Friday 19 July 2013

Cutest Baby Gift EVER!

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I am so pleased with the outcome of this baby gift and think it's the


 CUTEST 


BABY 


GIFT 


EVER!


 I was lucky to find this unique old magazine rack at a garage sale. It is the biggest one I have ever seen.


I painted it up for a cousin that is having her first baby. But before I painted it, I used 4 inch vinyl lettering down the sides. After painting it, I just pulled off the vinyl

Thursday 18 July 2013

Our Summer Great Room Changes ...

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Is it hot enough out there for ya'?!  Goodness ... hopefully, we'll get a reprieve sooooon from the sweltering temps!

In the meantime, I guess I'm *forced* to stay inside and mess around a bit ... darn!  LOL.  Actually, I've been making small changes to our great room for the past two months ... takes me awhile sometimes!

When I last shared our great room, it looked like this:


After a little Summer tweaking, here's what it looks like now:


Can you spot the changes?  I think two of the most obvious changes are the addition of a new seagrass rug from "Natural Area Rugs" that we added a couple of months ago ... and that I also placed the love seat back in the sitting room and brought back in the matching white slipcovered wing chair.

I also decided to lighten up matching lamps I had on the mirrored tables flanking the French doors with the stroke of my paint brush coated with Annie Sloane's "Old Ochre:"


I then placed them on walnut stained end tables I spotted at Home Goods on Mother's Day (thanks, Honey):



I decided to keep the tables stained to tie in with the walnut stained top on our buffet which is placed under our TV (a fun, Summer pillow from PB livens up one of the wing chairs, too):


I theeeen decided to add a glass coffee table, BUT, every one I found was too expensive!  So, I ordered this much more budget-friendly one from Wal-Mart and spray painted it Valspar Gold (I love the lower shelf to display a few of my favorite decorating books):


Our sofa got a bit of color with Summer pillows, too!


Behind the sofa, our sofa table got a nautical Summer-y look, starting with a much larger boat than I once had there:


Fun, faux binoculars from HomeGoods:


Vintage anchor (also from Home Goods):




I already shared our coastal, Summer mantel, but, okay, why not ... here it is ah-gain:


Above our mirrored tables which flank the French doors, I added small starburst mirrors (from Ballard Designs) in between the art.  I also brought in blue lamps from our bedroom for a splash of color and gave both tables new vignettes:




Lastly, I added colorful, inexpensive plates (from Home Goods) over by our Annie Sloane "Pure White" secretary:


You can see how I transformed this piece by clicking HERE:


Whew!  You still with me?  Sorry for the picture overload ... sometimes, my finger gets a bit snap happy ... oops!


Thanks so much for stopping by our Summer great room!  And, please don't forget to join us next week for the Summer Showcase of Homes:


Have a great day,

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Vastu Gyan: Living Room Vastu

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Vastu creates a harmonious balance and linkage with nature to attract favorable effects of Sun and other planets. Vastu balances the various energies in environment to ensure good and stable mental & physical health. The size and cost of the house doesn't matter in vastu rather impact of various energy fields and natural forces from different directions is more important.
Living room is the heart of a house. Its the place where you spend time with your family and entertain your guests. Best direction for living room should be north-east or east but it depends on the direction house faces. For north or east facing house living room should be in north-east. For a south facing house it can be in south-east. For west facing house living room can be in north-west direction.

Color of the walls in living room should be light. White, cream, yellow, orange, green, blue all in lighter shade can be a good option. Light colors brighten up the space and make it appear larger as well. 



Placement of furniture in living room should be in south-west and west direction. Owner of the house should always sit in south-west or west direction facing either north-east or east. Reason is that sun rays and fresh air from east and north direction ensures positivity. Furniture should be rectangular or square and there is always some space left between wall and furniture to ensure the free flow of air. Placement of furniture should be done in a way that it should appear uncluttered and allows free movement of the dwellers. Avoid seating area under a beam as it can increase your stress. Better idea is to conceal the beam with false ceiling. 


