Luxury Home Decoration: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

My Home Office/ Workspace | Luxury Home Decoration 2019

Today I will be showing you my workspace and telling you story how it came into existence.

I have always wanted a place in my home dedicated to my creative work and blogging. I began my blogging career sitting on a sofa and for my creative work I worked wherever there was a space. But as my creative business and blogging started expanding, I needed a home office or workspace or you can call it a studio. I believe that if you are working from home then it is very important to have a workspace to be focused and productive.

I have been wanting to create my workspace since long. My husband gave me that much-needed push and suggested me to create my own workspace in an alcove in my living room. So I was ready to create a space that reflects who I am and what I want to be. I have a minimalist aesthetic, so I wanted clean edges and neat look for my workspace. I didn't want to get stuck with a particular style. I surround myself with the things I love, no matter if they are vintage, contemporary or kitsch. I love to mix things and put them together. Here is a before and after picutre of the place.

The first step to create my workspace was to know what are the things that I already have and the things that I will need. I already had a desk, chair, art supplies, my artwork and some beautiful knick-knacks. Things that I needed were few storage units and wall unit to display my artwork, a table lamp for when there is no natural light and a key holder because all my keys were lying on my desk earlier and were giving it an ugly look.
Now I was ready with a list of the stuff that I needed for my workspace. I love online shopping and I have always been selective about the online shopping portals from where I shop my stuff, so I did all the research and found out that Flipkart's home store section has the best collection of all home goods at best prices. I browsed through different categories and then found a beautiful and very elegant looking wall shelf to display my artwork and knick-knacks to beautify my workspace.
There were vast variety of wall shelves available on Flipkart. I was totally confused so I bought two wall shelves. When things are well organised, it really helps the creative juices flow. These wall shelves were a perfect addition to my home office. Up on the wall shelf are trophies won by my husband. These trophies not only make me proud wife every time I look at them but also boost my positive energy.

Click here to check out all the discounted products on Flipkart.

See all my stuff is so well organised and my workspace is emanating a lot of positivity. Some of my recent reads are on the shelf. Whenever I have some spare time in my hand, I read them again.
With the onset of summers, there is beach theme going on in my home. Did you spot all the conchs and shells.

Next I hunted for nice table lamp in Flipkart's home store section and found out the one that was a perfect fit for my workspace. They have a lovely collection of table lamps, floor lamps and wall sconces. I spent a lot of time gazing all the beautiful products there.

Click here to check out some more beautiful lamps on Flipkart

I checked out dimensions of the table lamp that were given on Flipkart and it was exactly the same I wanted for my workspace. And see my decision was right. The lamp is looking beautiful on my desk.

To be more organised, I thought of buying a key holder too. The moment I saw this beautifully carved wooden key holder on Flipkart's home store section I just wanted it. It has a vintage charm. Not only vintage, Flipkart has modern, classic and funky kind of key holders too. I just loved mine, it's going really well with everything else there in my workspace.

Click here to check out collection of key holders on Flipkart.

Added some personal touch to my home office with my handmade nameplate for my desk.

I loved the overall look of my home office. It's full of positivity and warmth. For me, it is a little slice of heaven. All thanks to Flipkart for turning my dream into reality. Would be buying some more stuff from Flipkart for my son's room makeover.
Stay tuned!!

Monday, March 23, 2015

DIY Owl Planter | Luxury Home Decoration 2019

~~Sometimes~~ most of the time I get innovative ideas in my dream about my art and craft work.

Few days ago I saw tiny clay pots kept on my kitchen window sill and the same night I saw owls made of those tiny clay pots in my dream. Next day without giving it a second thought and without any planning I just started making owl planters and viola!!! the result was awesome. See here they are:

I even named them Peter and Paul. All my readers and Facebook page fans wanted me to share the procedure of making Peter and Paul. So here is the Video Tutorial

Supplies:

Hobby ideas Shilpkar/M-seal
Carving knife/ craft knife

Glue

Talcum powder

Plastic sheet

Clay pots (any size)

Acrylic paint

Paint brush
Varnish

Procedure:

1. First wash the clay pots thoroughly and let it dry. Now You can apply a coat of varnish inside the pot to seal it.

2. Now prime the outside of the pot with white acrylic paint and let it dry. In below image you can see Hobby Ideas Shilpkar. It contains two packets, one is resin and the other is hardener. Take equal amount of both resin and hardener and mix them well.

3. Keep the plastic sheet on working area and dust it with talcum powder to avoid Shilpkar clay sticking to sheet. Now take a small amount of clay, put it on sheet and roll it out as shown in below image. For rolling you can use pen or pencil.

4. As I didn't have a carving knife I used a craft knife to give shape and cut the clay. Though the carving doesn't look neat when you use a craft knife. You can use something else like a toothpick, empty ball pen or anything else that can solve the purpose better.

