To the glorious 2015....

In the silence of the early wee hours, snatching a moment here amidst the peace to report our year end post.

As the holidays are approaching, I will be missing in action. Yes, we will be off the map and heading to create another memorable vacation and catch up with some much needed family time since the older one left the nest. We all are keen and so ready to get extra spoiled with lots of sunshine and grey sky and blue ocean sort of escape.

You all have been a real treat of my blogging. Even though, blogging was something I certainly did not plan on or thought of, though sharing bits and pieces of my life with you all, folks with good taste, has touched many lives and have made many wonderful new friends. Thank you for being there and tying me in your life. I had a great year connecting with you all, even though I am still learning to harness the expertise of the blogging ;)

 

After today this Pinkz is going to hibernate until over New Year. So, here is a shout out for a great ending to a glorious year and a toast for a wonderful New Year to crack open new decorating ventures. Until than suspend the guilt and indulge in the Christmas goodies , spend time with your loved ones and enjoy your holidays peeps! Do stay connected on my Instagram gallery to travel along with me,  toodles!

"Christmas Blues"

With the virtual world overflowing in dazzling array of Christmas décor, I am also nursing Christmas Blues. As the holiday spirit is inching closer, our home is festive ready touching every corner.  After my decked foyer for the season, our Living Room is also party ready garnished with the touches of aqua blues this year. So, come on in, grab yourself a chair and soak up the pictures on the post.

 

For a bit of whimsy, this year, I am ditching out the idea of traditional tones of the season and making it merry with blues.  

 

Pre-lit Christmas tree has been with us for 3 years but for a change I have weeded out few old heirloom pieces and have mingled new ones. Though, the excitement of decorating the tree wasn't the same this year without our young lady.

 

Clusters of my favorite blue accessories are flanked on the coffee table taking the center stage in the room. These accents not only bring jovial note but also imbue the room with festive air.

 

 

Most of the décor accessories in this room are from Michael’s purchased last year on seasonal sale after Christmas. A seed of "blue theme” Christmas was already planted back then :). With the year-end clearance sale, I ended up paying extremely small prices on most of them.

Our gifts are never made of any big ticketed objects; it’s always those silly, thoughtful things to make our loved ones smile.

To enliven our mantel, along with a long Christmas garland few fistful of lights are entangled in for that glow at night. Extra candles and lanterns are added to shine brightly to reflect the holiday glimmering. 

When the evening sets in, it sparks more radiance in the room. The best part of the holiday season is to simply curl up by the fireplace and watch the twinkling glow of the lights.

Hope this inspiration will lead you to cut and paste your holiday touches around the home. You may peek into last Christmas posts here and here.

 

With the whirlwind of shopping and brightly lit streets, it’s impossible to not get caught up in the year end celebration. May you all have a merry and positive Christmas in the world around you, until we meet again enjoy the last transitional days of the year. And do stay connected on facebook page of Pinkz Passion for more décor dose, toodles!

 

Christmas Cheer!

Christmas merriment is settling in the Christmas caroling on your drive to work or while you sought the answer of the perfect gift for the loved ones in the aisles of the stores. With approaching Christmas holidays, the home will be affording a perfect flow of the favourite crowd around, so little sprucing up for the holidays and easy-to-follow steps are scattered here to get you ready for the season to exhibit the warmth and affection of the season.

 

A front foyer spreads a welcome even before you do and for me it’s a winning location with an interesting display to grace any occasion. 

 

Collection of some glittery, glitzing objects has turned a table into surface that sings a Christmas cheer.  I have narrowed the range of colors by keeping it simply traditional tones of bold red and green for the festive.

Again I ran an eye on what I had and deftly mixed and matched an eco-friendly way. Jewel colored baubles are placed neatly in a clear glass which is rested atop the candle wreath ring.

Don’t underrate the power of candles; they set a place aglow like nothing else can. Multiple sizes, matching colors, glass votive or simple ones are a budget friendly way to make over a room.  My chalkboard is also placed here with a quote to spread Christmas spirit. Few trinkets are chosen solely to rest on the table to add more detail. 

