Joy To The World!!

I don't know how many of you relate to it, but I went to a Catholic Girls' School and this time of the year - in my mind - is the most festive. As a kid, I used to be super excited about December approaching because it would mean my school will be decked up, there will be carols sung and Santa Claus (I still don't know who dressed up as Santa in our school) distributing gifts. Just before the holidays, the Nativity scene will be enacted and I used to be in awe every year!!! Christmas is such a festival that it inevitably spreads a lot of cheer and happiness. What better way to add to this happiness than reflecting it in your home?

Below are few easy crafts and decor ideas for making your home Christmas ready - 

1) Christmas Tree on Cones : In our busy lives, not all of us can afford a big decked up tree in our homes. Apart from time, sometimes space or other factors also don't allow us to go all out with a big tree. Of course, when you go out in the market, you will get hordes of mini trees - which frankly look like a tack fest. How about you can make your own, which by no way, compromises on  style. 

You have to start by making cones, which can be of different sizes - say, as tall as 28" or as short as 9". A variety of sizes helps in creating a collection. Using poster boards or thick paper plates you can make your cone which will act as a base for your tree decoration. You can follow it up with a decoration of your choice - the options are myriad.

a) Decorative Paper

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall

How did such a mundane object, almost as mundane as breathing (I mean you can't do without both, right?? No?), suddenly become so important in the decor world? Apart from it's utility value, mirrors add so much spunk to any space. Sadly it has been under-appreciated, until now!! From creating illusion of space to reflecting light illuminating dark corners to adding a touch of glamour and drama to any space, mirrors do it all. If you have stuck around for long you would know our sheer irreverence for the humble mirror. So how about we effectively discuss this dynamic element of decor at length and its optimum usage in each room -

1) In the Entryway : A bright mirror in your foyer or entry hallway reflects a lot of light and gives you and your guests a cheery welcome. Also in our busy lives, we are mostly rushing out. A quick look in the mirror while heading out can give you a boost of confidence before facing the real world. Remember that this mirror, apart from adding aesthetic value, also needs to be utilitarian - so please use a mirror in which your reflection is clearly visible. 

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Come Away With Me : Mysore Musings

Editor's Note : Our traveler fly is back with another trip down south. Pls let us know if you have any questions regarding the place or any suggestions or experience regarding your travel you want to share. Tell us all in the Comments section or mail us at housefliesanonymous@gmail.com.

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The much awaited long weekend had finally come and we were aching to go on a road trip, and since Dussehra was just round the corner we thought why not go to the hub of Dussehra celebrations- Mysore! 

So we started off from Bangalore at 7am (Mysore is only abut 3 hrs from Bangalore). Like I mentioned in my earlier travel post, I prefer eating home-packed food on trips, I had indeed packed some yummy juicy burgers for the road. We stopped at Mandya, which is also known as Sugar city, owing to the vast sugarcane fields and sugar processing plants there, and had our burgers whilst admiring the beautiful sugarcane fields and men and women at work. The view was perfect and weather was pleasant. After our halt we continued our journey and finally reached Mysore. My sincere advice would be to not rely too much on your GPS. To put things mildly, had we blindly followed what "she" said, I would not have been alive to write this post!!

Diwali 2014

The last few months have been very tough. We recently (as in 2 months back) shifted to a rented accommodation, from our own house (in-law's house) and awaiting the possession of our own flat which was promised last December (#NCRflatpossessionwoes). There are, obviously, a lot of limitations and challenges we are facing as renters, decor being one of them. Also, with my in-law's place being hardly an hour's drive from our new flat - all festivals have to be doubly celebrated. This, while being a lot of fun, also turns out to be quite hectic.

This year, somehow, my enthusiasm for Diwali was pretty much on the lower end of the spectrum. My husband was surprised and made all the efforts to keep me upbeat. He brought flowers, without being asked - I hardly used them. He brought Rangoli colors - I didn't make one as I was worried I will stain the floor with the colors. Basically, I was walking a tight-rope with the whole "being renter" business. You must be wondering that I am exaggerating the situation here, but the fact is we will hardly be staying in this home - max till March. I don't want to be too connected to this home and put too much of an effort or energy into it that it becomes difficult to dissociate myself. We are also house-proud people and know that this is someone else's house - something that we can not take for granted.

Since we had promised that we will show you a few glimpses of our own homes, to familiarize ourselves with you, here's my take on Diwali this year. Tell us what you think about whatever little I have done.

