BEACH HOUSE NEUTRALS

Sometimes I feel that we are overdone here in the OC.  We have the ocean close by, the warm sand between our toes, ocean breezes to cool our summers, palm trees punctuating our neighborhoods and a surf board in every garage - but our homes look like carbon copy Spanish villas with red tile roofs and stucco walls and our interiors bear no resemblance to the coastal region we pay so dearly to be near.  

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Inbam @Varnam

My love for Varnam and its products are undefinable. Varnam comes with its new range of accessories for women from Women,doesn't it sound interesting and at the same time loving!
This product range is called Inbam!I hope all of you will make it and i am sure Karthik is going heights!
INBAM means 'happiness' in tamil. And that is exactly what VARNAM's new range aims to do. may 31st-june 1st. Preview-n-Sale ! 
the ANTS Store, Indira Nagar, Bangalore -08

All images credits:Varnam,KArthik VAidyanathan

TRUE GRAY

NO UNDERTONES IN MY GRAY, PLEASE

Gray.

Bleak.

 Gray Day. Stormy Gray. Misty Gray. 

Cement Gray. Concrete Gray. 

Gray Hairs. Cold Gray. Plain Gray.

 You're looking a little Gray.  

Old and Gray.  

Gray Matter.  Gray Area. Gray Cloud.

Gray seldom has positive connotations.

Gray alone can be cold, hard, unemotional, sterile.

Kind of like concrete.

Or Rocks.

And yet, it is currently the most loved color in home decorating

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BENJAMIN IN THE BEDROOM

GOING NUTS....

Wall color can drive you nuts.

The perfect tan can turn pink or orange.  That lovely pastel green suddenly looks minty.  The beige you picked is fleshy.  The yellow you loved takes on a sickly green tinge.  What looks perfect in the paint store often looks quite different in the light of your own home.   Samples are the answer, and you should never put paint on your walls without trying it out first.  I use poster board or foam core board, 2 coats with a good 2-3 inch border of white around the outside (so the color on your wall now won't influence the color you want it to be).   I use poster board so I can move it around the room and see it in different light.  No more minty, fleshy, orange-y, sickly colors.  No more nuts.

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Smoke house Deli @ Khan Market

I still remember the day we went to the Smoke House deli. It was a working day and Monday. The children  didn't accompany us this time. This was one of the few times that we went without  them. We  wanted to have breakfast and talk at a  secluded place and this seemed to be the best option in town. Already Fb, newspapers  and Design 2013 have had their fair shares of the  Design and illustrations being done at Smoke House.

Plain white walls and the illustrations in black permanent maker. But in between yes, we did see red bougainvillea flowers on their terrace walls and that made us fall in love with them. Mirza Ghalib's verses in English and the amazing Lodhi garden on one of the walls, their white iron chairs and the patterns of the tiles. There's so much more on the walls, definitely you need to see it to believe it. They have  embedded tons of information nuggets, stories and layers within these walls and invite you to find them all!

This is an excerpt from the site of Smoke House Deli:

"The nostalgia of 1960s Delhi meets light, happy Deli.

And here's how we did it: Inspired by the history of Khan Market and its pride of place in the nostalgia of anyone that grew up in Central Delhi, we picked history, reminiscence and culture as central themes for the space.

Within that overall theme, our visual and story references spanned life in 1960s Khan Market and Central Delhi, as well as the general history and humanistic culture of Delhi, while remaining within the overall Deli visual language. Khan Market in the 60s presents a delicious look at a slice of life in Central Delhi when a curious mix of Punjabi aesthetic from pre-partition roots mashed with neo-Colonial aspirations: when products and objects were different and described a very different kind and pace of life, when homes were connected and neighbourhoods were family.

These stories were then brought together into a format befitting a modern European Deli and hand-drawn directly onto the walls. Each line, every surface. No stencils, no pre-printed wallpapers. We thought through and questioned the connect with every object, each architectural and wallpaper pattern detail, each poster, book, music cassette etc. while including diverse elements ranging from geometric art-deco/neo-classical inspired wallpapers, cornice details, retro objects and sculptures, to highly detailed foliage, birds and portraits, to several hand-drawn lettering styles".

Kriti Monga and her associates spin magic and tales at the Smoke House Deli. These illustrations were stencilled or a printed wallpaper on the walls of Smoke House Khan Market.

