Around our home

We've been in our new home for about six months now, and now that we're more settled into the world of being new parents, I've really been focusing on trying to get out house put together the way we want. It's so fun to have rooms to decorate, and I am taking my time picking out things we really love to fill each space.  We have a long, long way to go, and the "to do" list seems never ending, but I know we will get there one day, and it'll feel great!  I thought it would be fun to give you a little, tiny peek inside our home via instagram. Enjoy!

part of our mantel

a bit of Henry's nursery. 

dinnerware

shelf in our kitchen- family portrait by Jess, chalkboard thought bubble from Red Velvet/Rachel Denbow

half of our wall of bookshelves in the front library room

our (amazingly comfy) bed- best new thing we bought last year!

dresser (that's our wedding invitation framed)

Have a great day! I'll be back in a bit with this week's "Mama Said" and Henry's belated 4-month post tomorrow. xoxo

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!

This week's trivia

It has been an exciting week for me. Not good exciting though. I crash landed in the hospital with a condition that apparently strikes in very young children and is rare in adults. And the complication that I had was even rarer (only one measly page of relevant google results). The good news is that the bad news is over. I am back home recuperating and thinking that it must have been my baby soft skin that mislead the 'condition' into gracing me with it's presence. Ahem. [And Mr. Blog, you can stop that sniggering right this very moment!]

I had planned for a bunch of showcases and a special gallery for the facebook gang this week. Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, like any self respecting individual with a shiny new camera, I shall shove show pics from my last vacation to you. Oh, and some from my home too.

  As you can see, I have a strong predilection for shiny light thingamajig, commonly referred to as chandeliers

Hmm...who do I love more? Paris or Cats? 

And a few from my home...

I'll be back next week hopefully. All ya folks out there - have a healthy weekend. No falling sick with rare conditions, OK?

[All pics have been taken by me and are owned by me and Mr. Blog] 

Un Deux Trois...already!

 Hello again!

This is me

Me, the blog 

[Mr. Blog for the uninitiated]

Thanking you

For sharing the most incredible three years 

Of my journey through the world of design and interiors

Wish me

For I turn 3 today

And be with me

For many more years of this fun ride

Signing off: Mr. Blog

[also known by the fancy schmancy name - An Indian Summer]

[some pics from my home]

Happy Birthday!

An Indian Summer

 With love: Bhavna

The person who actually updates you, Mr. Blog

[And for the record, your name is not fancy schmancy. It's quite nice. Go ask any one!]

Happy Diwali!

Hello! How have you been?

I have been busy with Diwali festivities and a wedding in the family

Hope you all had an awesome Diwali

And celebrated the festival of lights

By lighting a diya or two

I will now catch up with you next week. Leaving you with some glimpses of the Diwali decor at home this year...

(all pics taken by me @ home)


[Blogger gave the option of posting extra large pics as I uploaded the pics, so trying that out. Let me know if it messes up the blog formatting/user interface for you...will get back to regular sized pics]

Ah, relaxing day!

Happy Saturday to everyone. I am spending the night at my parents' but NOT going out with my sister (which always leads to a late, late night and way too much fun!). So I'm up in my old bedroom, about to either continue reading "The Time Traveler's Wife," or beginning to watch Coraline for the first time. It's 8:25pm on a Saturday and I'm already in my pajamas, awesome! Today was a good day- I slept in nice and late and had a wonderful workout when I woke up. Then I went shopping for awhile and came home to my Mom's delicious home cooking. She is such a good vegan cook and always concocts something awesome for us when we stay with them. After dinner we all went on a little family ice cream run (well my Dad and Hank did!). So fun. This weekend is a weekend for family, so its nice to just stay in and disconnect. Tomorrow morning we'll do an early workout and then we'll all go to breakfast and do the usual Sunday shopping- Trader Joe's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.

I hope all of you have a fantastic night!

YUM! Quinoa stuffed peppers.



Thanks Mom!




And here's me and the little girl!

Home sweet home

Traveling is fun, but nothing feels like home! I'm in Phoenix now, until Friday- I get tattooed and have a few other odds and ends to tie up, and friends to see, before we head back up the mountain. Once I get back I'll only be in Prescott for about five days though, because Emily comes to town and I'll be with her at her hotel (swimming and sunning!), then heading to LA and Long Beach with Shirley and Alana. I feel very rushed but I know it will all be a lot of fun. Adie is in Prescott this weekend (and Amber gets back from San Francisco!), so it will be wonderful to do all our typical summer shenanigans. I know the summer is going to rush by- once I get back from LA, we have a bunch of stuff lined up- Amber Joy summer fun in Prescott, a week on the houseboat, LV, a week in San Diego, I'll be going to Brooklyn for awhile to stay with Em, Seattle/Portland, and LA a couple more times. I feel insane just typing it all out. Insane in a good way though! And then before I know it, I'll be back in my classroom come mid-August.

We left the beach this morning around 3:45am (yuck- way too early) and flew out of Newark around 7am. I twittered (tweeted?) about this earlier, but there was a woman with a rather large dog in a bag sitting behind us. I totally understand bringing your little pup in one of those carry-on puppy bags, but this was a bigger dog, stuffed into a duffel bag! It was so bizarre but the dog seemed happy, I guess. I slept for a lot of the flight and watched episodes of Carnivale while awake, and it all went by pretty quickly. We arrived in Phoenix early this afternoon and because I felt so gross I immediately went to the gym. I seriously feel out of shape right now, even though I ran so much. I need to lift weights to stay toned and right now I am not so happy, but, what can ya do? So I got back in the gym and I will back to my normal routine again tomorrow morning. I figure if I kick my butt for a couple weeks I should feel okay. I hope I do!

