Stylish and Edgy with a Touch of Tradition (Parikh's Home Tour)

There is something intrinsically pleasing about today’s post. Unlike our traditional home tours, this beautiful and opulent home tour will raise the spirits of contemporary and traditional lovers. Come along to a very stylish and edgy home tour of a power couple who are popularly known for their diverse design sensibilities and who love to be in the presence of beautiful ambience. While carefully and tastefully decorating their home, they have won to keep the elegance and simplicity with a touch of tradition. 

A wall decal in the family's kitchen

Keeping it sane while getting adventurous with bold color combinations and quirky accessories, this fashion forward home of Kishan & Sejal Parikh perfectly captures couple's charming qualities and One-Of-A-Kind décor style.    

                                        
Kishan, a technophile IT professional, has dotted geek gadgets throughout the home (There is a home automation (smart home) done through music system and Alexa  
App, which can play the music the family wants as well as controls smart lights and thermostat - freaky isn't it?) and Sejal an ambitious corporate lady and a glamorous diva, who thinks outside the blueprint and maps out every detail when it comes to peaceful & pleasing decor that couple envisioned for their home! The empty nesters whose son is now in university are enjoying their new phase of life with a positive outlook.  

Parikh's excelled at the shopping part and have ordered custom pieces throughout the home. Standard furniture or accessory wasn't their suit, instead they settled in for impeccable materials that created quirky vibes to style their space. And one can definitely nod in agreement when they land to this chic, urban entry way dotted with a modern setting. The eye-catching pedestal and bright chandelier bring a bit of subtle sophistication and striking appeal to the entrance of the home.

Monochromatic color schemes might sound the easiest palette to execute, yet it can be so challenging to get it right. With muted tones of bold and brilliant color duo of black and white, the couple opted to go with a color combination that is always hip and works well with any theme. As told by the duo: "We remember the origin to this idea was a visit to a model home setup at one of the home shows we attended years and years ago. The first project therefore turned out to be the family room with a black and white theme. Numerous visits to furniture shops resulted in us acquiring the main furniture anchor pieces in both black and white - a set of trendy black and white chairs, a white Italian leather Daybed, a majestic white quartz top bay window sitting area and a matching carpet with a futuristic high gloss center table complete the look. The smaller decor pieces keep on arriving as and when we find them. Circulating these keeps this room fresh, dynamic and agile."

Totally, the soft washed family room is a place where one can feed all your senses, enjoy the touch of textures and visual treat of favorite art pieces of the family. With plenty of comfortable seating the space is perfect for solo brainstorming or entertaining a crowd of people. To maximize the sitting area the custom-made bay-window is included in design scheme which makes the beautiful planted backyard part of the room from giant windows, where they convene, entertain and enjoy each other.

After playing with absolutely fail-safe black and white combo, the couple let their imagination run riot with the most brazen hues in the living room. It is drummed into us that color is the greatest way to convey personality and this room without a fail is a fabulous reflection of couple’s style where there was no fear of big bright splatter of color and playful prints. Totally opposite adroit mix of vibrant tangerine and green apple imbues the room with energy while making it a juicy conversation zone for their guests.
What the couple has to say about this room: "We went all out and took the boldest route. Intense internet browsing sessions followed to identify the combination. We zeroed in on an orange and green combination - one high on the boldness scale! A living room does not give as much flexibility in decorating options as a family room. The approach was cautiously bold. We decided to bring in the walls before we proceed on to the furniture and wall art.  The wall when colored gave an A+ look. That brought us the confidence to match the color of the furniture pieces to that of the wall." and oh boy, modern they went!  The bold C-shaped ouches are entirely made-to-order befitting the space requirements of the room. Small visual echoes - such as the graphic rug, abstract art work and the black accent wall ties the room together and makes the look perfectly balanced instead of overwhelming. By mixing the hot hues of vibrant tangerine and apple green with taming neutrals like grey and black gives this room an entirely new spin. Captivating natural black accent wall with stones is an immediate eye catcher. With accent lights overhead the charming wall creates an enchanting effect at night. 

