Diwali Exchange 2018 - An Exchange of Creativity

I don’t know about you but the festive season always seems to sneak up on me every year. Suddenly I am knee deep in to-do lists with limited time. It definitely takes a certain amount of planning (read stress) to have a successful Diwali ready home but frankly that’s part of the fun. 

Just like every year to take your décor dilemma from stressful to serene I have gathered wisdom and advice from eclectic individuals (who are scattered far apart on the map but share the same passion of décor) for our Diwali Exchange post.  In a truly personal sense of style, these home owners gave intimate insights of their Diwali decked homes with their shortcuts for easy decorating and simple eco-friendly strategies. A feast of great tastes and elegance is guaranteed to delight all the readers….and before you know it, you might find yourself with your feet up for a while before the doorbell rings.

Rohit Mohanraj

Hydrabad, India

Starting first in the series is from one of our favorite Instagram Buddy Rohit Mohanraj who may be a newbie being featured here but he is no stranger to décor, who got ready at the drop of a hat to share his festive ready home. Being in India, Rohit is lucky in a ways to add new décor elements in his décor however, playing safe with traditional décor he proves that you can never go wrong with classics. 

Diwali for me is a grand affair of celebrations and festivities that we commemorate with great pomp and show every year. It’s a time for visiting our friends and family, shopping, exchange of gifts, rituals and prayers and of course, fireworks!
I am without a doubt in love with Deepawali because it’s an excuse for me to re-do the home decor with shining brass pieces, different and unique styled lamps and seasonal flowers. This is the only time of the year when going over board with the decoration seems to be an acceptable norm.

Diwali is a glorious three day festival in my city, Hyderabad. The festivities begin with the festival of Dhanteras followed by the two grand days of Deepawali, Festival of Lights. Different communities come together to celebrate this joyous festival. During these three days, the whole city can be seen dressed in serial and string of different colour lights, candles, and the traditional oil lamps. This is the time when few communities also celebrate their new year and purchase metals especially gold for good luck. On the Diwali night, it’s an endless extravagant display of aerial and ground fireworks.

Desi DIY sisters

North Carolina, USA
Decor world's new age DIY sisters Divya & Sravani grabbed all attention when we featured them here . Their home tour made many of you to attempt your hands on their DIY projects. Developing their own grammar of style they have taken some rebellious rake on DIY's this Diwali. By spining off a whole new romance on the thrift store finds while adding healthy dose of gold they have bring on the glamour. 

By creatively challenging each other we both sisters put our heart and soul when it comes to any DIY. Diwali does wonders and we put a lot of thought into our décor choices. Sometimes a simple makeovers gives you a lot of satisfaction. These pillars here are loots from a local thrift store which we painted in terracotta paint by giving rock texture. Adding kolam designs made them from an "uh-oh" to 'oh-wow" pieces. The easy-peasy flower arrangement is another winning deal. May it be artificial or real flowers, they make a grand impression on festive season. 

We consider ourselves lucky to be enjoying Diwali outdoors. Well, the temperatures are wee bit chilly but the warmth of Diwali lights always brightens up our spirit. Talking about lights, the ball candle here is also a thrift store find which we painted in red to befit our festive theme. 

Urlis and Diwali arrangements go hand in hand but don't get dishearten if you don't own one. You can pick any bowl from thrift store and give it a make over by giving spray painting in gold. The centerpiece that caught your eye on our coffee table (yet another DIY) is a delightful illusion of urli.

Do check out more amazing Diwali DIY's of these creative sisters here.

 Pinky Interiors

San Francisco, California

 Priyadarshi family's home is a veritable Diwali wonderland. Keeping the experimental trick at the bay they believe in doing something that you know is going to be a hit. The same goes for their decorations. Kanika who has ingrained the aesthetic sensibility of her mom thinks their home every Diwali screams loud: "Welcome and stay awhile".

Our family goes big every Diwali. Every year we are famous to throw at least two colourful parties that our friends are keenly looking forward to enjoy. Though, to add a little bit of drama, we took this year's party out doors in our back yard and boy, it was a grand gala event for all of us. 

A design mashup of personal treasures are dotted in every corner of the home to feel the festive vibe. Diyas are the hardest working element during this Diwali at our end. Punctuating them not only lightens up the glow but also adds sparkling delight in our décor scenes.

We wanted to choose a palette that makes us feel happy in every room hence our this year's Diwali décor is inspired by my mom's favorite color - aqua blue. By adding the pop of evergreen Diwali combinations of red, green and gold I think we nailed off more colorful look this Diwali, if I say so myself!