Here's how they did it, : regular black permanent marker + freehand drawings directly on the walls (and other objects). Each line, every surface.Kerosene oil for erasing.

beautifully calligraphed 

the flight of steps above

calligraphed interiors

its enchanting

lodhi garden on walls

loved the cat and those grills

the details

as you walk up the stairs

the details

the upper floor

the mango tree on the walls

beautiful setting

the setting on the terrace

bougainvillea in bloom

loved the floor

shadows on floors

inside outside

all in a frame

the jamaican coffee after the breakfast

(images by Lakshmi Arvind)

ACCENT WALLS

NEWLYWEDS

Every room needs a focal point. 

There are obvious architectural focal points in some rooms.

Other rooms need to have one created

Paint is an excellent way to create a focal accent.

Accent walls shouldn't be overdone, but sometimes they are the perfect solution

to make an otherwise architecturally uninteresting room

a lot more interesting

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Modern, Magni & a Giveaway!!

Work at my Beach House is nearly complete and we will be moving in by the end of May. I have decided to take a more modern approach to the furniture there. With ocean views from almost every room, I find myself  drawn to the more simple lines of modern furniture in neutral tones.  I have drawn inspiration from many places including Helene Forbes Hennie whose work is pictured above. I have ordered some lovely chairs, a bit more boxy, but similar to the ones above and I am still searching for the right sofas. I want to live in the space first so I can choose just the right furniture for us – so for now the house will be a bit of a mish mash while I edit and change up the things I kept from our old house.

Another source of inspiration has been the work of  designer, James Magni.   I adore his peaceful interiors. They are just stunning.

Of course I have no budget to change the kitchen of the beach house, but if I could, this is one kitchen I would use for inspiration. So simple and beautiful.

And although my family usually uses the outdoor shower at the beach, this bath is just dream. You really feel like you are outside.  It is so very Zen!!

James Magni has a beautiful new book, Magni Modernism.  The interiors are warm, inviting and outstandingly gorgeous in their restraint and simplicity.  Page after page is filled with stunning examples of his beautiful work.

  Willow Décor was lucky enough to receive a copy of his book to share with our readers.  Just visit James Magni’s wonderful website HERE and enjoy his work, come back and leave a comment about what inspired you.  I will contact the winner by email on May 18. If you just can’t wait, you can order the book HERE.

A special thank you to James Magni for the Giveaway -  Check out his work and I know you will be as inspired as I am!!

(All content property of Willow Décor and not to be used with out permission.  Photo 1 – Slettvoll,  All other photos – Architectural Digest/James Magni)

THE COLOR YOU CRAVE: BEIGE

WHAT IS YOUR SIGNATURE COLOR?



When I first moved to California - many years ago - I worked for the beige lady.

Benjamin Moore GRANT BEIGE

Houzz

She had beige blond hair, beige tanned skin, beige shoes, beige handbag, she wore her favorite beige always, she even drove a beige car.  She was very wealthy.  She was very elegant.  Her only accessory was jewelry - gold - lots of it.  Life for her was pretty simple.  She knew what she loved.  She loved beige.  She surrounded herself with it.  It was her signature.

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WHAT COLOR DO YOU CRAVE?

THE COLOR THAT MAKES YOUR HEART SING.....

The color of dreams.  

The one that takes your breath away. 

 The shade that you want to wrap up in.

  The color that makes you smile.

Whatever that color is....

If you are passionate about it

If it makes you feel calm at the end of a crazy day

If your closet is full of it

If you can't get enough of it

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Kriti Monga@ Turmeric Design

Kriti Monga  a brilliant illustrator.I sort of bumped in to her work in the commissioned travel dairies for Calcutta which she worked for the Rollcallroll event. Kriti's works are etheral. I love her amazing calligraphy.With her calligraphy and illustrations she loves to draw stories.No wonder she was asked to make travel dairies of Calcutta,she is born to make travel dairies and has almost made of every place she has visited and brilliant is the word to it. She runs the design studio named "Turmeric Design" in Delhi.

As Kriti quotes"For every spark of brilliance you see in an artist's work, there were a hundred sleepless nights they spent setting themselves on fire"yes its the perseverance and love towards art,travel,illustration and calligraphy that takes you to places Kriti.

There's so much of creativity that she's has been featured on Verve,Creative Review,Platform Magazine blog,M magazine,Elle India and the Pool magazine.She was also a part of the Design Yatra 2011.Recently she had been in news of illustrating the walls of Smoke House Deli at the Khan market and Hauzkhas.(More on that later).To see her brilliance in person,i visited Smoke House Deli at Khan Market.See it in the next post.

her travel diary made into a book ,some years back

travel to bhuj

some blockprints

travel to fort kochi

her travels to Paris

travels to SriLanka

travels to Goa

dairies of train travels

diaries of Bengal..

Images:Courtesy Kriti Monga@Turmeric Design