Fold your hands together as I begin with my Mandir :).

Table Manners

See we are back with a new post, like we promised. As it happens, we somehow chose to be back, bang in between the festive season. And what are festivals if not celebrated with family. Well, in India - Family & Food - the two F-words that never fail to bring a smile :). 

So we are here to help you with your festival preps. While food and it's variety and taste should be on top of your mind but wouldn't it be absolutely lovely if you gave the presentation a thought - a cherry on the cake I'd say, if I can freely use a food metaphor. Or in the Indian context, the Kaju (Cashew-nut) on your Boondi Laddoo (doubt there is a parallel of this awesomeness in the English speaking world) :P. 

How about we list down few important pointers to guide you in setting your table, making it guest-ready and a cynosure of all eyes. 

It's very important that you decide what kind of dinner or feast you are planning to host. Is it a formal sit-down dinner complete with silverware and overall more elaborate or is it a more casual approach where the food is set on a separate table, buffet style for which you need a fast and easy approach. Let's take each of these settings individually and discuss it at large - 

•        A Formal Dinner - 

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Sorry...

Hi, how have you guys been? Missed us.. at all?? I doubt it. Had we been in your place, we wouldn't have even cared. How dare a new blogger with hardly anything much going for them, even decided to disappear? We are at fault and we own it but we just lost our groove in the midst of it all. We were naive enough to think that just by the content of it all and good research we will be able to carve a niche for ourselves. We didn't want to over-promote ourselves or randomly align with other bloggers in India just so that we generate more “Likes” or more comments. Fact is, we don’t share the style in terms of aesthetics with most of the other décor bloggers. We have a very Modern, clutter-free and clean approach to décor, which somehow is not cutting it – we guess? That being said, for the people who do relate to our style and our blog, we are back and back for good. We promise, we are not going anywhere now – at least not till the time we are sure you will miss us and make us come back.

We got the jolt of our lives when our favoritesssttt bloggers decided to take a step back with no definite date of when they were coming back. To say that we are missing them, is putting it mildly. To say that we are religiously checking their blog and just stopping ourselves from writing a love-song to them is more like it. What gave us a wake-up call was how many people got affected by it!! They have some 5000+ comments and counting and at least 80% of the lot are requesting begging them to come back. What about us?? We were ashamed and how!!

May I Come In : Reny's Nautical Abode

You remember that time when the height of cool was remembering the “My Heart Will Go On” lyrics verbatim, or trying the Titanic pose every time you are on a ferry boat or any boat or near water or just because there are 2 of you? I, actually, went through a phase from 1997-2002 where I believed I will meet the temporary love of my life (come-on I will not marry a hippie for crying out loud!!) with casual wind-swept hair, talking to me about art and living for the moment (home loans be damned!!), on a ship. Then came the Internet revolution and this whole “mistakes in the movie TITANIC” kinda extensive researches, Leo’s (yeah I can call him that) conscious departure from cute-boyish to serious-rugged style, it all made me sigh and move on. My love for the vast open ocean and the dream of a cruise trip is still intact, though. So imagine my thrill when I get to meet Reny who shares the same love, actually more, much much more. So much more that when it came to building his house, he built it totally around the look of a ship’s interior. 

Come along with us as we take a tour of our very first theme-based home. Let me first properly introduce Reny. Reny Joseph, who works in the Merchant Navy, is the proud owner of this nautical themed home, along with his lovely wife Reena . He claims the ocean to be his first, oops, second (sorry Reena) love and with a man totally smitten, he displayed his love in his home. The theme has been played along with a lot of usage of sturdy wood, glimpse of which you receive as soon as you enter. The first thing you notice is the massive wooden door with the glass cut-outs making the sun-light do a jig of their own. I am actually imagining a tail-coat wearing door-man opening it for me with Celine Dion providing the background score (I am still at –it with my Titanic references – Gawwdd I am stuck in the 90s!!).