My body thinks it's 1:40am right now so I am going to sleep, I have a long day tomorrow. I am super excited because I am getting to spend time with someone who has been a big part of my life growing up, but I kind of lost touch with her somewhere along the way. My friend Rhonda was like my big sister from age 14 and throughout high school and part of college, and only recently did we reconnect. I am so happy about that! She is a really special person to me, and I have always felt a deep connection with her- soul sisters all the way! So tomorrow should be wonderful and I am really looking forward to it.

Alright, now it's really bedtime! I hope if you're reading this you had a wonderful night! xoxo

home, kind of

when does your new home become your real home? i think i am calling prescott home now. i did it in casual conversation earlier so maybe it is so. either way, i love coming back to phoenix (mesa) to visit my parents. i love their house, the house i spent most of those important pre-teen to teen years in. ages 13-18. five huge years in my life. and then of course every vacation home from college, summer, holiday, you name it. so here i am, sitting on the couch in my parents' living room. lauren and hank are watching some stupid crime show and i am contemplating either a nap or shower. lauren and i spent all morning shopping. i got a lot of darling pieces, my favorite would have to be a wool plaid jumper with a peter pan collar. i also got a cute red headband with a big bow on it. i am definitely not 15 so i need to be wary of dressing too young, but i think the headband will look super cute with a couple outfits i have in mind.

tonight, barbeque at autumn's sister's house with our big family of friends. tomorrow morning gym time, more shopping with lauren, frozen yogurt and heading back up to prescott.

loving life.

The day I welcomed Diwali, and You, to our home...

Never have I been such an enthu pataka ('enthusiastic cracker' for the uninitiated) about taking pictures on Diwali! But, I promised you, my beautiful friends and readers, that I will share images from my home, and I being quite the gentle(wo)man when it comes to 'published on net' promises, I did exactly that! And had a lot of fun in doing so too!


Let me re-live with you the beautiful day it was yesterday, when we celebrated Diwali....

Welcome...

Lord Ganesha (made of brass) presides in his niche, content with the offerings of marigold. The two brass bowls belong to my grand mom. The smaller one was used by my mom for her meals when she was a baby and hence holds a very special value for me

In anticipation...during the day:

Took out the brightest of colors...in this case, a red bed cover and cushions with gold block print. A recently acquired rug now proudly hangs above our bed. The corner chair in my bedroom is one of my favorite places in our home during winters..


Waiting to be lit up as the dusk falls. Marigold and Orchids. Bougainvillea petals from my garden

And 'this' also waits to be placed at the proper place! 'This' being some of the booty from my recent trip. Iron grill candle holder and various tableware from Boston (Crate and Barrel and Target primarily...I was pleasantly surprised by some of my finds at Target), and Mr. I.M. Aboy magnet from Camden. The mirrors are from Ikea (from an earlier trip) that I got polished to this shade of wood to match the rest of our woodwork

And as dusk falls, the festivities begin:

Three different kinds of lights welcome you to our home! First one is a Bastar iron candle stand, and then we have.. who else but the mighty elephant taking on the load of diyas, and finally, a flaming mashaal (torch) right at my doorstep


And as you step in: a deep pink lantern; cut work diyas in a row; and my latest obsession - hammered brass urn with pink and yellow dried leaf lotuses - all greet you with open arms!

And not to be left behind, some other nooks from my home adorned with tea lights and cane lamp. The silver chowki (small stool on which the tea light stand is kept) was used for some purpose at my wedding (don't remember what purpose!)

But who gave the permission to light up all this fancy stuff? Well, everything was lighted only after we did a small puja (religious ceremony) in front of Lakshmiji (Goddess of wealth) and Ganeshji (God of everything good and auspicious). The figurines on the left are made of terracotta, as is the small house known as 'hatri'. A new set is bought each Diwali...
(And Constance, I lighted a candle for you while we prayed...)

And, finally, we wrap up another Diwali...

Still warm but now vacant chair after family and friends left; solitary lantern providing some warmth to the black cushion; 'not-wanting-to-be-left-out-even-though-I-am-regular-and-not-related-to-Diwali-decor' lamp (my favorite one!); and the metal candle lady (whose head was cut off by the mosaic maker!) looking at the other black cushion push the pink cushion off the couch when it thought no one was looking...

Some afterglow of solitary votive; two (oh %^&*! I have forgotten a word again...what do you call this flower?!!)...well, anyway, the two flowers dozing off on my kitchen counter; brave bastar camel guarding the only two books on my newly built additional book shelf and orchids playing the last game of peek-a-boo with the stairs..

Thank you for visiting me on Diwali...you made this beautiful festival even more special for me this year :-)

P.S: All terracotta diyas and other terracotta items were bought from The Blind Relief Association at N.Delhi, where each year, visually challenged children make these products, while pursuing their education. I strongly recommend (specially if you are in Delhi, or are visiting) to help this non-profit institute by buying at least something made by these children. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed when you visit their workshop. :-)