Our Darling Ganesha!

With the celebratory occasion...‘Ganeshas’ are having a moment right now. And just like every year, we too have invited eco-friendly “Bappa” in our home. No corner of our home is untouched with the celebration. Especially our pooja room, which is brimming with his love and presence. The sound of soothing 'Bhajans' and the rising of chanting 'prayers' has left a purifying effect in our temple room which I look forward to enjoy every year.

Festive look this year has been created with the burst of yellow and green colors with some red thrown in. Strings of artificial marigold garlands have been placed on the runner (dupatta) to uplift the aura of the room. Our daughter's Lord Ganesha portraits are adding enough splashes of colors making it a perfect backdrop.

Taking care of the environment while we celebrate the festival, our daughter has been making idols at home since last four years now. You may peek here and here for our last two years' idols.We immerse him in a 'kundi' at home and let him be with us by pouring his left overs in our little garden.

Though one must visit India in order to experience the grandeur and splendor of ten days festivity of “Ganesha Chaturthi”, which is celebrated with much zeal and fervor.

With more festivities lining up to our calendar, I have so much to do, to plan and celebrate the festive joy at this time of the year. Signing out for today, as I head back to tick off the long list of things to tackle for the upcoming days. Stay connected until we meet again friends, toodles!

And we welcomed Bappa......

The décor demon inside me is hard to tame when the festivity ranks supreme. This year also the spirit of the festivities has created quite a stir in our home, and as a result of that great fervor, a seized corner in our temple room is breathing elegance in the presence of our eco-friendly Ganesha. 

Traditional theme has been injected in every corner anchoring my brass pieces.  My artist daughter’s artwork as a backdrop does not only rivet the attention but also gives a powerful impact on this year’s setting.

The same set of Bandhani dupattas used for décor here and here are called in service to imbue more color and draw the eye. Don’t miss the frolicking troupe of ‘Ganeshas’ with brass diyas (that I used freely mixing unexpectedly) adding festive touch on the table.  And the garland adorning on the “bajoth” of ‘Ganesha’ is actually a “toran” (door garland) that adds a decorative tone on the setting.
The tall wooden Ganesha statue is graced in the center as a great impetus. The dark and soft color contrast make both idols stand out. In between the festivity chaos and complete madhouse, the traditional ladoo recipe has been dumped and new (an easy peasy) coconut ladoo recipe (stolen from YouTube) has taken care of his cravings.  

Few traditional, pretty and colorful decorating, relevant to the celebration has surprisingly created a spiritual ambience in our temple room. I love it especially when the lit up candles cast a warm glow in the room throughout our prayers.  From my end, I am leaving no stone unturned to please our darling little “Ganesha” this year :).

 

Up next on the blog is our first giveaway, stay glued on facebook page or Instagram feed so you don't miss out any details on the post or more decorating ventures. Until we meet again, toodles!

Gifted Ganesha collection!

As I write this absorbing all my energy, cannot stop thinking about faces with all smiles, spilling energy on the roads, and madness on the street welcoming Ganpati Bappa back home. Where all the festivities are zaniest best, and ‘Bappa’, with his gentle candid smile, standing in front of storm fan, ready  to be coddled for 10 days composed of worship, devotion and love. Alas, no matter how low our heart sunk thinking about the laudable festivities in India, we have upped the ante here by making our small eco-friendly ‘Ganesha’ at home for the festivities.

Our penchant for ‘Ganesha’ collection is well known not only for my blog readers but also to our friends and family. Knowing our special bond with this plumpy fella, our friends or family don’t have to stretch their thinking for any gift or souvenir to bring in our home…Ganeshji finds its way to our home inevitably. And these little gestures of overflowing gifts have turned our collection into unforgettable memories. 

To honour our memories, unlike last year's brass galore, this 'Ganesh Chaturthi', I have summed up few portraits of these ‘Gifted' Ganeshas.

The very first in the series is our Parijata yellow jade Ganesha in 18k gold polish, who came home from all the way Jaipur, India. Taking the center stage on our coffee table, he is placed here on a German silver plate (a family treasure piece) with floating flower petals and candles 

Next two pieces are from polyresin material. Even though, both are intricately moulded from the same material they both beg to differ with their posture and gesture. Prudently used bright colors adds the attraction on our 'Paghdi Bappa' and the warm glow from votive candle holders enhances the captivating charm.

