Seven Things You May Not Know

About a month ago a fellow blogger, Emmie of Aspirations of a Southern Housewife, gave me a Kreativ Blogger Award. Emmie writes a wonderful blog, do stop by and check it out!

Thank you Emmie for nominating me. You need to share seven things about yourself. I tend to be a rather private person, so I have been hesitant, but here they are in no particular order.

I am an incredible procrastinator but also an over achiever/Type A personality. This causes me lots of stress in my down time but very concentrated blocks of productivity during my work time.
I am half Italian and half Portuguese, My grandparents on both sides came to America in their youth and spoke only broken English. I love my heritage. I am very expressive and passionate about life, actually about almost everything.
Of all the areas of design my favorite is kitchen design and spacial planning. I really should have been a kitchen designer; perhaps someday I can play one on TV.

I have an incurable antique furniture habit. My basement and attic are filled with furniture that will someday find the perfect home - but until then happily reside in spaces above and below where we actually live.
I love puppets. I wanted to be a Puppetry major in college but my parents thought it was irresponsible. Instead, at their urging, I entered college as Accounting major (what a laugh!)
I am a mother of two beautiful children. They are amazing people and they make me laugh everyday. I can not imagine what my life would have been like with out them.
I believe we are all connected somehow and that we need to be good to one another. I try to be a better person every single day.

I am also suppose to nominate seven other blogs for this award, but I am interested in so many blogs I couldn't possibly choose. So, if you would like to share anything about yourself, please consider yourself nominated. I would love to know more about YOU!
xx-Gina

A Traditional Farmhouse design

A traditional and typical South Indian feel to the farm house at Kashid,Maharashtra..The architects have managed to create spaces using simple and traditional materials to reflect a contemporary style.The tiled roof and the flooring ,the ambience in seating arrangements and the pool reflects the personality of the people who owns it.

Image courtesy:pfa architects

Holiday Decorating with Antique Grainsacks

Everyone who regularly reads Willow Decor knows my love (obsession?!) with antique grainsacks. So can you imagine how excited I was when textile artist, Kym Fraser, of 3 Fine Grains sent me photos of her new Antique Grainsack Holiday Collection.
Kym transforms authentic antique German grainsacks, hessian and french jute into gorgeous pillows and throws, but what to do with the small scraps of the precious material that is left over? Well Kym has designed these extra pieces of history into the most wonderful Christmas ornaments and stockings.
Above is her Christmas star made out of French Hessian with real antique glass buttons.
Another star fabricated from a striped German grainsack.

One of my favorite designs is the Dove. This lovely little gem is made from 100 year old antique linen and an antique glass button eye.
Hanging in front of the Dove is an antique button over an antique spoon ornament.
Here's another one for that special mother in your life - (I hope my children are reading this!) Plain small hearts and large hearts are also available, as well as partridges. Kym's ornaments range from $10 to $15.
My other favorite items in Kym's Holiday Collection are her antique hessian and French jute stockings.

They come with a ruffled or striped cuff made from 100 year old antique linen. The striped stocking is $65 and the Ruffled $75. Surely Santa would appreciate these beauties and pack them full of goodies!!

Finally, an antique German grainsack finds new life as Christmas tree. Contact Kym directly for more information on this one of kind item. Notice that Kym also used jute upholstery webbing as garland for her tree. You can learn more about using jute upholstery webbing in home decor in my post here. Now here is the exciting part; contact Kym between now and December 6 and mention Willow Decor in comment line and you will receive 10% off your purchase. If you are interested in any of these items please contact 3 Fine Grains. Happy decorating!!!

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Indian inspired Moroccan Interiors-Moroccan Modern

I love ethnic touches, but there's a fine line between "just a touch" to suddenly a bit too "theme-y." This interior from a recent Vogue Living Australia is a great example of the balance between staying modern, yet still keeping some ethnic flavor..