Few small Christmas figurines are dotted for a visual appeal along with a twig Christmas tree in a vase. 

My shadow box is a witness of my celebrated seasonal touches. With the bang of any seasonal styling, it gets the transformation from functional to fantastic.   

I combed through the bin of the Christmas storage and mounted up this look without letting my budget break any limits. Hope this post will serve you as an entrée for the ideas to kick-start your own, do share your thoughts on the post, here or on Facebook. Don't forget to peek in our dazzling Living Room bathed in all blue for this Christmas, toodles!

A fairy tale castle (Mihir Garh - A boutique hotel)

Embark on a journey with me, today we are heading to another signature boutique hotel, Mihir Garh, a place where holiday, escapism and nostalgia go hand in hand.

Mihir Garh, is a motivated and designed brainchild of a couple Sidharth Singh and his wife Rashmi. The duo uplifted their vision and expression of their individuality, all united by an attention to detail extravagant fortress hotel near Jodhppur, Rajasthan, India. With a desire to share this heaven on earth, a sophisticated sand castle rising in the  middle of the dessert was built with attentive and carefully chosen interiors by Rashmi. 

Cut out arches or "zarokhas" are windowed in different walls through out the property, giving them a royal and stylish touch or gadh.

Zarokhas in this area, with clever touches of red in traditional seating is richly layered.

 

Most marvelous shade of aqua blue is my absolute favorite. Here also the same blue with rich and sumptuous peacock painting are adorning another mud wall with "zarokhas", balanced by repeating the same intensity of peacock blue color in cushions as well.

Collection of stand out brass pieces are grouped on the coffee table and are also scattered around the room for classic and timeless ambience evoking the very much styles of "Maharajas".

 

Design and décor is done meticulously  by the owner Rashmi, customizing every detail. Jewel-toned fabrics and even the jewel toned mudded fireplace not only cheer the craftsmanship of the local artisan but also add a focal point in the room. With few collective brass concentrated on the table and side table increases the over all visual impact.

Garh with only 9 private suits and each room is a total chill out zone belting out the stories of craftsmanship of local artists, decorators, carpenters, masons. Each room is with private plunge pool and a terrace. 



Backing into the dunes of dessert

 

Wrapping up the post with the view which makes me want to exhale a sigh of relaxation, as I head back to reality accepting the cold winter in my part of the world. If you like to view more of it, visit here. Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

Images: Mihir Garh

Rashmi Krishnappa - An Inspiring Artist

When it comes to the nitty-gritty of a subject art, I personally feel it is a mirror of artist’s inner self and unique individuality which is bound by anything but their own imagination. Being surrounded by the artist of the home, I have deepened into the understanding of the art through her eyes.  Though, our today’s self-taught artist Rashmi Krishnappa firmly interprets art as a creativity and imagination combined with loads of love, patience and tiny bit of skill. 

Recreated with an outline of a clip art on a colored paper

Our today’s spotlight is on an inspiring artist whose work is only anchored by mainly two gauges paper and pen. Her body of work can be called pen-art or ink-art using micro pens such as gel pen, sharpie pens and all kinds of markers in varying sizes. I have often witnessed my young lady in the home keeping herself busy doodling while talking on the phone or day dreaming despite studying for an important exam. After eyeing Rashmi’s work I realized that the focused art evolving beneath your pen is the creative process that starts with just a doodle. Rashmi derives inspiration for her art from everyday events and festivals. Her right combination of various art involves intricate patterns, tattoo designs, Mandalas, anything related to Hinduism. 

 

Rashmi, a software engineer and a mom of 2 beautiful children, rekindled her love affair with art after a gap of over 20 years. The lady, who left her art love many moons ago, is now shining brightly through her work. Rashmi coins: I rediscovered art and I find it very relaxing and therapeutic, I continue drawing now because it makes me feel good and I love it. My oeuvre includes influence from Zentangle and tattoo designs and my patterns are also influenced by madhubani, Warli and henna patterns. 

Creations of Freehand mandlas

Sharing the inside scoop, Rashmi proudly claims that her art work exhibits the inspiration from two of her favorite artists.