A thoughtful evaluation process has helped the home owners to hone the game plan of their kitchen. Their kitchen is a hefty financial investment where they put their own stamp and design including the flushed in refrigerator and dishwasher. As they coined out about their fuss-free, minimalist and chic kitchen : “Both of us also love a modern style of decor which you will find as a constant across our home and lives. A bunch of ideas in the kitchen here also came from what we missed in our previous home’s kitchen”.
The strikingly clean and undeniably stylish kitchen at Parikh’s does not play a role for the preparation and dishing up of food but this place is amalgamated into a multipurpose zone. The island offers an extra ordinary chance to make a spectacular statement. Parikh’s are the confident hosts and love to entertain friends with their culinary activities.Consistent modern style of decor is carried forward in most of the rooms except their temple room where they let their Indian traditional roots to take over their modern perspective. As told by the couple:"Taking time out to tastefully decorate is a challenge in our highly engaged lives. However, we do not compromise on quality or the outcome. Projects are taken up one at a time to do proper justice and obtain full satisfaction be it a kitchen, a backyard, prayer room, family room or the living room. We like to be bold and trendsetting.” 

Trendsetters indeed! A Meticulously adorned temple room of Parikh's is a visual treat with devotional art and geometric patterns on the wall. The ever enchanting effigy of “Lord Krishna’ is transported via courier from India especially for the temple room.  Sharp features and sweet smile on this figurine makes one completely mesmerizing. The couple treasured those kutchhi embroidered pieces that once belonged to their parents and framed them to keep as a memory. The altar where the ‘murti’ is placed is a DIY weekend project that couple took over. Not settling for anything usual, the couple decided to make-over this corner with few clever touches on a simple IKEA TV table. With the help of white sheer drapes and red backdrop they won to create a perfect temple like ambience in the room.

As I am concluding the post, anyone can easily belt out that the home owners are high performers when it comes to home decor; their wild working lifestyle didn’t put them away from achieving a warm and inviting space that says ‘Welcome Home’ every time anyone walks in the door. Thank you Parikh's for opening your home and heart for us. Wishing the family all the very best of the world.

I am pleased to be launching this unique and modern home tour on the blog that’s been in the works and kicking around my mind for months now, hope you all my readers enjoyed it as much as I had fun putting it together, until we meet again, have a great rest of the week, toodles!

(Images are taken by Pinkz. Please do not use the images without the prior written permission of the home owner and Pinkz Passion however, you may re-pin them from Pinkz Passion's Pinterest account) 
  

Royale Rama Home Tour - Part 2

After an impressive response to Part One of the home tour of Rama Royale (in case you missed it, click here), I am happy to present Part two of this breathtaking home, which show cases the formal living and dining areas. I am even more thrilled to let you know, that is a Part Three of this immaculate home where the home owners have share two more areas of their lovely home, the kitchen and Library. And before we move further, the Rama family and I would like to extend our gratitude to all our readers for the exceptional love and success of Part One!

So escape with me today into the lavish settings of Rama family’s living room and formal dining room, where graceful details are masterfully created with some unexpected and exquisite collection. And be prepared to hold on to your heart, for you will find that it skipped many beats by the end of this post! :)

Formal Living Room:    

Hand carved Teak Indonesian chairs and mirrors blend perfectly with the rest of the room

 A totally traditional and powerfully visual living room mirrors Paddy’s refined aesthetics of combining traditional and timeless themes. The room has a varied yet coherent mix of Indian and Asian artefacts, hand carved furniture and eclectic décor accessories interspersed beautifully to create a visually stunning space.



Brass hanging lamps are several years old collection

With a dazzling display of her eye popping collection, the room nods eloquently to the traditional emblem of a South Indian home. A brass finished coffee table exposes the modern sensibility in the room and paddy muses, “It was a lucky Craigslist find during the first year of our marriage that I refused to part with while moving from one city to another before we settled into our own home. What I absolutely love about this coffee table is that it holds my large Urli snugly under the glass top. I often have flowers floating around in the urli, along with some floating candles for almost all festivals and special occasions. The look is so mesmerizing and whimsical that I leave the table top bare and let the beauty underneath the glass show. This arrangement also keeps it safe and away from my ever curious kids, who love to pick the flowers and splash the water.”

Each collective piece is a seductive surprise.