Another ‘prized’ piece with minimalist colour tone, is mixed here with my brass. Editing and styling these pieces instead of cluttering them taking space in a corner, encourages long conversations when we have company. 

A vibrant Ganesha hugging Shiva lingam and holding Parvathi on one hand came home as a return gift on a house warming ceremony. These nostalgia wrapped pieces bring back many memories when they occasionally land on my coffee table.  When not in use, these pieces can be found in our temple room which is overlaid with such other gifted Ganeshas.

With our Golden Ganesha all the way from Sri Lanka, I took some outdoor styling freedom in the company of fall mums. My husband, who is busy circling around the globe, often comes home with gifts of such wonderful pieces which add elements of history in our collection. 

This divine marble Ganesha sitting on bajoth (Chawki) with studded kundan work is my personal favorite. You know I had to bring in the brass for my styling ;), so here is the smallest piece of our collection paired with my glimmering brass. He is a gift from one of my loving friend who doesn’t leave a chance in adding pieces in our collection whenever she comes across any new piece in the town :). 

The very same friend, who also fetched this ‘Nau Dhan’ (nine grains) Ganesha, to make sure I have a company in the kitchen.  Now he has been placed where he can watch over me as I cook away storm in the kitchen. Lord Ganesha here is hand moulded with 9 different types of pulse and grain by artisans of South India. 

Lastly, the very latest Ganesha from one of my husband’s colleague from India is concentrated here together with other yellow- green accessories. The quirky candle holder is also a gift we recently added in our collection from Mumbai.

I hope you equally enjoyed walking with me through the fields of memory as much as I enjoyed pitching in new ideas for styling few of the our buried down treasured collection.

Wrapping up today's post sending our warmest wishes to you and your family on this festive season of 'Ganesh Chaturthi'. Until we meet again, toodles! 

September - A Herald of Festivity!

As we step forward to September, it’s hard to believe that we are about to kiss goodbye to summer and welcome fall. As the beach vacations, road trips and cottage staying will fade in distance, life will be trapped back into a busy cycle by hitting the hay early. However, the tan on our skin and the memories we created this summer are adequately evident that we enjoyed summer to the fullest. Ignoring the look of displeasure we are also ready to pack the bag and send our older teenager for her university life again. We will miss her presence (which is loudly felt in the home) and her infectious smile which is unfazed.

With September we also march into festivities and our home is so ready for a grand affair with celebrations galore.  We are all set to make Ganpati Bappa’s grand presence felt in our home. Hope the coffee table arrangement here will exude the same vibe for you all :).

On top of my saccharine and syrupy stories of our "Gifted Ganesha" collection on the blog, this month first time ever we are also taking a different turn by hosting a wonderful ‘Giveaway’ in collaboration with our featured product segment. Further down the road, this month we also have a home tour which will leave a compelling impression on all the décor lovers.  

And our every year’s ritual has been followed this year as well. Our young lady in the house has created another eco-friendly Ganesha for this year’s celebrations. I will be unfolding the new 'avatar' of him on the blog tomorrow. Until then signing out hoping that my enthusiasm has rubbed off on you to bring on the festive mode. Make sure to keep yourself connected on Facebook and Instagram for more big and small decorating ideas, toodles!

Traditional Touch

I absolutely love the natural color and rustic appeal of terra cotta. Though, unlike India where there is an abundance of such artifacts found almost everywhere, sadly in my part of the globe, to enjoy their charm, we only have to cautiously lug them in our handbags from our visits to India. Few slices of such earthy clay wonders are shifted on the coffee table.

 

 

As you know my personal treasures are the essential finishing bits around my home, and few of these long forgotten treasures are called in service. Ever changing eye catching display  on my coffee table is always welcomed here with artfully placed vignettes of accessories.  