Bharti Dayal - I love Madhubani art form , though my art is predominantly pen art it is heavily inspired from Madhubani (in addition to zentangle , line art and doodle) , I love BharthiJi's style and it was one of my inspirations for getting back to art after a gap of 20 years.

Kerby Rosanes - does doodle art with intricate patterns and lines, in my art gallery, most of the art pieces are inspiration from him.

Traditional conch inspired by Tirupathi Balaji

Rashmi's intricate art work seems time consuming and demands patience, though she quotes: Patterns come easy to me so my art may not be as time consuming as they look , recently someone asked me to draw a realistic drawing and now that did not come easy to me at all. It really depends on the piece there are small illustrations and patterns I have done in an hour or two, medium sized art works with lots of details take me 6-8 hours, which I usually spread out in 2-3 days as with busy routine life, I put 2 hours a day for my passion.

Rashmi’s work is acutely rooted in Indian influence, being far away for the country her origins are strongly grounded with India.Even though she left the country 14 years back, her paintings are often garnished with dollops of Indian touch and magic. Firmly keeping the Indian roots alive for herself and her growing kids Rashmi believes: I try my best to keep our Indian roots alive not just for myself but for my kids to be able to experience a portion of the beauty of Indian culture we all got growing up as kids. Indian art is beautiful. I see beauty in anything Indian be in dance forms, patterns ,painting or even clothing.  I love recreating those in my own way in my art. Nothing is more satisfying to me than detailing out a spiritual piece related to my roots.

Indian festivals inspired work

Unleashing her creativity took some boldness, self-assurance and little faith in herself after a long gap. As Rashmi claims that “life” was the only challenge she had to face to chase her dreams. While building blocks of her career via engineering, job, marriage, and after being a mom, she could not nurture her creative spirit, though she did put her creativity at the best in her kids art/craft projects.

Inticrated sketch of owl done in 2 hours

Apart from her growing Instagram page, she recently leaped on facebook page, do join her page to see all of her creative work, right here. Rashmi’s future plans are still in pipeline to give her creativity a platform where she doesn’t intend to make a career out of it but would love to retail her art work in near future. Down the line, her further plans also include to teach art to kids and spark their interest towards this diversity of pen-art.

The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol drawn freehand inspired by a tattoo

Rashmi shares a good piece of advice she picked up through the years for those who are still trying to reach out for their creative calling. Challenge is within you, do what you love and do it with love. It has been expressed by many people over and over again - Please spare time for yourself and for what you love.

Amazing and unique transformation on a Starbucks cup

I strongly predict a bright and famed future for our uber talented lady of today's show. It was my immense pleasure to feature your awe inspiring art work on my blog Rashmi, and we wish you all the very best for your bright future. To get connected with her and see more of her art work, you can connect on instagram page here and facebook page here.

 

Until we meet again, see you around on facebook page of Pinkz Passon,toodles!

Image Courtesy: Rashmi's Instagram page and subject to copyright.

And....it's December!

After an eventful month of November, it’s the season to be jolly, folks. Diwali décor posts were total hit and once again, thank you for such a wonderful response. So as the Avilasha’s charming home tour, being the very first on the blog, is also well served.

 

Moving around things can make the same place feel so fresh.

As the streets are getting overloaded with tinsel and blinking lights, I am also giddy with joy along with brewing mind busy making a list of my thoughts for the season. Hoping to spruce up the festive mood for approaching holidays soon by shaking off long forgotten Christmas accessories from a deep slumber.

My coffee table adoring brass collection with floating flowers

On a reality check, grey sky and grumpy weather in my part of the world, but no SNOW…. Yes, we Torontonians are blessed with longest fall recorded on trend this year. Our snow gears are still bottled up. Though, at this time of the year, last winter was really brutal, we were hit with shovel quite few times.

My virtual world of passion page is bubbling with new friends, thank you everyone for hoping on, welcome aboard! Stay connected on Facebook as well as on Instagram, few jolly good posts will be crawling up your screen soon, toodles!