Perky elegance is Paddy’s calling card and with the same motto, she opted for a curious combination of purple and orange in the living room, which is strong enough yet not over powering due to the neutral backdrop of the upholstery and the drapes. The Buddhist monk painting crowned above the sofa is done by the lady herself, who by the way is also a hobby artist. Incorporating pieces of her own art skillfully into the decor added another personal dimension to the prevailing aesthetics of her home. Speaking about this artwork she says - “I wanted a painting that coordinated with the Buddhist monks pillow on my sofa. I also wanted this painting in the orange and purple or plum shade which was hard to find and expensive to commission to so I went ahead and did it myself in Acrylic, with my own choice of pattern and colors. There are many versions and variations of this image out there by several sources/artists so I do not know who to give the credit for the original image.”

Driven by a natural afflatus, the lady has a sharp eye for dramatic pieces, a result of which some stunning items find their place in her home. The purple colored large Amethyst Geode the couple bought for their second wedding anniversary was a catalyst in selecting the color scheme in the room. The bronze Ardhanari statue, a gift from her mother that she placed inside this geode reveals her distinctive curatorial eye.


Another Indonesian mirror in the foyer is a garage sale find

The stylized amalgamation of colors, placement and arrangements in this room are to some extent guided by the Feng sui principles the lady follows. 

 

Close up look of her collection which whispers elegance in every corner.

Small Jharokas on the wall, enlivened corners, some more of her art and an expert use of lighting elicit sophistication and refinement on the other side of the same room. Paddy's smart use of ghungroos as tie backs for the drapes belt out her un-diminishable love for bells and she makes no bones about displaying her weakness for them.

Paddy's brass stands had my attention throughout, which she lugged all the way from India along with her tall oil lamps (kuthuvilaku).

With the soft glow emanating from various dramatically placed sources of light, evenings in this room cast an autumnal hue in regal grace. The thought of perching myself on the lovely furniture here in the dusky twilight and being surrounded with such gorgeous brass pieces, makes my heart sing :)

Formal Dining Room: 

Rama family’s dining room is nothing that you will see in regular furniture catalogs, showing collections that are beautiful, predictable, bland and impersonal. Instead, it is stunning, highly personalized, visually animated and unlike any other. They have gone lengths to put in their personal spin in this space and their zealous efforts show brilliantly in every square inch of this room! 

Phenomenally designed, meticulously executed and exceptionally curated, each and every object here adds an incomparable element of luxury to the room, where along with food; every guest is in for a picturesque treat. By far, this is my favorite room that very much reflects home owner’s explosion of imagination and creative confidence.

Many fascinating images of the room captured at different times

The couple manifested and updated this room brilliantly from what it was originally, when they bought it. The room had wall paneling covering three quarters of the wall on all sides which Paddy found not only drab looking but scope- less for any wall décor. She conceived the idea of stripping the walls of the paneling and building wall niches, within the first 10 minutes of first laying her eyes on this room.However, Paddy gives total credit to her better half for this statement wall. She gushes: "We could have outsourced the project of building niches into the wall to a contractor but my DIY loving civil Engineer husband wanted to do this himself, and he did! He removed the paneling on all four walls in this room, tore the wall to back to the studs and rebuilt it with the embedded niches just as I had designed it. It was a long laborious process that took 9-10 months but the end result was just as I envisioned and more. I painted the niches in terracotta red/orange shade. The choice of this color apart from Fengshui was to hold the flow of color theme between the rooms as well as our outdoor areas"

The tall Antique mirror, another serendipitous find by the couple superbly adds to the gasp-
inducing effect that this wall has, on everyone.

Ah, and that handsome mirror... I know you had your eyes on it ;) The story behind it is equally enticing. Paddy says: "Apart from niches, I also wanted a tall mirror on the same wall for Fengshui as well as aesthetic reasons. So I came up with a design of a tall mirror in the center of this wall and niches on either sides in a particular pattern. We waited until we found the perfect mirror before we set about creating the niches for the wall. It took me about an year to find the mirror I wanted. We found this by chance in a store that imports eclectic furniture from India and Indonesia. This too is made from an Antique south Indian Teak hand carved door frame like a few others I own, and it was love at first sight for both me and my husband. The color of this frame incidentally and miraculously matched our existing foyer cabinet (purchased elsewhere), that is placed right opposite to this wall in the entryway. It is like this piece was made for us and it found us somehow, as against us finding it!"

There is an aura of regality in air here, permeated with sparkles from the crystal chandelier, the
light fixtures and subtle shine from many brass artifacts.