To complete the ethnic vignette I have paired my kutchhi handbag as a base of the vignette. Few clay wall plaques which have followed us from our previous home are placed to link them visually. The darling little Ganesha here is a thoughtful gift of a dear friend who knew our collection was lacking a clay Ganesha, and he is now added as our cutest member in the growing gang of Ganesha :)  

The colorful and bright effect is making me wonder how an artisan creates these tiny details and textured pieces in many shades with just a fistful of clay. Whatever will be the era, the charm and instant glamour of terra cotta will always be pretty inspiring, until we meet again, stay connected on my passion feeds of facebook or instagram, toodles!

A month of romance...

Catching up after a heck of a busy day, trusting that with February marching in, your truckload of January resolutions are still intact and not drained to pipeline just like mine ;)

Weekends these days are much more perkier when we enjoy temporary joy of being with our older teenager visiting home and content to the fact that she is returning fully charged with love. Our weekend life now mainly evolves storming ourselves with loads of cooking, stuffing and sending off for our university gal. Though, when hubby dear gets busy in circling the globe, this mommy dear juggles to make this grind sound more of a pleasure than chore. Even though, our girl has started to get better shots of university life; I still find myself stitching the thread of unease while dropping her off, though I pretend to ignore the look of displeasure that crosses my face while waving her goodbyes.

Mother Nature in my part of the world is still surprisingly looking green. Massive snow storm in USA, which blanketed parts of USA in a single day, sent off an actual year's supply of snow, but nothing here. "No Snow" is a rarity for Canadian winter and it has started giving chills to all winter park resorts. No matter which side of the weather war I am in but for now no shoveling…yay!

On the blog front, I have got you covered with all necessary shots of love for the month of romance. I have roped in a tablescape made with muchos muchos love, a post drenched in for my love of brass, and a Buddha post probably will find a way out which is still in between edit-write combination. Additionally, I have a tour of the tiniest room in our home – Powder Room, it may be the tiniest but packed with décor punches all around and you don’t want to miss :). So, peek in again for a busy round of posts here on February. Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

Happy 2016!

Minutes ticked by and screaming cheers and yelling applauds gave a way to New Year, as finally we rang in 2016. Festivities are over, decorations are hauled away but the afterglow still remains and January is here, serving us a bit of a hangover from Christmas.

After chucking out mini hibernation state, this yours truly is back on her creative roll however still battling vacation blues from our vacation. Missing the warm feel of sun and sound of the surf ;) Though, winter in my part is tad bit gentle this year rewarding us many extra bonus days with warmer temperatures in December which is quite pleasing for us Torontonians. Usually temperatures dip up to negative 20 by this time of the year, so shouldn’t really grumble :)

As we "Shree Ganesh" New Year

Forefronts of thoughts are racing, as the beginning of the New Year is usually anxiety overloaded (for me at least). Few brain storming ideas are racing in mind for adding the new elements in our home and for now I am collecting all the thoughts and jotting down in my head, hopefully will be able to implement and document these design projects for you all in near future.

To start the New Year with right notes, many interesting posts are queued up for you all my lovely readers.  Brewing up a hearty home tour, calming Buddha post and there’s few more but I will leave it to you to find out later this month.

For now, let’s cling to our hopes of better things to come, staying positive is the only way to be to start this New Year! Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

Passion of Collection!

Who wouldn’t fall for his spellbinding and hypnotizing rotund and jolly appearance? For the one who utterly embodies divinity with chubby cheeks, sparkling eyes, benign smile curved lips and his innocent trunk face. The one who radiates an aura of his twinkling and gleaming personality, the one who excels all the masters and the one who is most worshipped divine being, we did...yes...with Ganesha.

As the whole world welcomes him for a grandest celebration, I could not select any better day to cap off my long held idea of a post to take you on a virtual tour of our proud collection of "Ganesha". Though, we (me and my husband Aj)  both being an avid collector, are deeply confident about our interest and tastes, the credit for taking personal interest in building our collection should be endowed to my husband, Aj. The collection reflects his well -travelled life of business and his deep resonated sense of taste to pick the right pieces. Perhaps, his discerning eye is intuitively drawn towards certain pieces. 

So, keep your eyes and heart open as eventually I steer you around our home.