5. Made two carved parts (left and right) and joined them. Then I took a small amount of clay, made beak of the owl and pasted it on carved clay. Now gently pick up the clay and paste it on the pot.

6. I made two different kinds of owls. It was hard to make features of Peter so I went easy on making Paul and gave it a simple look. When it is dried prime it too.

7. Now the last thing is to paint it in your desired colour and let it dry. You can give a protective coat of varnish if you wish. It's done!!! See how I am using my Peter and Paul..........

You can see the before and after of my tiny clay pots in the image below.

Some of my artwork that is exclusively mine and not inspired from any other source, you can check out on 'Exclusively By Design Decor & Disha'.

Stay tuned!!In my next blog, I will be posting about my workspace makeover.

Till then connect with me here.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

My First Commissioned Warli Wall Art | Luxury Home Decoration 2019

It all started when a couple decided to move back to India from Singapore after spending years there. Let me introduce you to this wonderful couple, Mr. & Mrs. Nihalani who now own an appartment in Pune and have done it up very aesthetically. Their home reflects their warm personalities.

Mr. Nihalani is a perfectionist and has got an eye for beauty and details. The moment I saw their home, I was completely awestruck by his good sense of aesthetics. Whereas Mrs. Nihalani is a very warm, pleasing, soft spoken and sophisticated lady. They have a son, who is working in Singapore and a daughter, who is in New Zealand and just completed her bachelor's degree. Their family is a sweet and small family.

Since Mrs. Nihalani had left her job, she was having quite a lot of spare time in her hand to explore new things. She decided to take up the activity that she has never done before. She never tried her hands on painting so she chose to learn to paint. Being a motivating husband Mr. Nihalani suggested to go for Warli painting for its simplicity. She then searched about Warli on Google and stumbled across my blog, she contacted me, we exchanged few mails and then she was all set to learn this art from me. Within a month she not only learned but mastered this art form. Given her non-artistic background I was totally stunned by her grasping power and enthusiasm to learn new things at this phase of life. Here is how she excelled in Warli art.

It didn't stop here. Couple wanted to do makeover of their balcony which was plain and dull at that time. She asked me if I am ready to take up this project and I accepted the opportunity without further ado. But she put across one condition that she will going to accompany me while I will be doing this project and who will not accept such a sweet proposal.

We started the project in October last year. She took out some printouts of Warli paintings she liked and showed them to me. It gave me fare idea what exactly they wanted. Here is the layout of their balcony. Wall 1 and wall 2 are adjacent and door is between them.

Here I have created panoramic picture of their balcony to give you rough idea about how it looked earlier.

Wall 1:
We started with wall 1. It was primed and painted. This wall was painted keeping Mr. Nihalani's choice in mind. He wanted the village scene painted in white on this apricot colour wall and dancing Warli figures on white panel above in apricot colour.

I drew few village scenes on paper and they chose one with few modifications and then started this beautiful journey of my first commissioned Warli painting on wall. First we traced design on the wall. Here you can see us in action :)

After tracing was done, we were ready with our brushes, paints, water & rag. Then began the fun part of painting the wall. Everyday while painting Mrs. Nihalani would put on some music and we would get lost in some other world. It was an amazing experience for me. She even told me her love story too :)
Here is how our work progressed....

I liked the dancing Warli figures on panel above. I used huge step ladder to paint these figures....see it was kind of adventurous too.

Here are some close ups of the wall. I like little flaws here, they make the painting look all the more beautiful.

Horse here is looking more like puppy, but during final touch up I tried my best to make it look more like horse.

Almost all small figures are done by Mrs. Nihalani. See I told you she not only learnt but also mastered this art.

Wall 2:
Now comes the second wall. It was painted according to Mrs. Nihalani's choice. She wanted a Warli marriage theme painted in earthy tones on the wall 2. She loves warm and earthy tones so we chose burnt sienna, orange, copper, pale yellow, green and little bit of red.
Here is before picture of the wall.

I followed the same procedure of drawing few designs first on paper, She chose one, then I traced it on the wall and finally painted it.

Here are some images of different figures that I made on wall.

In the middle is doli of Warli bride and to the right and left of it are Warli men and women, dancing and celebrating the occasion.

Below is the picture of the wall that was almost done, the only part left was filling some patterns here and there to make it look perfect.

After all the patterns were done Mr. Nihalani suggested that we should make something on both the corners above and this is what I painted, inspired from one of the printouts she had.

Here is the final look of the wall. Isn't it a pretty sight.

And now have a look of complete balcony. Both the walls in all their glory. Mrs. Nihalani gave a lovely complement by saying "please appoint me as your assistant when you become famous and whenever you paint something like this.