I blogged about the colourful Tao of Dana blog recently and I was delighted to see her in Lonny. In this article, Dana gives us 7 great (but simple) ideas on how you can incorporate the principles of Feng Shui into your home right now. Read the article here.
Image via Lonny
What does Feng-Shui mean to you?
To me it meant reading complicated articles in newspapers that explained what the different corners of your home should be like. It meant bamboo plants in little glass containers from the dollar shop. It meant a Laughing Buddha and Chinese coins.
Crazy superficial stuff that didn’t make a difference to our lives.
Then I discovered The Tao of Dana.I found the blog through Pinterest. Dana has some gorgeous images on her blog and I was hooked. I read her entire blog backwards (which was no easy feat considering she doesn’t have an archive category and you have to figure out what the last page number is…). At that point I was still looking for those gorgeous, envy-inducing images but also stopped to read Dana’s elegant posts on feng-shui in a contemporary context.
And she makes so much sense.
One of the posts talked about Feng-Shui at your desk. The post had an image of Anna Wintour at her desk. Dana pointed out the good Feng-Shui going on with the placement of various objects on the desk. You can read the post here.
This got me thinking. As an experiment, I made two tiny changes to my desk. This is where I do all my writing, my correspondence, my plotting. The desk holds my notes, part of my stationery stash, artwork and pretty things I like to see every day. After reading the post, I added a plant to the left corner (Wintour has flowers), and shifted a photo of my son from the centre to the right hand corner. All the points on the post were checked.
You won’t believe what happened next. It’s kind of spooky, really. Almost immediately, and by that I mean in a few hours, new work started rolling in. In the next three days, I had more work commissioned than the entire last month. Coincidence?
The inflow of work, good work, has continued steadily since. I’ve got blogging jobs, magazine articles, grant-writing offers. I’m having editors contact me to write for them (not Anna Wintour. Yet.) and while I continue to send out pitches and ideas, I have a full plate. At one point, I even contemplated taking the plant off and hiding it somewhere, but I don’t think Feng Shui works that way :)
Whatever it is, I’m truly grateful for this shift in energy. Next step – get a job at Vogue (or Elle Decor. or AD).
Whether you believe in Feng Shui or not, do visit The Tao of Dana. It’s a lovely blog full of eye candy and you’ll be glued. Promise.
I was super-excited to be the lucky recipient of the Etsy Craft Part Goodie Bag giveaway at Vivid Please.Look at these adorable creations!
Everything came bundled up in this sultry-looking ‘jailbird’ bag.
A shower of goodies…
‘Decorative bunting for your monitor’ made from Liberty fabric from Fiona Heather. My 5 year old son is already eyeing it for his room but I’m not giving it up without a fight..
Cute postcards from Jolly Good. That hair one might find a place near my dressing table, just to remind me to stop fussing and get on with my day :)
I love this bird brooch from Zyzanna. It’s so cute! And the packaging was awesome too – see how the bird fits beautifully on the tree?
I’ve already worn these beautiful earrings from Paper Bureaucracy twice since they’ve arrived and I’m enjoying them very much! Thanks, Marisa!
This goodie bag from Clareabellemakes had a cheerful brooch and a roll of Parma Violets! Check out her bicycle themed accessories in her Etsy shop – very nice!
And to round it up, from the host herself, a surprise bag of goodies from Vivid Please. A polka-dot pocket mirror (already appropriated by the kid), postcards, an engraved pencil (not shown here, but it says ‘Yeah Write’ which is so totally awesome for me given that writing is my day job too).
Thanks Vicky for putting this all together. Muah!
There’s a new book out and it promises to be good. I love looking at pictures of real homes and while we might ooh and aah over those beautifully styled magazine photos, there’s nothing like a glimpse into regular people’s homes. Some of your favourite bloggers feature in the book by Ellie Tennant (who has a lovely blog herself) including SFGirlbybay, Justina Blakely and Oh Joy. Take a look at Ellie’s post about the book here (with links to the other bloggers). Inspiration for us all! Congratulations to Ellie and all the other bloggers on what looks like a beautiful keepsake. Photos by Rachel Whiting.
