The Imperial Compilation - Hampi Inspired.

They say everything comes to an end....my recent trip to Hampi & Badami as well...what was left behind were we and many more in their ruins of temples, markets and palaces which once belonged to the great Kings and warriors....What was also left behind were my thoughts inspired by these majestic ruins. I came home, studied the pictures of the architecture, studied the metal used, the bold colours and the importance of water in this area. And then, it was time to use it in my work...



Mirrors have always been my favourite. I love to experiment with them and guess what? Most things look nice on them anyway. So, talking about the rich Vijayanagara of Hampi, there lived middle class people as well. The most important metal used during those times was copper or peetal. This place was also full of temples where spoons, diyas or lanterns were made from copper. Hence, I thought, I should dedicate my tall, green mirror to the temples and the common man of Vijayanagara.





This next mirror has a very profoud thought after the beautiful and intricately carved Pushkarni. A water reservoir shaped in a square with triangular steps, was made around Temples for bathing before visiting the Gods. The deep Blue of the mirror with a combination of Gold marks the riches of Vijaynagara..





Bali is my next mirror. The reason I named it such is, after the gorgeous women of Vijayanagara. All the statues of women, goddess, queens that I saw in the museum of Hampi, jewelry seemed to have a lot of importance. It looked like they spent a lot of time getting dressed very elaborately. So along with the mirror, I decided to make a wall dresser with golden motifs and pieces of circular mirror and named it Bali, meaning earring.





Round, rich and deep blue, one of my favourite mirror is Jaala, meaning water. Water being the most important element of life, civilization and prosperity had to be a part of my work. The kingdom survived and prospered because of the infinite Pushkarnis and water holes and a splendid water supply despite the barren land of Hampi. This mirror marks the infinite water reservoirs and the riches of the kingdom of Vijaynagara.



Storage of any sort has been one of the most important part of our lives. We need it all over. Nidhanika meaning shelf in Sanskrit - is a solid display and storage shelf for books or anything else. It has simple yet ornate golden wrought iron embellishments. The little motif in golden marks the literacy and riches of the era of the Saluva dynasty.



Last but not the least, after so much time, we saw the Milky way in the twilight that spread over Hampi. That moment was so significant for me, that Koshayi meaning drawers in Sanskrit is a piece inspired by the clear starry nights over the expansive strech of these ruins. The drawers are made blue with golden beads to imitate the shinning stars.

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Doctors Office gets a Makeover - Ballooooonni Balloon Library & Children's Work Space!

My doctor client now has a consulting room, a waiting area, a small reception and a pretty little library with loads of goodies and space for toddlers to teenagers. When I met her, she was in great dilemma, she has a lot of books, little therapy sessions for kids and young patients, so how could she accommodate all this in her spare area? The room needed to look cute, bright, cheerful on one hand and on the other, demanded space for her books and work area for children. So here it goes.....



A central view of the room, a wash basin, a nice display of children's work on a push pin board and a study on the side.



I thought of displaying children's inspirational handy-work on the central wall of the room. It made the room very warm and welcoming.



Making the room comfortable to sit and work was also important. In case of sessions, a spare examination bed was essential. Hence we gave it enough storage for books underneath and threw pillows to make it warm and inviting.

So far, the view of the library has been hidden. Ardent readers often have problems, they can't resist buying books and then, there is no place to stack them. Small open & closed shelving was made to display some interesting books and the stack the other reference books below them.



However, a desk, toy trunk and toys were important ingredients of this space. Yet everything needed to be compact and comfortable.



A Ballooooonni Trunk was made with a fluffy foam seating, with ample space which serves well as a bench for the table and fits perfectly under it, saving space and making it compact. A lot of people asked me if the cushion came off the trunk while opening it. The answer to this is no, it is completely removable with a removable cover as well and yet attached well to the trunk top.



The biggest highlight of the room were the Balloooonnni balloons on the wall. The light blue wall with a variety of air balloons painted on it made the room look colourful and alluring for not only kids but even adults.

I even thought of making a frilly light curtain to cover a small window. It did wonders to the wall and to the face of the entire room.

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Leisure Lounge @ Home!!

Most of us have little getaways from our mundane lives; and certainly, we need to have at least some of them near us! Well that’s how the idea of the Leisure Lounge came up!

A room not bigger than 200 sq ft needed to be converted in to a lounge area which would accommodate several things and yet make it look like a lounge. The area needed to fit in a book case, study, storage, loft, a bar, a cabinet to showcase a shot glass collection and a stage to accommodate a drum set and other smaller drums from West Africa and Middle East. Now the challenge was to be able to fit so many things in 200 sq ft without cluttering the space and still making it look classy, roomy and artistic!



Very few people have an inclination of collecting something special that will remind them of a place, person or an incident. Here, the challenge was to be able to accommodate over 120 shot glasses collected from travels all over the world. A cabinet had to be made to display, preserve and present the collection.



Next came in another very interesting feature yet a little discreet and innovative. A bar had to be made in a way that an outsider would not know, yet when opened, gave you a surprise! A chic painting with miniature bottles studded on the door of the bar makes it unique and funky! Along with a regular bar, a mobile wine cellar with bottle holders and a tray was also made to be able to push it around to other rooms.



Since this room is a mixture of some fun and work, a study and book case had to be accommodated. More than 200 books needed to be placed and protected from the ever increasing dust. Despite the space constraint in the bookshelf, a small feature had to be added to break the tedium of the quadrangle. An illuminated square was fixed off centre in the bookcase with zigzag shelves which flaunted odd some objects breaking the monotony of its content.



A long desk was made with two storage cabinets. The one on the left was made permanent while the one on the right is movable in order to fit two people on the same desk if need be.



Lastly, the room couldn’t be complete without a platform to hold a striking collection of drum set. The reason for the elevation of the podium was to reduce noise and vibrations produced while playing. Taking advantage of the height, some storage was also created under the stage. The wall and door that bordered the drums was demolished and a glass was fixed in order to cut the noise that made its way outside.

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Books...Book Shelves...and more...

I read a lot from the time I was little, maybe as old as 6-7 years. Since then, books have been with me all the time. After I moved back to India, I decided to start collecting them. Though a lot of times I think collecting books can be such a waste due to the amount of space they require and they are practically of no use once they have been read. But somehow having a good collection of books and having them around me, inspires me. I also lend my books to a lot of my friends and family, it does give me some kinda pleasure and satisfaction. Hence, I thought, why not deviate from the home decor subject to some thing else and make it more fun and
interactive. Scroll down to have some fun!

How much do you know about books? » Quiz School

My brother has suddenly started taking interest in photography and is always waiting to take some nice pictures. Since I wanted to write on this topic, I asked him if he could take a few pictures of the books I have. He wanting to do more of it, took some wonderful pictures. Here are some of them....

















(All the above pictures are taken by Kshiteej Sumant)

Now lets move on to the Book Shelf topic....

I have written about how you should arrange your book shelves. I hope the tips have been useful so far. Here are some more quick 3 do-able tips without removing all your books -

1. Match colours and sizes of books.
2. If you have a shabby stack of books, hang or put a painting or a nice frame on a small easel in front of the books.
3. Use books as pedestals for art objects by stacking them on their sides and placing objects on top.

Hope taking care of books hasn't been a hassel for you. If it is, then the best way is to give away your books to a book store which takes used books. Maybe you can earn some pennies from it and also make more space in your book shelf for some new ones!

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