      

As you draw in, you will see the masterful layering around the home with carefully chosen mix of brass belting out the saga of our truly precious collection. As our home gets ready for the festivity, few upbeat hues of the festivities are brought to life at my entrance way. You might settle with my thought; DNA for "Ganesha's" love runs in the family, his charm has catapulted magic for our artist daughter as well who drew these beautiful paintings adorning our entrance. 

                 

When celebrations start, a dash of dancing lights and flowers along with our inherent craving for brass transform our living room a focal place in our home. The curated cabinet, in our living room,  is a perfect discovery for homing our rare, treasured and sentimental pieces. A common thread of brass here stitches all together.

Periodically combing through what you have accumulated eases a challenge to balance the pieces. Grouping in ingenious ways permits each item a greater decorative value. Particularly this "Ganesha with kumkum" I remember as the first one coming home before we begin collecting. His gesture being in a shell makes him an adorable and an exclusive piece of our collection.

Embracing possibilities by detaching preconception leads me to a perfect pairing of some timeless brass which often authenticates a little sense of newness in my décor. The “Zula Ganesha” was plucked by me for a pooja celebration at home,  over a decade ago. The antique brass tray was scored from the “Gurjari Bazar” of India. It’s a fabulous plus to our collection and no wonder you often spot in my décor being my absolute favourite. Little elbow grease and tamarind worked its charm to give the sharpness and shine to the plate. 

I chew on modifying and styling collection, instead of being jumbled on a shelf taking up your space. One of such styling of the impeccable crew of brass Ganeshas are taking their grand entry on the blog especially for the collection post. Each figurine in the troupe of brass portrays the compassionate Ganesha frolicking different traditional instruments. 

Traditional and fanciful rare piece such as this “Ganesha writting Mahabharata”, resonate depicting stories of history. To add more reflective glamour on the festive season, I every so often fetch him and other brass knick-knacks on our coffee table for a cheerful look. 

I often find myself challenging to balance the pieces without everyday being a feel at the brass store. To justify the correctness of each piece, I group with a great mix of style that is flexible and continuously evolving with different pieces. The "Idealistically sitting Ganesha" here on the vignette was fetched from an antique store boutique from Delhi. And the kettle, you are gazing at, is unexpectedly fetched from a yard sale rightly proving that one person’s trash becomes another person’s treasure.

We started feeding our passion by hunting and gathering aesthetically beautiful and elegant pieces such as this “Bal Ganesha”. Grouping him with few of my favourite things together builds a strong reason to stop by him and take a closer look. 

You don’t necessarily have to inherit an antique to love it and make it your own. This cutest “Nerdy Ganesha” is our most recent purchase from India. His sharp, smartened look made him a one of a fanciful gem of our collection.

For the collection journey, only part of our collected pieces were chosen here to share. But my tale of collection would never be complete without sharing our traditional and ethnic idols.

Raising the veil off of one of the classic “Wooden Ganesha” who was brought home as a treasured memory of our first purchase of a new home. This new age “Lotus seated Ganesha” came home recently as a gesture of our old school friendship by a dear friend. 

Along with few serene “Sitar playing Ganesha” and an infantile form of “Bal Ganesha”, we also own the most marvelous shade of blue ones. There are also few who a tug a string of our heart and often take numerous rounds in my regular décor on Facebook and Instagram pages.

Few multi-coloured idols of "Ganesha" also lend some personality, charm and whimsy to our collection.

A significant collection usually begin with just one item whether books, art, paintings or Ganesha, outline the personality of your home and reflect style and taste of the owners. Spark an interest in something you haven’t realised or considered collecting. Whatever and however you collect, just follow your heart. If you love something, you will always find a place for it. Love and surround yourself with your favorite pieces and live with it. 

Amid the plethora of fantastic treasures, I wrap up this journey of our collection. The tad-bit long post is a result of hours of styling, hundreds of clicking and finishing off final touches before festivities at our home. Now, as I am off to welcome our this year's Ganesha, wish you all the very happy Ganesh Chaturthi and a wonderful celebration, until we meet again, toodles!

My Home My Pride ( Home Tour @ CDL)

This May, our glorious little home accomplished stamp of 2 years old and couldn't have asked more than a featured tour,  just to celebrate it.
 