For the formal dining table, the couple wanted a transitional style butcher block table. While Paddy was particular about the look and design, Paddy’s husband who hates regular powder wood furniture, was insistent on it being made of real hard wood and being extra wide. So after much scouting and hunting, the couple found a perfect French furniture designer locally, who exclusively makes custom dining tables. With the inputs and custom requirements from the couple, the furniture designer made a perfect hand carved, hand finished table which now entertains a good flow of guests when they have company.

The radiant niches display Paddy's many brass and bronze collection

The buffet / console cabinet that neatly hides all dining room necessities in this room, was purchased from another store that imports furniture from India and Indonesia. This teak, hand carved cabinet that was in natural lighter shade originally, was stained to match the dining table. 

A close up shot of Buddha vignette with a meditating Buddha statue and a Quan yin statue in a large brass planter.
 

Framed vintage brass artifacts bought from India.

Above the buffet cabinet are framed brass artifacts that Paddy got custom made in orange and green raw silk fabrics, to compliment the colors from the furniture and other objects in this room. The lady, who is near obsessed with the minutest detail of decor also had table runners and napkins custom made to go with the colors from these frames :).

A round up of an envious collection that adds much needed oomph in the room.

Her own buddha art, hanging bells, a mini bar, hand made pottery, antique brass pots. Not
to miss the old chakki she has used for making a mini bar, what a brilliant idea!

As you know by now that Paddy can never have enough of bells and in this room too, she has two hanging bells – one in wood and another in bronze. Also on the wall are two framed Buddha paintings by lady herself. On the other corner is a handmade pottery that she found locally, made by an Indian lady. Having an over flowing collection of vintage and antique brass pots, Paddy placed two of them on this clay pot and used the top one as planter to hold a succulent.

The table is a vision of royal grandeur, with her prized maharaja collection of Kansa dinner set

As grand as this room appears, it gets even more animated and dazzling on special occasions and festivals where Paddy steps it up a notch and serves a traditional meal on a kansa thali. The special table setting on these occasions with the sparkly gold and classy dinner ware on the magnificent table, with a back drop of the dramatic wall makes a visually stunning picture that is whimsical, elegant, glamorous and magnificent all at the same time.

The first visible room upon entry, this lively room appears to have its own heart beat!

All objects and furniture bought from different places at different times, in different styles, originating from different countries, co-exist perfectly in this room in a serendipitous harmony, making it a perfect place to gather and gossip with delicious food.  

As we traipse through this post, one can clearly view the home owner's innate skills and sharp acumen in shaping their home. Paddy take a bow from me for creating such a heavenly place fill with heart and soul.

And for you lovely peeps, as we conclude our part two, hop to part three showcasing rest of the room of this beautiful home. Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles.

(Image Courtesy: Padmaja Rama. The pictures can not be used without a consent  from the home owners, however, you may re-pin them from Pinkz Passion's Pinterest account) 

Little Tweak!

A bit of creative bug in me gets super hyper after frequent caffeine kicks on weekends. What else do you do when winter blues get you down and you have those lousy uneventful weekends in hand? The bleh weather is guilty for this little tweak we happened to knock down last weekend. Hubs dear, who has been at the every step of the way in decorative front of our home, threw his usual subtle head nod and we executed some bottled up ideas. Let's curtail my conversation and head straight to the result of this unproductive day. 

 

I have been scratching my head for this bare wall in the petite corner of our living room and after making a list of thoughts and jotting down few configuration, we bravely took that leap to improvise the corner beside the fireplace in our living room. The ideas were unleashed and executed by putting up a sconce ( you might have seen it resting in my Diwali post here) is now framed up on the wall along with other ledge, which I happen to bring home from "Home Goods" ( we have Home Sense here in Toronto). 

 

Now the collage adds life to this wall. Gray shelf tons down the brilliance of the brass and I love the filtering lights through the window packing a whole lot of punch on brass. Now the wall mounted wooden shelve and corbel will provide a rotating display of my favorite brass. The space will be interplayed with grouping of brass cluster atop the shelve and sconce as and when my mood swings ;)

 

I kinda love how it turned out. I think rest of the brass also blends in with ease. 

Godliness is binding itself in every nook and corner of this room with this vibrant shade of blue. If u want a different approach than regular frame, go ahead, take the inspiration and add some character and personal touch on the wall. Until then enjoy your weekend and stay connected on Facebook or Instagram of Pinkz Passion, 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)