Aaradhyam: Abode of Worship (Home Tour of Avilasha)

Starting the series of actual home tour with a cheering, soothing, soulful and sensuous home of Avilasha today. Her home, named Aaradhyam, exactly meaning the abode of worship, is a cheerful collision of international ethos reveling in a traditional culture.  From the good beginning with a focus mind, Avilasha, a clinical Neuropsychologist by profession, wholeheartedly enjoyed the entire progression of her home, starting from hard civil work to the detailed interiors. Her eyes for design got her through the stunning process of making her home while savoring slightest detail of it.

Multi-faceted lady has a knack of knowing gems of old and vintage furniture by giving them a facelift. She has brilliantly taken Do-it-Yourself spirit to new levels of sophistication in her entire home. After raiding antique dealers and few online websites such as ‘OLX’ she picked up terminated furniture pieces and gave them an implausible transformations by refurbishing. The furniture pieces around her globally decorated home are the testament to prove how well Avilasha has advocated successful DIY projects in her home. 

Old antique carved chairs were changed with black deco painting and black suede fabric to give a monochromatic feel

Brave hits of black and white pattern on the wall beautifully collide in this happy glam family room. The classic color combo black and white wallows Avilasha’s innate ability to be fearless, fun and bold for décor.  Some happy splashes of red assortments and expertly edited accessories emit the home owner’s unique individuality.

Enticing display of inherited and collected pieces

Every corner in this room screams of a story of inherited pieces of by gone era or the places they visited. Avilasha proudly broaches about the medley of accessories which epitomizes her true self in the room. She smugly points out at the inherited valuable pieces from her mother or curated from their distant travels. The copper incense stick holder, Kashmiri Kahwa teapot and the blue pottery plate on the table, she inherited from her mother. The spinning dervish’s plate doesn’t only add the pop of red on the wall but also hark back the memories of good times in Turkey they had. Two valuable brass plates and big pot at the lip of staircase are handed down pieces from her mother-in-law.  

Clean straight lines and nice curves on the arm rests on those chairs were perfect for a makeover.

The striking graphic punch with black and white stripes wall is grounded with a dramatic black and white rug. A wagon cart is pressed here into service as a very modish coffee table.

A solid teak wood table from an antique dealer is brand new after few licks of bold color.

The room sports strong red scattered around, by the same token, the dining area also has its share of red. The dining table was also a rickety old piece picked up from an antique dealer. Being it a potential piece, wee bit make-over is done with German Red color to serve her purpose.

Avilasha's private sanctuary, her bedroom is ingeniously designed to please all the senses. Her bedroom invites to wind down the hustle and bustle of daily life with ease. The most romantic and of course our attention grabbing four-poster bed is a show stealer in her bed room. The handsome bed is a result of  an afterthought of their travel to Turkey. Neatly propped cushions on the bed are blending well in richly layered room. The Moroccan mirror adds sophistication to an otherwise plain passion plum wall. Avilasha follows her own whimsy when it comes to décor, the far end yellow frames are the cushion covers that have been framed which definitely sums up the core of her style.

Guest Bedroom with Indo-Asian deocr

Rolling over next to her extremely calming place full of Zen vibes is her Guest Room. It is surrounded by an arresting charm of Indo- Asian themed décor. Starting off with the antique lotus Buddha tankha painting inherited from her father takes the center stage of her Guest room wall echoing her emotional resonance. The up cycled green wing chair is also a fruitful result of her DIY elbow grease.

To harmonize the appearance, she has seek the aid of more Zen décor accessories collected from their unforgettable holidays or travels to an exotic lands such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka and different states of India. Being an avid meditation practitioner Avilasha has added touch of calming vibes throughout the room.

Office Den/Media Room

Finest décor elements in her abode include an unmistakable and exceptional styles of Avilasha. The wit of using ordinary pieces in a modern way is an absolute pivotal to the heart and soul of her home. She proudly conjures up using a tea towel (the deer frame) or a loose poster (DO NOT DISTURB sign) freely mixing unexpectedly by framing them on a collage wall of her study room.