If you’ve got everything under control, take some time off to try these easy-peasy DIYs for Diwali.
Colourful Diwali lanterns by Tanishq
Doily lamp via More Design Please
Bottle Cap Candles by Craftaholics
Paper Marigold flowers via Artsyandcraftsymom
Do you have any festive DIYs to share?
This blog is hibernating while I try and rescue my days from the clutches of a dozen energetic young Spanish musicians who are here to work with our music charity this summer. The days are filled with orchestra rehearsals in our living room (fifteen musicians, their instruments and other paraphernalia), the sounds of Bach reverberating through our wooden floors, filling the house with a magical hum. My mornings and late evenings are crammed with squeezing out desperate minutes to meet writing deadlines. The monsoons are in full bashing splendour right now and while that is fine in all its romantic glory, the rains bring illness and in the last five weeks, we’ve had two repeat cases of the flu (for everybody in the family). The four year old is off school right now with a fever and looks like I’ll be next. Oh to be able to sit in a quiet corner with a soothing cup of vanilla coffee and a book…
That’s not going to happen anytime soon. To calm my frayed nerves I took a sneaky break today and peeked at one of my favourite blogs, Once Upon a Tea Time. And there, among pictures of beautiful rooms and welcoming teapots, was a post on The Paris Wife, a book, coincidentally, that sits facing me on my desk. The Paris Wife has long been on my to-read list and I was very pleased to discover it in a remaindered sale from a local bookshop. Hemingway’s life and loves are legendary. Add Paris to the mix and you have the perfect setting for a book filled with delicious prose, history and a generous dash of romance.
I’m so excited that one of my favourite bloggers is also going to be reading and writing about the book this August.
Have you read The Paris Wife? Join Priya’s bookclub!
Such a lovely list of blogs for you today. If you haven’t seen these before, do take a look. And be prepared to spend some time on them!
Design Mom – a delightful blog that chronicles, well, lives with kids. Lots of home tours with photos of real houses and interviews with home owners on how they cope. It isn't easy, I tell you!
Family Chic, an elegant blog, once again about making design work with families. Lots of ideas, especially DIYs, here that you can steal adapt for your own home.
See Jane Blog – a gorgeous journal by Jane Rhodes with pictures that make you want to drop everything and take photos of your kids.
India Memory Project – share your memories (pre-1991 only, please) and your photos for this ambitious journey into our past.
Purevege.com – where you want to lick your screen because the photos are so delicious.
Flummoxed by the never-ending zillion updates on Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, Instagram, Pinterest and god-knows-what-else? I love computers and can find my way through new sites and apps easily. But, honestly, keeping track with social media is hard work. For me, it takes the shape of blogging, tweeting and facebooking for several profiles – my personal pages, for this blog, and ghost-writing for other clients which includes twitter and FB. It’s a lot of work and thank goodness for applications like Tweetdeck which help me filter the steady rush of updates from around the world.
Everybody’s favourite blog design*sponge has a beautiful post on Social Media Etiquette which you absolutely must read if you want to make sense of this thing. Do’s and Don'ts from leading bloggers (including Joy of Oh Joy!, Victoria of sfgirlbybay, Greg from Apartment Therapy and Lucy from The Design Files)make you wince, realising that perhaps you have committed a faux pas or three. I, personally, admit to bombarding people’s feeds with tweets and status updates. That’s because I tend to do them all at once when I get the bug. I’m a little more sensible about it now, updating occasionally or scheduling updates when it is not breaking news.
