This Place That I Call Home

I have always wanted to write about my lovely house on my blog. An opportunity for the same came knocking in the form of  'Starter Stories', a series started by  Compass.com (a  New York City based real estate platform), where bloggers write about their first / current house and how they made it their home.  

Ganesh (my husband) and I live in a three bedroom unit in an apartment complex in the city of Bangalore, India. We take life as it comes and don't really plan too much. Maybe our house is a reflection of that since it does not follow a particular style or pattern. Its a mix of modern and the traditional and comprises things collected over the years - gifts, holiday mementos, flea market purchases and loads of hand made goodies (by me :)). 

Welcome then to a tour of my happy place:). 

Image above: This is the main door. What you see hung on the door frame is called a 'toran', an ornamental piece, on either side  of which are bunches of paddy husks - both of which are considered auspicious and are meant to bring prosperity to the house. 

Image above: Our living room with basic brown and beige furniture. We have intentionally stayed away from adding too much here since we love open spaces. The sofa and the chairs were custom designed by us. The french windows open on to a nice balcony with lovely green views. 

Image above: A minimalistic TV unit also serves as a display space for gifts from friends. The painting above it is a traditional tribal style painting from the state of Maharashtra (called 'Warli' painting) usually depicting village life.  

Image above: The house came with light fixtures but the living room area was missing a central light source. I fixed the problem by making this chandelier with embroidery hoops and fairy lights :) 

Image above: The dining area. Though we are just the two of us, we invested in a big solid sheesham (Indian rosewood) six seater. We waited for a long time to get the right set since we wanted chairs without rexin or leather upholstery, which is what most stores seemed to stock at that time. This table has seen a lot of good food, fun and laughter with family and friends. It also often doubles up as a cutting table for my sewing projects.  

Image above: The master bedroom. This white four poster bed was a dream come true for me. We got it custom made and I made these lovely tulle curtains. These curtains bring back fond childhood memories of summer nights spent sleeping under mosquito nets in in my huge ancestral home. Of course we don't need the mosquito nets anymore but these tulle curtains lend the same dreamlike quality to the bed. The beanbag is also made by me.

Image above: My sewing space, in the far corner of the master bedroom. We made up for the shortage of storage space in the house by getting this white unit made from a pair of old castaway plywood boards, which I painted later. The boxes above the unit are also made by me from old shoe boxes (the teal ones) and a discarded fruit case (the pink polka box).

Image above: The dress form is a gift from my mother; I made a cover for it. I love sheer curtains for all my work spaces. The hat was bought at Sorrento during our Italian holiday. 

Image above: My inspiration board



Image above: The study. The box on the extreme right is the box the dress form came in; I have covered it with contact paper and it now holds all my sewing patterns. 



Image above: My favourite shelf! I love how versatile open shelves can be. This one here has my craft books and paint brushes and also serves as a display for a few cute things. The white lamb on top of the shelf is a memento from our New Zealand holiday while the framed picture of he two of us next to it was shot at Callendar in Scotland.   

A few more things that adorn my house. From left to right - 1. A painting of Goddess Durga using the batik technique, made and gifted by my cousin 2. This 'Tanjore' dancing doll  is much loved and has been with us for long 3. A ceramic plaque from Positano on the Amalfi coast in Italy 4. An intricate bead work piece made by my grandmother over fifty years ago which I got restored and framed. 

Image above: Any mention of this house would be incomplete without this breathtaking painting of a 'Bharatnatyam' (a traditional South Indian dance form) dancer that I instantly fell in love with at a street art fair in Bangalore called 'Chitra Santhe'. I love this dance form and have practised it for many years. 

And this is the place I call home. Serene, comfortable and lots of fun.