankfully, when I was cleaning out underneath my son's bed (yes, I hide accessories EVERYwhere), I came across this wood and iron piece that I used as part of our Fall mantel two years ago (seen here).  So, I blew the dust off of it and propped it up here once again, except *this* time, I layered a wreath in front of it for a pop of color. 


These colorful and fun "GIVE THANKS" blocks yelled out to me to take them home when I was a local decor shop not too long ago ... must've been that cute owl trying to get my attention.  It worked!


I then pulled out pumpkin candlesticks I had on hand (from Big Lots), along with vases that I filled with various Fall branches and feathers:


I've had these cute Fall cards for a few years and thought it'd be fun to attach them to various branches with mini leaf clothespins (from Michael's):



Of course, it wouldn't be a Fall mantel in our house without a little bit of garland.  And, why not raid my husband's stinky tackle box for fishing line so that I could have a few leaves "falling" off of the mantel, too.


You think if I rake those leaves up that I'll have a pile big enough to jump into?


Faux pumpkins, nestled in a simple urn, hopefully won't melt sitting by the fire:


   At night, the candles magically turn on and add a bit o' ambiance:


And, the orange string lights woven through the garland help make the leaves glow: 



Ahhh, nighttime (and, fun exposure effects from PicMonkey):


Come back soon for more of our Fall home!

In the meantime, I hope you didn't miss Mary Beth's fabulous recipe for sweet potato apple soup ...


  
or these amazing homes, filled with autumn goodness!

Monday, Sept, 9th Shannon @ http://foxhollowcottage.com
Tuesday, Sept. 10th Heather @ http://www.atthepicketfence.com
Wednesday, Sept. 11th Jen @ http://www.jenniferrizzo.com
Thursday, Sept. 12th Kristin @ http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com
Friday, Sept. 13th Maryann @ http://www.domestically-speaking.com
Monday, Sept. 16th Kristin @ http://www.yellowblissroad.com
Tuesday, Sept. 17th Vanessa @ http://www.atthepicketfence.com
Wednesday, Sept. 18th Heather @  http://www.settingforfour.com
Thursday, Sept. 19th Mary Beth @ http://cupcakesandcrinoline.com

And, here's who is up next!

Monday, Sept. 23rd Kristen @ http://www.ellaclaireinspired.com
Tuesday, Sept. 24th Angelina @ http://jojoandeloise.com
Wednesday, Sept. 25th Courtney @http://www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
Thursday, Sept. 26th Debbie @ http://debbie-debbiedoos.com
Friday, Sept. 27th Kim @ http://sandandsisal.com

And, come party with me here!

Thrifty Decor Chick/It's Fall Y'all Mantel Party
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia/Tuesday's Treasures

Thanks so much for stopping by,

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Thursday 19 September 2013

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Madubani Painted In Natural Dyes

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An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

Few days ago when I decided to paint the Madhubani art that my sister had drawn for me, an idea sparked in my mind. The idea was to paint the madhubani art in natural dyes to give it a perfect look and feel of ancient art form of India. Here is my artwork.
Madhubani Painting in natural dyes
Here is how I prepared natural dyes:
1 part Turmeric powder+2 part water+ boil = Yellow Color
Leaves (preferably spinach/smooth gourd/beans) + crush and squeeze = Sap Green
1 Part Beet root + 2 Part water + boil = Red color
1 part Blue berries + 2 Part water + boil = Blue color
You can use various flowers and vegetables to get different colors. Once you are ready with your natural dyes you can get more hues by mixing colors. Like mix red and yellow to get orange, mix blue and yellow to get green etc.

Madhubani Art
My palette of natural colors 
 I had hard time filling colors in this art as it has very intricate work and I completed it with utmost dedication and lot of patience.  

Madhubani Painting

Closer look of intricate work..

Madhubani Art



Madhubani Painting

Yes it has turtle too :)

Madhubani Design


Madhubani Pattern


Madhubani Fishes

I loved the painting totally. It has come out as I wanted it to be.
Have you seen my new blog Lakshya...not yet...then head over there and let me know what do you think of it :)



Wednesday 18 September 2013

Tuesday 17 September 2013

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Online Shopping @ Pepperfry: Review

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I have shopped online with numerous online shopping sites and It's always fun and super easy to shop online. Recently I was asked to review Pepperfry hence I shopped from their 'Home Decor' section. So let me take pleasure to introduce you to Pepperfry.

About Pepperfry:
Founded in July 2011 by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, both ex eBay employees who decided to set up their own company. Pepperfry.com opened for business on the 3rd of January 2012 to give customers a wide selection of amazingly priced Furniture, Home and Living products and a consistently great shopping experience.
Pepperfry is today India’s No. 1 online Furniture, Home and Living destination, offering products across categories like Furniture, Home Décor, Furnishings, Kitchen & Dining, Housekeeping, Fitness, Leisure and Pet Supplies.

My Shopping Experience With Pepperfry:
I was asked to choose a product from their 'Home Decor' section. I opened their site and found some very striking features like it is very well designed, easy to browse, vast variety of products, hassle free, time saving and most importantly there are multiple and secured payment options available. Take a look of their well designed portal.



I browsed through 'Home Decor' section and found very interesting and ample number of decor items. To narrow down my search I selected 'Clock' option from the many other available there. That means many products are available there and narrowing your search is just a click away. You can sort the items by their price and  shipping time.
I clicked on the product that I liked and there full description of the product was available with dimensions, colors, price, availability and shipping time. I rolled over the image of the product available there and got a bigger and nicer view of the product. Truly amazing isn't it and I'm very well satisfied now.
You can take their online help at any moment if you have any query or doubt.
Then comes the trickiest part of making payment, but here it seemed the easiest part of the shopping. I took a whole 3 days to choose my product but made payment just in 3 mins....wow that's wonderful. You can pay through Credit Card/ Debit card, net banking, most popular in India COD (Cash On Delivery) and Paypal. 
After placing my order I got confirmation through mail and on the phone also. I placed order on 29th Aug and received it on  4th Sep. Now here I would like to share some pictures that will tell you about their excellent shipping services and well packed products. 






Yes I purchased this 'Vintage clock'. More about it in next post. It reached me safely and as you can see it has a glass panel on both the sides so I was much worried about its safe arrival but when I opened the package I was totally amazed to see the excellent packing and I received my clock without any damage. Thank you Pepperfry for your excellent services.



Stay tuned to see my Painted Madhubani and I have something to share too :)

Monday 16 September 2013