Old chairs/new chairs

Hank and I have had these dining room chairs for a long, long time. We originally purchased the entire dining set (table and four chairs) from a woman via Craigslist about four years ago for a total of $50 or so, and she had gotten the set from her mother, and dated the Drexler pieces to the 1940s. Now, I am clueless when it comes to old furniture, but they are such quality and I've always loved them so I knew we should hold on to them. The details are really gorgeous- check out the flowers engraved on the top- and they are really sturdy pieces. Originally I wanted to get a new dining set for our new home, but recently I've become inspired to try redoing the things I already had, and I thought I would try my hand at the simple task of reupholstering the chairs. And it really was simple! Before this year I was almost an anti-DIY kind of girl. My attitude: why make anything when I could easily buy it? (sad but true). Once I took Home Ec though something in me changed, and now I LOVE making things. Sewing, crafting, creating...I can't get enough. 

I'm really proud of the way these chairs turned out, and I think they definitely add a lot to our dining room. Once I finish the room (slowly but surely- on the hunt for the perfect sideboard now) I will post photos of the entire thing. Below though I'll share the steps I took in restyling our chairs. Enjoy!

What you'll need:

fabric
scissors
screwdriver
staple gun
short staples (5/16 inch)
iron
ironing board

First, find fabric that you love. I saw this fabric at Joann's, and immediately fell in love! I initially wanted to use it to make curtains for the front sitting room/library, but the print was really too small for such a big window- perfect for our chairs though! I purchased four yards but used a total of about 3 and a 1/2 yards for the four chairs.

To get started, turn your chair over and unscrew the cushion. If you have to replace the actual cushion I can't help you there, but luckily the previous owner had redone the chairs before we got our hands on them so they were in good condition. I chose to staple my fabric right over the fabric that was already in place to save time and a lot of work. Plus, extra padding can't hurt!

Once you have the cushion off, lay it on top of your fabric and cut around it, enough to fold over onto the cushion.

Iron the fabric.

Next, staple the fabric to your cushion base. Make sure the fabric is pulled tight and the corner are folded and tucked neatly.

When you are done, trim the excess fabric and be sure that the holes are clear so you can reattach the cushion to the chair.  An optional step here would be to apply stain guard, which I didn't do.

Finally, screw the cushion back onto the chair and wa-la! You have a beautiful "new" chair!  Or in our case, four!

Kalamkari - The Art of Textile Painting

I am in love. With the amazingly rich textile tradition of India! As I select exquisite fabrics and furnishings for the upcoming bazaar, I can not resist buying double the quantity, so that I can have them at my home too. You can very well imagine what this is doing to my budgeting and thoughtful financial planning!

One such rich textile art that I am planning to get is Kalamkari. Kalam means 'pen' and Kalamkari literally would mean 'Pen craft'. The name is believed to be derived from trade relationships between Persian and Indian merchants as early as the 10th century. Interestingly, European merchants had different names for similar textile art in their geography: the Portugese called it pintado, the Dutch used the name sitz, and the British preferred chintz. Kalamkari today is synonymous with both painted and hand block printed textiles that incorporate natural vegetable/organically derived colors, and the art is primarily practiced in the state of Andhra Pradhesh in India.

Kalamkari in contemporary furnishing...

Beautiful designs from Anupama

Kalamkari bed furnishing found on Overstock

If you would like to try your hand at creating Kalamkari fabric or painting yourself, you can find excellent tutorials here

[History source: Kalamkari Art]

Paper Art

Leave me unattended in a paper shop

And I can browse for hours

Feeling the texture

Smelling the unique fragrance of handmade paper

Fingering the delicately embedded bougainvillea flower or a tree leaf

Lingering over the translucent sheets

Trying to decide what not to pick, what to leave behind

And walking out with arm loads of delicious paper

Promising to be back soon!

Showcasing Art made of

Organic hand made paper

Simple and elegant

something that we can create ourselves

when at home on a rainy day!

[These beautiful posters are from Auroville]

Now why didn't I think of this before...

Presenting some really cool home products as showcased on Better Living through Design. What I love about the products showcased in this post is that they are simple, very practical, yet great to look at and acquire for your home!

Unfortunately, a lot of the product manufacturers do not ship to India directly. So the options are:
- Browse Better Living Through Design and order for these to an address in the US from where you could get the product shipped to India
- Try recreating it on your own. Read my expert (ahem!) DIY tips...



What a great idea for apartment dwellers! Designed to straddle the railing of a balcony, the pots are made from water-resistant polyethylene

DIY - Would be tough to get this made in polyethylene yourself (unless you know a manufacturer!) - try it out in fiber glass.

I often grumble that my planters spoil the surface they are kept on - whether granite or tiles. The planters shown in the pic here are the perfect solution! Not only do they look good, but can be arranged in stacks or rows - as you want.

Simple, classic, can be placed anywhere and looks awesome!

DIY - Get a carpenter to give you an estimate of how much wood will be required - get the shelves and side bars cut at the wood shop itself. With a good drill, solid nails and strong adhesive - this is probably a 4 hour job (with a drink or two thrown in for good measure - after all, you need to replenish yourself while working so hard!). Paint/polish it to go with the rest of your furniture, or paint it in a contrasting color to stand out as a feature in a room

And, here is another option for simple, but oh so chic shelves!

