Vignettes of beauty in Reshma's home!

Its been a while since I have done a home tour. Not for lack of finding pretty homes, but all the other design bloggers beat me to them! :-)


Well sirree, not this time! 


Have you ever seen images of a home and related INSTANTLY to them? Homes that have the same design sensibility, the same colors and the same textures that appeal to you? That's what happened when I came across pics of Reshma's home. I had just befriended her a few days ago on FB and when she posted these pics of her home last week, I was like "whaaaaaaat"? 


Here's a look at one of them....

Wicker seat, ceramic pot with succulents, textured cushion covers, wooden tray.....I loved it! So I asked her for more pics and permission to post on my blog and she obliged.


What I liked best about her home is the little vignettes of utter beauty she has created. Little "hot spots" of color and texture that are total eye candy. I've long been a believer of "vignettes"...those little visual treats that light up dark corners and unused spaces and give your eye a resting place while they are darting about the room. A place to stop, stare and drink in the beauty. I have also toyed for a long time on doing a post on that. So this was the perfect segue for me. 


This is what Reshma says about her home 


 "It all started in Jan 2011 when we bought a plot and started building a house on it. We knew nothing about house construction, had never even got a pillar erected before this since we had been living in rented places for 10 years so were quite apprehensive but very excited nonetheless. I got into every aspect of house building, construction, masonry,carpentry, tiling, the works and there would be times when things went totally wrong and we had to pull down certain parts and do it all over again. i would get really mad coz I really wanted the work to finish off soon and sometimes things just did not turn out well. Those were the weak moments or rather frustrating ones but once I was flipping through some magazine and I came across a quote that said 'some people look for a beautiful place to live in and some can make any place look beautiful' and these two lines changed my entire view." 


Anyway, enough prose here. Let's get to the pictures. Enjoy!

Reshma herself says - "I love converting all those dead corners into something cozy and every room in my home has a corner dedicated to chatais/durries and floor cushions, some potted plants and knick- knacks huddled up together and of course a lamp. You will also see a lot of wrought iron stuff in my house...love it"!

"My patio is made up of 5 wooden pillars. I love that area specially coz I get to hang lots of chimes and pots from the beams...just love all that hanging stuff and terracotta is my favourite outdoor stuff....reasonably priced and ethnic too."

Another thing we both share in common is we are both "Lucknowites"! Many of you may not know but I lived in Lucknow for 8 years as a child and have always loved that city. So when I heard that Reshma lived in Lucknow, I felt the connection get even stronger.

Reshma, thank for allowing us all a peek into your home! Its lovely, and when I come visit Lucknow (which is a top priority on my bucket list), I'll swing by and see it in person :-)

Sensational Spaces VII-Anita Kaushal's London home

I was doing my usual favorite soporific post-lunch thing - web surfing and blog hopping - and one thing kept leading to another till I spotted THIS house and did a double take! I went no further because I could not tear away from the gorgeousness and beauty of this home except to move my fingers and immediately e mail the owner and find out if I could do a post on her home! I love designers - but when I see an Indian designer doing such fabulous work and who has clearly carved an incredible niche in the design field in another country, my desi heart swells with pride! 


Anita Kaushal is an author, a stylist and a designer. In addition to writing and styling for leading UK publications which include The Observer, The Guardian and London Magazine, she regularly contributes quotes and tips for lifestyle and interiors titles, and this lively home has been featured in design publications internationally. She has also written design books namely FamilyLifestyleHome and The Family at Home. Her books clearly underscore her design philosophy when it comes to family and children...."I think the first thing to remember is to see the family as a unified whole and not a as a “them” and “us” because frankly, no matter how much space you devote to them, they will always want to be where you are anyway.  Treat the home as on family space but bedrooms as private retreat. The house is so much better for the personalities that live in it and if you relax, they will too. I don’t see any sacrifice in having children in the house – it just opens up so many more possibilities". 


I love it! For more of an interview with her, read this. But wait, before you head off, take a look at this stunning home!

The swing for kids and adults to sit on and gaze out into the garden

The kitchen sofa for the Sunday paper and latte indulgence

The lady herself in the living room

The Gorgeous kitchen..... (sorry to keep using the "G" word, but I honestly cannot think of another more apt word")

.........and cherished possessions

The hall - more a family gathering place with CD's, pictures and a piano, so its friendly and usable, not just an empty pass-through

The bedroom and bathroom are one, just divided by space (I don't think I could ever be this brave) but hey, more power to those who can!

 The bed with its velvet covered headboard which changes to light linen or voile in the summer for a quick update and change

Her 8 year old daughter's room where the pink stage is very much alive

 And the son's room with a little hatch in the ceiling above the bunk bed from where he climbs into the loft playspace

The children's bathroom given a dash of color by a needlepoint rug on the wall

Never have I doubted my colored walls in my home so much as after seeing this home! So I am off now to obliterate every orange, terracotta and red wall, and paint them a nice calming serene cooling summery shade of white!!!