As we wrap up this post, I truly hope that you all enjoyed the magical realm of individuals who emanate that holidays and festive season bring out the best in all of us. Hoping that all glistening metallics, quirky objects and a multitude of textures in this post will be your ultimate guide for decorating this Diwali.

As always, I relish the entire process of communicating to these blogger friends for building this post and making another year of Diwali Exchange post happen out of our own busy schedules of Diwali preparations. I am grateful to all of you for opening your heart and home for this post, thank you. I have linked back their Instagram account in their names, so do connect with them to see more of their Diwali Décor. Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles! 

JOURNEY TO CANADA - 2

"Gar firdaus, ruhe zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast." -  These are the words for beautiful Kashmir in India - meaning if there is a heaven on the earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. Kashmir is and will be truly a paradise. But today I want to resemble the same words for my part of the world.

Sit back, relax, read and catch up some eye candy pictures of beautiful villages Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta with me.

No words, no pictures, no reviews will ever describe the beauty in these places. This is mere an attempt for you to visualise and visit the place in near future for once in a life time.

Snow covered mountains and sparkly water lakes have immense natural beauty, own unique appeal that you can't capture enough in the clicks of your camera.


In addition to our journey, we took Via Rail to reach Jasper from Vancouver.

It was an over night journey but we enjoyed every bit of it.The vegetarian food, the small yet efficient sleeping cabins and above all the breath taking views of passing by lush green trees, rain forests, cloud covered peaks and crystal clear view of the water.  I could not agree enough that it was the best way to glance rockies without the strain of driving.

The view from our Panoramic dome.
  We witnessed one of the most beautiful sun rise through this glass dome. 

On a two weeks summer vacation we covered all 4 provinces.

If you have a mind set for a relaxed and unhurried journey, be the guest of Via Rail, you will be happy with the Canadian hospitality on the tracks.

We ended our epic rail journey at another beautiful destination - Jasper.

Unfortunately for us, Jasper wasn't a happy stay due to their special visitors  "mosquitos". Probably our stay in woods made it more intense. We heard that they are pretty vicious in few summer months in Jasper.

Well, we had a good company of old friends so, we kept our day busy in Jasper viewing the hot spring lakes and beautiful Maligne lake.

This area is a habitat of animals, so you have chance to see them frequently on roads. We bumped into moose, deer and bears couple of times

 

Wherever you go,  mountains reveal their beauty at every angle and you will be only left with "ooohs" and "aaahs".

One of the most photographed location in Jasper thorough my lens -  Maligne Lake

The best ride was from Jasper to Banff. The impressive scenery will force you by all means to stop by and pose for them. It was like a portrait drawn by god.

If you are behind the wheels you can explore easily, take detours and dawdle yourself for as long as you like.

The dramatic scenic drive lead us to Columbia Ice Field. A must do adventure for thrills. The gigantic vehicle drove us to Athabasca Glacier.

  

The drive on top of the glacier was the most fascinating experience. The bus took us all the way driving on glacier with its big giant rubber wheels. It was a terrifying but amazing ride to crystal clear rivers and mountains.

A special 6 rubber wheel drive bus. 

Our bumpy ice ride to the glacier.

Yep, we did taste the rivulet water from the ice field. This is the purest water you can drink.

The glacier colour was a real turquoise blue

 Our next destination was "Banff" - an enchanting town! Probably Mr. Yash Chopra wasn't aware about this city otherwise he would have ended making few lovely duet songs here for sure. Cloudy hills, fog forests and mild cool breeze wanting me to stay back in the town forever. 

One day stay was good enough for me to fall in love with the place.

Moving forward to the most incredible point of our travel.- Lake Louise. The only word you will come up with is - WOW! I think I have used all the super, magnificent, amazing, spectacular words for this post. But Lake Louise was above all these and more. I am short of all adjectives to describe the beauty.  It truly is a piece of heaven on earth. I was totally hypnotized by the beauty.

Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria

Fairmont Lake Louise will be the best bet to stay near the lake. A beautiful venue for a wedding also. They were dressing up a part of the property for an evening reception for a wedding.

The highlight of the journey: the most fascinating and beautiful Lake Louise. 

All the cities we visited were in summer months, but if you are a winter player, you may visit these places as they all offer plenty of winter sports and I bet the Canadian Rockies will be more gorgeously beautiful in winter times.

For now, I am just drooling over the wonderful vacation memories. Signing off and leaving you to plan an adventure and excitement for yourself in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. I guarantee you’ll find one of the most beautiful, unspoiled vacation place with spectacular scenery that will take your breath away.  Till we meet again, toodles!