Frames are the art prints form San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts ( SFMOMA)

 

Her study room is also shared as a media room where largely scaled textured brick pattern draws the eye, which is actually wallpaper. Juxtaposition of hot orange with teal green frames gives a hip and retro look. The eye catching blood red rug is arresting the ultra-modern look of this room. Subtle texture of the custom made day bed adds comforting and warm atmosphere for those movie nights with buttery pop-corn.

Under the stairs corner

 

Before we conclude today’s home tour, sharing few festive corners of Diwali from Avilasha’s home. She decked up the home by hitting all traditional brass accent pieces giving them grand “Royal Rajasthani” theme around the home.

Knick knacks of brass scattered for a perfect festive ambience

The home truly dictates the wisdom of the lady's DIY spirit and interesting décor finds keeping her home alive. Do join her facebook page of Aaradhyam project where she has literally marked her thought process of every bit of it.  Thank you Avilasha, for opening the doors of your warm home for us. Wish you a all the very best for your future endeavors.

Hope this inspirational home tour will strike a punch to your deepest well of DIY fundas. Until we meet again, stay connected on Passion page of Facebook for further updates. I have few wonderful posts lined up for you all, so circle back here for more, toodles!

 (Images Credit: Avilasha via Aaradhyam project)

A feast for the eyes! ( Celebrity homes - Liza Bruce & Nicholas AlvisVega)

Globe jetsetters, Brit fashion designer Liza Bruce and her husband artist Nicholas Alvis Vega pursue a life of high style wanderers. The couple lives an envious life inhabiting in a globally amassed homes all over the world. Their home décor taste runs in the direction of the unpredictable, rakish style. Both have championed a fresh and unconventional approach to their all homes and the homes radiate their style of adding zing to the décor. Today we feast our eyes glancing at rooms in the homes in Puglia, Italy, palazzo apartment in Jaipur and a beautiful riad in Morocco.

 

An exotic laid back bungalow on the Adriatic coast in Puglia

 

Plenty of classic global charm is added in the room. Colorful painting by Alvis himself brings the energy to this neutral living room. Ethiopian chair and an orange Moroccan rug gives a fresh spin on the global decorating.

Perfect blending of ethnic style completes the nature lover couple’s sun hit roof terrace. Kenyan fabrics and Ethiopian bed with riotous pillow offer style and comfort in equal measure.

The principal ensuite in Puglia

 

Indian influenced apartment in Jaipur, India

 

Lime green walls with white chairs in Study Room

Purely authentic mansion in Jaipur is snuggled amidst the core of the city. Bold sense of color with vividly painted walls, tad details and mod touches with classic Indian charm completes their Jaipur home.

The pink room definitely makes me cringe. Stand out pieces creates the flow with bold mix pattern and color. The painted traditional Indian motifs on the wall and a purple rock crystal chandelier draw the eyes.

Silk pillow covers and ornately stenciled motifs created by Alvis himself exemplifies the diversity of their style. A polyhedron lamp and white marble Natraja injects the smartness in the meditation room of the couple.

Red rooftop tent with intimate sitting area is nestled with amass of cactus.

Incredibly bold Moroccon Getaway

Marrakech oasis is oddly infused with traditional Islamic design – a five pointed star all over. The riotous sitting room is daubed with a customize color named "passion plum" by the owners. West African décor accessories with Ethiopian chair and dotted cross surrounded the star shaped fire place cheers the chilled décor sense of the duo.

The teal bath, the fittings and the wall treatment stay true to their choice of middle eastern design mantra.

Rooftop terrace is peppered with hot pink pots and chaise lounges. I would not mind to lay out all day here with those silk sari tailored cushion covers with a glass of Moroccan mojito.

 

An actual tree in the middle of the kitchen? Now, who would have thought of it. Wood beams ceiling and locally crafted floor and countertop tiles gives it a complete organic "designer touch".

 

Before you let your self loose into the thought bubbles, with a big "sigh" I am signing out with my held thought of that Moroccan mojito. Until we meet again, stay connected lovely peeps and have a wonderful weekend! Toodles!

 

To take a complete tour of homes, visit the links below:

Adriatic Coast Home: Via

Jaipur Home: Images Via

Moroccan Home: Images Via