Hop on to design*sponge then and see if you can learn something new today. Thank me later :)
Image via d*sponge
I’ve been super-lucky with giveaways this year and one I was delighted to win recently was An Indian Summer’s Diwali giveaway of Play Clan products. I’m sure most of you are already familiar with Play Clan’s quirky and fun things for the home. Play Clan “celebrates life and Indian subculture.” This is evident in their irreverent designs for stationery, cushions and other home accessories. They have won several awards for their work, have stores across India and are now collaborating with brands like Paul Smith and Levis too.
Here are some of my recent favourites from their shop:
The beautiful Haveli dress
Kathputli mug
The Stree T-shirt. The many faces of women in India. And the print promises to be effective in hiding baby fat (!)
A Truck business card holder, because I really must stop squashing my cards in my wallet…
and this ‘Lavkar Chada’ cushion to remind me how lucky I am not to be doing this anymore on a Bombay local.
And here’s what I won in the giveaway : A bright blue cushion filled with peculiarly Indian characters, a quirky eye mask which Mr. Right is already using (quite scary for me when I wake in the night!) and a Ghalib journal that I’m considering filling with verse. So lovely!
A closer look at the cushion…
The parcel came in the loveliest packaging which just adds to the charm of receiving a gift from these guys. Made for a magical surprise! I’ve preserved the wrapping paper. I hope Play Clan considers selling it on their site soon!
the wrapping paper!
Thanks once again to An Indian Summer and Play Clan for the giveaway! Visit Play Clan here.
Images via An Indian Summer and Play Clan.
I confess I spent most of my afternoon yesterday browsing through the latest issue of Lonny. What a spread! This issue is spectacular for its colour and focus on Morocco. Most of us are familiar with Maryam Montague of the very popular blog My Marrakesh. It was a delight to see her in not one, but two features in the magazine. Peacock Pavilions (her home and boutique hotel) is such an amazing place, so well put together. There are several other familiar faces in the magazine, including Jamie of the I Suwannee blog (the first decor blog I bookmarked and obsessed over, for her collection of bookshelf images).
My favourite home in this issue, though, was that of interior designer and shop owner Christy Ford. What an elegant home. And she has kids too :)
If you haven’t read this issue yet, go clear your desk, grab a cup of chai (or something cool) and read, read, read. This is an issue I’d have love to see in print.
Images via Lonny
When I saw the Kantha cushions on Rajee Sood’s online store, my heart skipped a beat. I fell in love with them and I pined after the white one. I emailed Rajee for more information and several sleepless nights later (over a cushion!), I decided to forego the white one (sob!) and try the red one instead.
The cushion cover is everything Rajee promised it would be: soft, delicate, bright and filled with lines of hand stitched thread. It is divine.
I had lots of ideas for where the cushion should go – my favourite carved bench in the hall; a planter’s chair, a settee…
Then, you-know-who came home from playschool and said, “That’s my pillow!” And so it has been. Rajee’s beautiful red kantha cushion became my son’s new sleeping buddy. He put it under his head, held it close to him, snuggled into its softness at every given moment. He loves the colours.
When I can get it away from him, it’ll find another home. Until then, Rajee, know that your work is admired and loved.
Browse through the lovely things available at Rajee’s store here.
Shopo is a wonderful place to buy handcrafted and unique items from some of our favourite designers and bloggers. From their stock, here’s what is on my wishlist:
These gorgeous plum and lavender cushion covers from Varnam would go beautifully with our upholstery
(actually, I want *everything* from the Varnam shop)
This Mogra High in Mumbai candle from Forty Red Bangles sounds divine
And I would like this Lokkhi Silk Tote, please
Colours Dekor and Shopo are having a giveaway on the Colours Dekor blog. Hop on over!
I'm excited to be blogging about the upcoming Goa ThinkFest 2011. This three-day festival (4-6 November) has a very impressive line-up of speakers from around the world. Thomas Friedman, Tina Brown, Leymah Gbowee, Frank Gehry, Hari Kunzru, Mohammed Hanif, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh, Omar Abdullah, P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor, Pavan Sukhdev, V S Naipaul, William Dalrymple, Siddhartha Mukherjee and Ashis Nandy are only some of the names on the calendar.
