A unique heritage hotel- Sterling Swamimalai.

Sterling Swamimalai was our first choice when we decided to make a trip to Tanjore last December and we cherish our stay and memories till date. A villa built in 1896 in a traditional south indian style is the nucleus of this resort. The other cottages are inspired by this main structure. The resort is the brain child of Steve Borgia of Indeco Hotels.

The minute you step into a very discreet entrance, you are transported to the 19th century.
You are welcomed with temple bells ringing and a beautiful 'Kolam'- Rangoli design at the entrance. The setting is very rustic with the ambience like that of an old south indian village.
Amazing terracotta figures of Gods & Goddesses are scattered all around the resort. All courtesy the in-house potter.

Coconut, Banana, Jackfruit, Papaya trees form the perfect setting for the village scene.
Beautiful folk goddess figure!
A traditional village house forms the dining area.Even the trees are treated well, the potter has created lovely terracotta eyes for the trees.
The rooms are basic with traditional furniture. The roll-up blinds are made of natural fibres for good air circulation.


The swimming pool is designed like an old temple tank. On special occasions the side slots are lit with earthern lamps in the evening. What a gorgeous sight would that be!

The main villa has a lovely courtyard with a natural well and a museum of antiques.
Truly traditional, truly spiritual, truly Indian.

Experience it- http://www.sterlingswamimalai.net

Thanks Happy Living Blog!

the happy living blog became an instant favourite, ever since I stumbled upon it while blog- hopping few weeks back.

Erinn describes - 'This blog is about everything having to do with the place, experience and spirit of home and making our homes a place that we love'.

Erinn of 'the happy living blog' has been very kind in giving a great introduction to my blogs.

Thanks Erinn!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

That's right, because of this day:

Lovey-Dovey Pic (sorry!)

Which, admittedly was a few months back now, we're lucky enough to have an excuse to take a holiday under the guise of a honeymoon (belated as it may be) and will be frolicking (can I say that?) in Fiji for the next couple of weeks!

Though don't be tooo jealous. I mean, this doesn't look like much fun at all:

Nor does this:

Or this:

Or this:

 

And seriously, who really wants to get all soaking wet anyway?

I bet there's not even any alcohol in these:

Nah, seriously, I'll be back before you probably realised I was gone - you can miss me a teeny bit if you want to though :-)

Just a little note to say a big THANK YOU to every one of my followers, commenters, readers or accidental stumblers! I know I don't always manage to get around and visit all of you though please know that I do try. I read and adore all of your sweet comments and emails and always do my best to follow-up on any questions.

Illuminate your interiors.

To add the sparkle to your interiors, just light few candles, diyas (earthern lamps), kerosene or hurricane lamps.

I love lighting diyas or floating candles at the entrance to the house, in balconies, on tables or just about anywhere.

Here are some interesting ideas.

(Images from Inside Outside, Oct 2006 & Good Earth)

Home Office Progress - Cabinets

I know I originally said I wasn't going to refer to my new computer area as a 'home office' though it's just the most self-explanatory title, so home office it is.

You may remember I was in a bit of a pickle over finding some appropriate cabinetry. The restrictive proportions of the space teamed with our hulking great computer (and other paraphernalia) plus the need to store ALL of our books was making my search really tricky. Though as you may or may not know, I'm not a millionaire so I couldn't quite stomach the idea of forking out big bikkies on a bespoke build.

Well....we were at a family birthday recently when a builder friend of ours mentioned, without even a word about my home office dilemma - promise - that he was interested in some extra little 'backyard' jobs.

Could his timing have been more perfect?

So I brought up my conundrum and after some discussion we decided it was a great win-win solution.

A few weeks on I now have this:

Granted, it is hard to decipher from that photo, and I'm not trying to be elusive, it's just the best 'before' shot I could muster. Basically it's a simple free standing modular-type cabinet. There will be a long spanning desk sandwiched between two deep lower cabinets and two tall upper bookcases. It's a pretty conventional solution, kinda like this (minus the mini guitar and green tractor):

As much as I covert built-in cabinetry, we have eventual plans to remodel some of our internal rooms so I wasn't ready to go down that long road yet. Having a free-standing unit gives us the flexibility to reposition it if needed plus there is no installation required.

To keep costs down our friend built the cabinet out of pine ply and, of course, I'm finishing it off myself. In the above 'before' shot it is waiting in my parent's driveway for a nice refreshing white paint shower courtesy of one of these bad boys:

I paint with an air compressor and spray gun quite a bit. It's especially awesome for large or intricate pieces. There are pros and cons to forgoing the brush, though for a big project like this the spray gun is simply faster and less monotonous - which means at the end of the day hopefully I'll still have some hair left!

I'm sorry that I don't yet have an 'after' shot to share, though it's coming....

one day....

soon....

hopefully :-)

The Red River

I was introduced to The Red River , an organization based in North East India by Kakoli Das (one of the founders) a few weeks back and I loved their home and lifestyle products.

The Red River acts as a medium between the weavers from the North East and the markets, that will help them with sustainable income.

Have a look at some of their amazing collections of cushions~

These designs have been inspired by the weaving patterns of river bank settler community - the Misings (or the Miris)

Bright weaves and threadwork...

Stunning collection designed with re-purposed fabric swatches...

Varnasi-inspired bling embellishments on the cushions...

Here are their other very interesting home furnishings~

Napkins

Placements

Curtains

The dyeing, drying and weaving process at The Red River

Kakoli Das with the locals in Assam, India.

You can get in touch with them on their Facebook page The Red River or visit their website The Red River

( images from The Red River)