The One with the Throne

OK, so we are finally done with the Winter season. After much confusion about the weather status, we can officially welcome Spring. The situation was quite funny and quite a lot of round-robin jokes about the confusing weather (esp the famous Dabang dialogue joke - heard it?) kept my Whatsapp account abuzz. Not that I am looking forward to the sweltering months ahead but I am really glad to be done and over with the heavy pile of clothes on my body, wearing boots (I hate wearing closed shoes), shorter days - ugghhh not exactly a fan of the winter season!! Sadly, though, there goes my excuse for not taking a bath!!! Eeewwww who does that?? Not me :P

Now that spring is here and summer is just round the corner, why not discuss the Bathroom y'all? After all we will spend a lot of time there splashing our faces, showering twice or thrice a day and maybe catch a stomach bug and crap away (OK that's the first and last reference to it, I swear). Decorating bathrooms, though, easy but is quite often neglected. Whether you have a big or a small bathroom, it is always smart to effectively manage the space to serve you well and add a touch of your personality in the process. More often than not, a guest would like to use your bathroom - impress them non?? We will tell you how - 

Come Away With Me : Destination Coorg

Editor's Note : Pls welcome on board another member in the HFA family, who will take you along with her to Coorg. She chooses to remain, much like all of us here, anonymous. Tell us how you like what she has to say in the comments or you can mail us at housefliesanonymous@gmail.com.

So the husband and I finally got a whole weekend to ourselves (yes, I am one of the few unlucky ones, who work on weekends) and decided to have a small getaway somewhere nearby. Of the many options, we zeroed in on Coorg. Now Coorg (or Kodagu as it is traditionally known) is a beautiful hill station and is a major tourist spot near Bangalore. I haven’t been to many hill stations, except for Ooty a long time ago, so I vehemently nodded my head even before my husband can finish saying Coorg.

We had planned to leave home by around 5.30am so that we could reach early and have sufficient time to cover all the tourist spots. Who am I kidding? We left only by 6.30. Come on, I got a weekend free after like, ages – I am allowed to be lazy. I had also packed sandwiches to eat on the way. I know there are a million restaurants and McD’s on the way but come on, the joy of eating home-packed food while travelling is something else altogether (Yes, I am that kinda woman :P).

We set off towards our destination, thanks to our smart phones – NOT. The drive was great BECAUSE we had done some research before our trip, so knew the various shortcuts and all. I have a Coorgi friend and he had given me a detailed good-old route map to various hot-spots to check out in Coorg. 

#Trending : Color of the Year

Behold my beauties, as Pantone has announced the color of the year - 2014!!! It seems only yesterday that I was talking about Emerald, which was the color of 2013 and here I am again - serves me right for starting a decor blog towards the year end :(. Being very vague then, I would like to elaborate what this hoo-haa is all about. Well, for starters - Pantone is like the drug-lord of colors. Sitting in New Jersey, they have this crazily correct color system going on which is kinda followed as a standard world over, across a variety of industries like textile, printing, plastic etc. They have a set pattern of number codes for each color imaginable, which is the same everywhere with proper reference books and color chips for your convenience. Works out great because almost everyday, sitting comfy in my chair, I mail my printer in Ludhiana what color I want in a particular design (He still messes up is a story for another day - Pantone is not FOOL-proof you see!!). So, whatever the drug-lord says, you just vehemently nod your head along.

2014, carrying with it a load of hopes for change for the good for everyone in general and Delhiites in particular (Highly let down, Mr Kejriwal!!) - saw "Radiant Orchid" being announced as the Color of the Year.

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Never a fan of Purple in decorating, this color seemed to me as a tough nut to crack. What always works, when in doubt, is to start by small measures. Treading in a never-tried-before territory is always filled with doubt and the risk of going horribly wrong. Like I always say, a trend is a trend - here today, gone tomorrow. Introduce a big change, following a trend, only if you are highly committed to it. Embracing my fears, I thought I will list down few pointers on working around with this color. 

May I Come In : An Ultra-Glam Guest Bedroom

So I am back (No, not like KJo, dahlings :P) after my month-long hiatus. I would love to describe what all I have been doing all this while but I can see how how eager you are for me to (NOT) tell that story. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I am sure the title of the post has got you all excited - don't we all love to have a sneak-peek at others' lives (Facebook) or others' homes (this blog!!). So, without further ado, I bring back to you, our decorator extraordinaire, Samreen. You remember her right - the one with the agree-to-adopt-me-and-I-can-leave-my-parents level of awesome nursery??

Well, she heard my pleas (read threats) and did some grown-up magic at her home. As a designer myself, I know the easy and hard bits of decor - a blank slate being easy and a renovation/redecoration the tough part. Samreen, being the decor ninja she is, tackled the tough bit with a nonchalance unbecoming of someone just entering the biz. How about a look-see at the dull and drab "Before" shot of the guest-room she touched with her magic wand?