Indian interiors and moroccan interiors have too many in common to talk about.The vibratto in colour is the main thing.Many Moroccan-inspired interiors are full of rich vibrant color,just like the Indian ones and this room definitely has that. However, I love how they've kept it under control by using lots of black and white furnishings. Working with multiple patterns and motifs can be tricky, but we think they pulled it off quite well! What do you think?

( images via Vogue Living Australia and Scott Western Architecture*Design )

Beautiful and White

A Visual treat to the eyes from this Winter.Come walk with me different homes and take exciting deco ideas and dont forget to write to me .

Home tours are common in Decor blogs.

I bring you some hot Indian Home Tours from magazines this winter.Some homes which have truly influenced me and the magazines are not thrown for kabadi because of the stylish truly Indian homes which they contain.They have been kept to imbibe the spirit which they contain ,as a way to boost my energy when i feel low,to try and impart atleast half of them in my home and also when i build a home of my own,a desire which will be accomplished in the near future.

Monumental in form and yet styled for contemporary living the Dickinsens home at Jaipur is purely in white ,but starking in its beauty.

Fine detailing from the local materials till the linen have been carefully picked up in this home have drawn me towards the home.White walls,white curtains,white table ware,white centrepieces ,white tablecloth,all in its beauty can be found in this home.

The walls are kept clear of any artworks but very subtly embellished with alcove details.

White with a hint of blue

Exciting Deco ideas,use of ledges

Charming options

Yellow jaisalmer and kota giving it warmth and cheer

Antique armoire


modern yet oriental touch

Image Courtesy to living etc 2009

Enjoy the home tour,take exciting decor options and tell me how you all liked this home.

Velvet & Linen Brickmaker's Table Voting

Today starts the voting for Velvet and Linen's Brickmaker's Table Giveaway. I was fortunate to be asked by Brooke Giannetti of V&L to be part of the judging that narrowed down the choices from 170 rooms to 10 finalists. The top three rooms with the most votes will receive the Brickmaker's Table from Restoration Hardware; a gorgeous table designed by Mark Sage. If you get a chance, do stop by and cast your vote. The top ten are just a small representation of all fabulous spaces that were entered. I'd love to hear which ones are your favorites! Click here to see them and vote!

SHOPPING: Playing Hooky - Rose Bowl Swap Meet

I recognized the signs.  At this time of year I am an absentee wife.  So many projects, working well into the night, details of projects and client needs filling my head so that I am often 'not there' even when I am actually in the same room.  My husband puts up with so much from me and my creative mind - and he knows what to expect for the holiday season - and still - I could tell he was feeling a little neglected. 

So before it got too crazy we decided to play hooky and have a day all to ourselves with no interference from family, friends or business - just my sweetie and me on a little vacation.  We hopped in the car and headed for Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Swap Meet.

He's awfully cute, isn't he?

Unhappily- the antique swap meet was a disappointment.  I was expecting a treasure trove of antiques, vintage and fabulous finds.  What I found was a lot of junk.  I wanted to see something wonderful I 'just had to have' - but found nothing I couldn't live without.  Keith was equally unimpressed.  There were only a few booths that were worth exploring.  We wondered if the economy had something to do with it, because we both remembered being blown away by this same swap meet when we had visited it several years ago.  

Still, we had fun, going up and down the isles, hand in hand, stopping to buy a hot dog and soda for $3 at a stand that had run out of mustard.  Even that couldn't dampen our spirits.  

I was looking for a vintage dress form and we found two in the style I wanted.  They both wanted way too much for them, so we moved on.   At the end of the day Keith said he wanted me to get one of the dress forms, so we went back to barter.  People were already packing up their stuff (best bartering time, as they don't want to pack it all back home). We got one dealer down $75 and ran to the other, which I liked better as it was more time worn, and she came down $100.   We paid her and carted off our treasure - which Keith promptly  named Matilda (I have no clue as to why) and carried her to the car.  Other than the hot dog, she was our only purchase.

I'm excited to put Matilda in my office.  But that's another project for another day!

Bailey was happy to see us on our return home.