Being one new schooler on the blog sphere, still struggling to graduate with the expertise of "Home Tours". However, with all my gratitude, want to take a moment to thanks Nayana and her blog "Cherish Dream Live" for raising an opportunity to showcase our home on her blog.
 
Our house hunting initiated with the gutsy thought of relocation 2 years back. Respecting builder's original version, in no time, our home was rising on a truly inspiring site from the ground up to achieve our desired perfection.

Living Room

We were keen from the day we endorsed the home. We savoured the entire process from building, planning, and decorating our new home. 

Laundry Room - Front Foyer - Powder Room

Connecting dots of our eclectic research and affirmative thoughts on decorating are still in evolution and continues to be so. We gave our best shots to reward exactness to every corner of the home.

Family Room

As I broach up words for my home:

"A bit of team work, bunch of our own gut feelings and a happy mix of new contemporary and few old classic pieces tot up our dream world. My design mantra is not strict or stuck on any fixed fundas, thus still struggling to compose an exact style of decoration. We both are house proud and, “our home is our pride!” Our home is filled with the layers of our own personalities!"

Leap over directly to the blog here and steal a complete tour. Until we meet again, my passion people, stay connected, toodles!





My Home - My Pride (Tour of Living Room)

Since I have joined this blogging, my powerful nighty sleep has been disappeared. I have been trying to coddle myself to take much needed beauty sleep but nah, the pondering won't let me go back to sleep.

Up in the early wee hours, just about to denote another piece from a place very close to my heart - MY HOME.

As I read once for my chalkboard collection that I can personally attest that all the statements are true for us and for our home.

"Home is where, love resides,

 memories are created,

   friends always belong

      laughter never ends."

Today's room of the day will be our Living Room. I always insist and want Indian influence in my home décor. Though, I don't hesitate to mix and match ethnic and contemporary concepts in my decors. This room is highlighted with the peacock blue (MORPINCHH) with the hint of fuchsia. 

Even though I strongly believe that candles and flowers are must for any decors I consider myself unfortunate (blaming Canadian harsh winters) for not being able to have my own garden for all the season to use fresh flowers for my decors. However, the cold weather here hasn't dampen my spirit and the flowers from my favorite florist shop in the town takes care of  my need of my fresh flowers in decor.   

The highlight of this room is the peacock fire place cover. It was a strong reason for us to lean on that peacock blue colour for the room. These 2 sleek but cozy chairs from pier 1, created inviting appearance with it.

Wanted an unusual frame to go with the flow, found the perfect one which suits the entire area so well. Also want to draw your attention to  my no wire lamp, which is the best find I have from Home Sense Canada is just perfect with my flameless candle.

Before we move further down, I want to confess that me and my husband Aj heart Ganesha. You are about to visualize our 15+ years collections with few new additions in the room.

Many treasured collectibles are waiting to lease on life for a perfect corner, room or wall in new home. Some specially handpicked and bulky brass collectibles from my husband’s travel are still on mission to fit in the home.

Occasionally, with a glint of change in my mind, I take pleasure of transiting them in different corners of home

The modern meets the traditional with the leather couch.

The credit for the modern look in this room goes to my husband Ajay. He fell head over heels for the sofa and I had to incorporate it with the bright colored cushions to get this look.

We both are avid hosts and needed extra space for our gatherings in the room, we initiated to look for something that adds additional sittings in the room and found perfect one, which adds 2 more extra sittings in the room. The center table brings 2 more tables out from both the ends. 

Now the collections show off.  I wanted to have my all Ganesha in one place instead of scattering around the room since I have many of them, but I do take them out on a tour to change the décor atmosphere around us. After lots of hunting found the perfect base to display all.



Yes, we have it all -  lazily swinging jhula one, kukum sprinkled shell one, few being in the form of  the baby and also dancing mundra ones.

I had pleasure sharing our flawless room through my blog, which is our heart in the home. The inspirations and ideas are created after lots of research and my passion of interiors. 

The modern and traditional fusion in our home is pleasing for us as well as our visitors. Hope your stay at our room was pleasant. Hoping to  share detailed family room tour in near future. Till than cheers!  

(Picture are updated after Little Tweak)