DIY - Material same as above. This could be built to be put up on a wall too.

Lamps...with holes :) ...this reminds me of the quick fix Rangoli maker somehow

DIY - Need soft metal sheet, or handmade paper. Draw the pattern out (i.e. mark the holes) on the flat sheet and then use a sharp object to puncture the holes. Place the rounded lamp shade on an existing lamp base and you are done!

Another great lamp! This one would look so good in an all white setting

DIY - You can customize it for a kid's room. Take translucent paper, and either paint on it, or print out a collage of pretty images on it. Use it as a shade on an existing lamp base

This is one of my favorites! I love the natural look and feel. This table/console has been made of concrete

DIY - Use flamed granite slabs to create this for your home. If you are building a house, you would typically have left over stone slabs/strips which could be used for this. Something like this would look awesome at the entry foyer

And finally, monsoon has arrived in India! Umbrellas are out, and who wouldn't love a self respecting umbrella which can stand on it's two feet...i.e. stand on its own little stand!

Isn't this a great idea? ...Now, why didn't I think of this before...

All images courtesy Better Living Through Design

Tools of the trade

For folks who are in the process of doing up their homes - some tools which can help you visualize and play around with the layout of a room

Kitchen planner from Ikea

Design your furniture and try out placement within a room with Bo Concepts

Interactive room planner and also a home decor organizer from Pure Contemporary

Happy Designing!

Now, where have I seen this before...

...in my grandmom's kitchen!

Not the fountain of course, but the copper bowls :-) I am impressed by such an innovative use of a day to day utility item - though yes, we don't really use such dinnerware/utensils any more.

These mini fountains are from Gaiam (pronounced "guy-um") who specialize in 'green living products and natural home decor'. The good thing about these fountains is that apart from looking awesome, they run on solar energy!

DIY: Taking a first cut at how something similar could be built at home:

- Gather or buy copper bowls as shown in the pic. If not easily available at home, you would be able to find these in old city markets

- Get a stand (iron stands would also do) shaped the way you would like to place the bowls. Such stands are easily available at the plant nursery (planter holder), or can be designed by you and created by the local ironsmith

- For the fountain effect, ie. overflow of water from one bowl to another, decide whether you want the bowls to have a spout, or you want the water to 'overflow' (possible when you place bowls in order of small to large to hold the overflow), or you want to water to seep through (drill holes)

- Placement: Near an existing water source. Ideally in the garden or terrace that already has a water tap and drainage. I am not a big fan of placing miniature fountains inside the house - I think that looks tacky :-

- Now the interesting part: Making the fountain operational!!

I will try and take a stab at this one ;-D ...

I guess at the most basic, you will need a thin water hose. Attach it to the base of the top bowl in a way that its not visible (try camouflaging with plants, or route it through a cooper pipe). Now, the simplest way that I can think of is that whenever you want to run the fountain, open the tap (at the desired flow level), and close the tap when you want to shut it off! :-D

But if you want to keep the fountain running, you need more engineering and equipment like a pump and connection to electricity (or as with Gaiam, solar panel to power the pump). This is a good time to catch hold of your husband/brother/father/handyman, and before I get accused of being sexist, catch hold of Anyone who knows how to hook all this up!

- Additional feature: If there is enough space, and placement looks good, you can add in a nice wind chime which will chim and chime when the water flows! (something like this should go with the look)

The one key thing would be to make sure that the water used is being recycled - use it to water the garden, or Mr/Ms. Handyperson can fix it up in a way that the water is being recycled for the fountain itself

This post is inspired by my favorite aunt who has lately been thinking of DIYing a fountain in her garden and has been discussing some very interesting ideas with me :)

Color me tender, color me true...Wall Art Part I

As I gradually do up my home (trust me, it does take time for some one as 'selective' as I am- that's what I call myself, but others might just call it being in the state of 'can't ever make up her mind!'), I become fascinated with one aspect of interiors from time to time. My current mind space occupier are Walls - colored walls, patterned walls, textured wall, wall papered walls, rocky walls - you name it, I have visualized it!

While there is an amazing variety of options available in the US and UK, I did some research for what is available in India. In this post, I will cover some interesting options provided by Asian Paints , and also what I will do MYSELF [:-D] to one of our master bedroom walls

First, some Elvis Presley for walls by aforementioned paints:

Quite nice...though I wonder how long can one live with a dominant wall color...in any case, there is no harm trying!

Now, what I want to do MYSELF...

1. Pick up a wall and color it in ochre- which along with sounding quite exotic, looks somewhat like the color tick marked in the shade card below:

Pic Courtesy: http://www.apaints.com/

2. The paint would be textured and would look something like this:

3. Now, pick up a nice wooden handblock (see pic below):

Pic courtesy: http://www.eastofhere.co.uk/

4. Some of the maaany designs available in handblocks are given below:

Pic courtesy: http://www.craftrevival.org/ (ask me why I put the link before the image and spoiled the consistency of this post...^&*@# formatting trouble)

5. Dip the handblock in deep cooper color and run amok printing on the ochre textured wall (not run amok exactly - but do some thinking around spacing the prints out, symmetry etc)

6. And voila! the wall that I did MYSELF...ahem, will do MYSELF will be ready! :-)

Well, there will be a day in the near future when I post the pic of the finished wall!

More to come on walls in Part Deux of Wall Art...