All the electronic and electrical gadgets should draw power from socket placed in east or south-east direction. T.V should be placed in a direction in such a way that viewer should face east or north direction. AC, cooler should be placed in west direction as west of the house becomes hot during the day. Fireplace all  things related to fire or heat should be placed in south-east direction as this direction represents Agni or Fire element.

As they say 'We become what we behold'. Paintings we put up in living room evoke strong sentiments. Thus keep in mind that paintings should always be calming, positive and uplifting. Picture of Sun or nature should be hung on east wall, painting of waterfall on the north wall and painting that denotes strength like horses, mountain or elephants should be hung on south or west wall. Always avoid paintings that depict war, sadness, violence, death or has negative impact on our life.

Make your living room a stress free zone and relaxing space by following these simple rules of vastu. With a little care in the relative positioning of different things in a room one could expect to live a peaceful, happy and prosperous life.





Tuesday 16 July 2013

Summer Showcase of Homes

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Who doesn't love taking a peek into other peoples' homes for a little tour?!  Well, starting next week, 26 bloggers (myself included) will be sharing our Summer "casas!"


Here's the action packed lineup:

Monday, July 22
Tuesday, July 23
Wednesday, July 24
Thursday, July 25
Friday, July 26
-------------

I better get busy tweaking!


Hope to see you there! 

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Monday 15 July 2013

Back Yard Gardens 2013!

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I thought you might like to take a stroll
through my yard with me. This has been a good weather year for plants
and mine are flourishing.You will understand why we love being at
home, puttering in the gardens and happy as can be!

All area beds and burms are lined with stone. I just spray round up once a year in Spring in front of the stones to keep the grass at bay and there is little

Friday 12 July 2013

Castello di Amorosa, Napa Valley.

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I have been missing from this space for over two months and the reason is my new passion: Pottery. 
It's been an interesting experience of moving out of my comfort zone, of trying something new, of rediscovering myself.
It's been loads of practice, struggle, frustration and patience. 
It has also been about a sense of achievement of seeing one's first not-so- perfect pot fired and glazed.
You can see my progress in this beautiful art here.

Now for a post about the trip to this delightful castle winery in Napa Valley in sunny California: Castello di Amorosa.

Napa Valley attracts visitors from all over the world due to it's picture perfect scenic views, the blue skies, rolling hills,vineyards and wineries on either sides of winding road.
As we drove through the wine country we realised they were filled with a wide variety of wineries. 

On researching, we found a castle for a winery and decided to follow the GPS leading us to the gates of Castello di Amorosa. 
...and what followed will be conveyed through my photographs.
The castle isn't particularly ancient, it is just 20 years old and was built by Dario Sattui of V. Sattui  Winery in a 13th-century Tuscan style. The architectural style with the picturesque vineyard backdrop is what makes it so breath-taking.
  



We were just in time for a wine tour...
The castle is built over 171 acres of land filled with forest, stream, lake and vineyards. It has 107 rooms on 8 levels above and below the ground.


The gorgeous courtyard where balmy evening parties are hosted...

The Tuscan style is evident in the details...

Our super interesting wine guide giving us information about the castle.

The afternoon shadows of furniture in the courtyard.

The castle has a Chapel as well!


We sure felt transported to Tuscany.

The masonry and ironwork were handcrafted using old crafting techniques.

The Great Hall has lovely frescos painted by two Italian artists who took over a year to finish.

The castle has authentically designed features of a moat, drawbridge, defensive towers, an interior courtyard,  a chapel, a knights' chamber and a a torture chamber! (will omit that;-)

The metalwork were all hand-crafted.



Now for the cellar and wine-tasting :-)

The huge wine cellar.
Following our wine connoisseur's instructions of smelling, twirling, sipping the wine...

Their list of wines.

Our wine tasting session.

One of their popular wines:-)


 ....and I came back with a bottle of their best dessert wine and one teeny-weeny bottle of grape-seed oil. Filled with great nutritive properties, going to replace the olive oil with this one for the salads!

Hope you enjoyed the visual tour of the castle winery.

(Images by Arch)