The world is coming to Goa this festive season. It's going to be an exciting end to the year.
See the list of speakers here.
Blue and white tiles set the tone for this crisp blue and white living room. Dark blue walls are offset by white mouldings and plantation shutters. Love the spots of bright green.
Blue and white porcelain pieces mix with more contemporary elements in this living room. Bold stripes and patterns mix with solid colors and clean lines. All great living room design ideas.
A floral contemporary wallpaper with a deep navy background reminds me of flow blue china. Lots of white keeps the room from being too dark.
Blue and white toile has the same decorative feeling as blue and white Delftware. Charming and classic. Gold trimmed blue panels also have a classic feel to them.
A blue and white porcelain inspired wallpaper works in this modern dining room. Modern pendant lights don't compete with the floral pattern on the wall.
This content is provided by Design Shuffle, where you can find and share talented interior designs from from New York interior designers, Los Angeles interior designers, and more, check out the latest at Design Shuffle.
I am delighted to host this guest post by Arcadian Home Decor. Founded in 2002, Arcadian Home Decor originally started selling decorative home lighting fixtures and lamps online with its first website Arcadian Lighting, and has become one of the top Internet retailers for home lighting products. Visit their website and cool blog for more information. Enjoy.
Looking for a way to design your home décor in a way that reflects your ethnicity? Or perhaps you're after a look that idealizes your favorite getaways? Either way, if you want to make your house decor more exotic, it's actually pretty easy. Look towards exotic, tribal, ikat or suzani prints for your textiles, and then add some exotic relics you may have collected. Take a look at these beautiful images for tips on making your home décor more exotic.
Apartment Therapy via Elle Décor
In this gorgeous living room, designer Anne Backer created a space that reflected her world travels. You'll see that she mixed and layered prints and colors, which is common in exotically decorated homes.Elle Décor (via)
In the home of Brazilian designer, Sig Bergamin, home accessories and decor ranging from mid-century modern to Bahia and back, decorate this living room. A pair of Kenyan masks flank a painting, hung above a sofa draped in suzani fabric and colorful pillows.Luster Interiors via Nuevo Estilo
For those who desire an exotic interior on the more subdued side, an accent like a zebra-skin rug is a great place to start. You can also decorate with art, lighting and furniture from exotic locales in lieu of playing with prints and patterns. Love that copper wall decor!AphroChic (flickr) via Elle Décor
This bedroom, too, is subdued, though it is, of course, full of African influences. You can replicate this look by decorating your bedroom in white, browns and blacks, laying a jute rug and zebra skin rug around your bed. To complete the look, don't forget to hang African masks on the wall, if you can find them.Archinspire (via)
This Balinese bedroom is so serene. Who wouldn't feel at peace getting to go to bed here, everyday? Get this look by decorating with Balinese wood accents, and draping knotted white fabric above your bed for a canopied look. Hopefully now, you're one step closer to achieving a more exotic look in your home décor. For more ideas, read the design magazines of your favorite destinations and frequent international fairs for handmade, exotic décor or art. Or, of course, you could hop on a plane to your favorite getaway and handpick some items yourself...if only!
Content provided by Arcadian Home Decor, a site that specializes in top quality home accessories at extremely affordable prices. Come visit us today!
I have long been a fan of Emersonmade. I love their quirky photos, elegant clothes and impeccable styling. These images are from a recent trip to India and I think she looks so gorgeous in these colours and fabrics. Great photography, too.
I like the idea of having henna on just the finger-tips rather than the whole hand.
A tux with a kurta (tunic) and skinny jeans. Looks great on her. Not sure if I’d be able to carry off the combination!
and some tunics from her new India collection
All images via Emersonmade. Love.