Sensational Spaces VI - 15' x 15'

"Have nothing in your house you do not consider to be useful or beautiful'~ so said William Morris, the English textile designer, artist and writer.

This is not new to many of us in the design world, we've all heard this and would like to think we aspire to this. I have things in my house which are useful but ugly, and then I have things that are utterly beautiful but absolutely useless. And then I have those that are both beautiful and functional. We all do.

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled (yes, I literally did, as I was oohing and aahing over the lovely spinach growing in the backyard) into my maid's one roomed house this morning and saw simple uncluttered beauty and function living hand in hand!

{A little background here - for those living in India, I do not have to explain about a maid; but for those living outside the country it may be new...so let me explain that anyone who can afford to have a maid, or some sort of domestic help, usually has one. Sometimes they live in quarters within the house compound, sometimes they come in to work from elsewhere. Our maid and her husband - our general factotum watchman/gardner/errand man/car and window washer/dog walker - live in this one roomed house, within our plot. They are a family of 4 including a 14 year old daughter and a 8 year old son.}

 From her work ethic, (she's a gal after my own heart and loves to clean and scrub) I knew without a doubt that she keeps a neat and tidy home, but I was so amazed by what I saw when I fell in, I asked her if I could take pics to share with my readers. She squealed and protested, but I persisted and she finally agreed.

I have written previously about design in rural India, to show the pride with which the village people display their everyday household articles.....cooking utensils, storage items, bed linens, toiletries. A sensational space is not just a beautiful home filled with lovely objects, fabulous artwork and gorgeous furniture - that's easy to do when you have the means. It's more about making your space your own, filled with items that remind you of your heritage, showcasing your creativity, and most importantly keeping it beautiful and functional - as our friend WM said above - on a tight budget and a tighter space.

So without further ado, I share with you these pictures....of a humble, 225 square foot room, personalized by the people who live there.

Everything in its place and a place for everything...organization at its best!

Walls plastered with images of gods, newspaper articles, Bollywood celebrities, design ideas, rangoli patterns

Pictures from old calendars used as wallpaper.....

Shiny steel utensils in a utensil holder in the window niche

Grains and pulses, their daily food

 Water storage

A shelf with flowers and incense for the Hindu gods and goddesses....a tribute to their Nepali heritage

 Bougainvillea in a glass bottle....I love this pic the best cos I think, I hope...this decorating idea was inspired by me!

Water storage and a stone mortar and pestle

Veggies...probably the ones they cook most often

Plates, spoon holders

 A Nepali calendar on the wall showing important religious and festival dates

 The keys to all of their possessions

I guess it just proves without a doubt that good design sense and principles, can exist in the most unexpected of places!

Sensational Spaces V - Coastal Casa in Malibu

Am not a fan of Martha Stewart. Never was, never will be.....so I rarely go to her website, and even if I do, I never share anything I see there...maybe I'm jealous of her "perfectness"???? But, I had to make an exception this time when I came across this house on her website's house tours......just HAD TO SHARE! If not for anyone else, for me to drool over every now and then and close my eyes and pretend I live there!!!! And then of course I googled some more and found this out about the lucky owners....

This is the Adamson House built on one of the most beautiful beaches in Malibu in Southern California.  Rhonda Ringde Adamson and her husband Merritt Huntley Adamson moved to California and bought 1,330 acres of Rancho Malibu in 1892 for $10 an acre!!! After her husband's death in 1905, Rhonda, a dynamic woman, (she fought the railroads and sought to stop the building of the Pacific Coast Highway) started Malibu Pottery Factory, which unfortunately burned to the ground in 1931 and never reopened. At its peak it employed over a 10 people and produced decorative tiles which furnish many LA area public buildings and residences, including the Adamson House which was completed in 1930 after 5 years of planning. The house is now part of the California State Park as a cultural and historical icon and a showplace for the craftsmanship of Malibu Potteries.

I present you then The Adamson House....the incredibly gorgeous tilework will make you swoon!

The exterior

The foyer with an eclectic tile table. The blue ceiling and burnished wall which symbolize earth and sky echo the natural vista outside.

 The Persian style "tile" carpet in the loggia. The elaborate pattern which uses more than 670 tiles was created using cuerda seca glazing

Glass doors with a wrought iron grille bring light and ocean views into the hall

 The baseboard skirting has tiny individual tiles in a motif that continues up the stairs

The living room

The dining room with a frescoed ceiling

The kitchen.....if I had to cook here I would never complain!!!!!

The kitchen's Pueblo Deco geometric patterns, and a ceramic clock above the table which was part of the Malibu Potteries Catalog

The Upstairs Hall

Viking and Venetian galleys, an ocean liner and a clipper ship navigate the bright blue tiled walls

 The Girls' bedroom

 Another bathroom, one of the 6 in the house

 The Peacock Fountain outside the loggia captures the colors of the Pacific. Apparently one tile to the left of the urn is set backwards (though I cannot see it), a deliberate error reflecting the Islamic belief that perfection comes only from God!

Images via. And those who think Martha Stewart is a domestic goddess, so be it!