Red rose centerpieces

I bought a lot of flowers for Diwali.. I must say Hong Kong's flower market has some of the most beautful and exotic flowers in the world.  The red roses we bought were so beautiful, fresh and velvety like the ones we see on the greeting cards. I have been enjoying them over the weeks with different arrangements. 

Spiral arrangement with red rose as a centerpiece for corner table or center table. I did this by cutting the stems at different lengths and then arranging them in a narrow neck and tall vase. Arranged tea lights on crocheted doilies. 

In the evening I lit the tea lights and dimmed the lights for a romantic and festive feel. Ahem..Romantic sound like a silly word with a baby crawling behind me all the time:) Lucky for me he is not interested in candles etc..yet!!

In a few days time some of the roses became droopy.. It broke my heart as I had gone to the end of another island to get the roses( I live on Hong Kong island and the flower market is on Kowloon island) In my floral design class I had learned several ways to rescue a droopy flower. To use them in floral arrangement one way is to use a floral wire. I used another technique. I cut the stem close to the flower and then floated them in water in a copper urli in a  s- shape. 

Single rose arrangement with a single flower floating in a short vase with a wide mouth. I placed it over one of my canvas paintings from the Indian pattern series. I use some of them as coasters and they look pretty as a base. 

what do you do with the petals dropped from the roses. Just collect them and float them in water. Float a bigger sized flower - real or artificial in a flat bottom vase or vessel. I used a artificial lotus  and placed the dish on another of my canvas painting to create a festive backdrop.

Home sweet home..getting reading for diwali

Hello friends.. How are you? Have you started decorating the house for the festive season.. I have slowly started decorating..with a lot of caution as my 9 month old has started climbing and pulling things down..Lucky for me (for the decor sake) he is only interested in gadgets,cars, trucks and books.

So here is a corner in my living room which is the first to get decked up for Diwali..

 I believe that most of the things required to decorate the home for occasions and events are at home.. one just needs to find them and know how to use in the decorating or creating a pretty corner in the house..

Lamps, lanterns, earthen pots, hurricane lamps, tea light holders- bring all of them out!!!

Glass bottles , mason jars, old wine or drinking glasses.. its that time of the year to collect them!! urlis, Indian traditional style brass and earthen diyas , silver ware and brass ware all need to get polished..These all will be needed to light up and decorate the spaces in the house..

Have you guys started making the Diwali sweets yet..I better run as I have a long list of tasks to be done yet.. See you soon!!

Natural themed table setting

Hello friends.. sharing with you today a informal table decor for two dinner evenings we had with our friends. The decor is simple Indian style with natural theme...very homely and at ease..

The cotton table runner is from FabIndia with block printed design of paisleys. I like the white, earthen brown and dull red combination. It gives a simple yet elegant look to the table.. 

The centerpiece is of sea shells from Langkawi island, Malaysia. My sister gave me this wood and rattan platter when I visited  her in USA.I have always filled my  bags to the extent of explosion when I visit USA:) 

My mother send me these banana leaf table mats...They look good for informal simple  style table decor..The cloth coasters are cotton block printed with natural dyes..

The air freshener is an expensive one from Ashleigh-Burwood,UK. I mentioned expensive because it is the most useless and overly priced air freshener I have ever bought..Unless I put my nose next to the bottle I can smell absolutely nothing..

These pictures are from the first evening I just realized that I forgot to take pictures of the second evening..I had placed starter plates and another set of bowls and soup spoons.

Linking to Tabletop Tuesday!!

Floral arrangements for tabletops

Hello lovely friends!! There are so many new things that I want to share with you.. I have been working on so many new paintings..reorganized and redecorated the entire house..still working on making the shop operational.. traveled to some beautiful places in Hong Kong plus the baby has started sleeping all night long which means he takes small naps during daytime which means lesser 'Me- time' for me!! I honestly don't know which topic to post first..phew!!!

Flowers ..How about flower arrangement/ flower decor..just for eye candy!! Sharing with you today floral arrangement from our apartment.. These pretty arrangements in the lounge..This one is in a tall 4 feet vase..

 These two vase on a table are really good for eye candy..I like how the stems are kept hidden in the clear glass with palm leaves ..

This flower box as a centerpiece really helps prep up the space...Did you notice the the hint of green in the purple flower box.. 

Are these artichokes with stems?!!! Always thought artichokes look lovely...But never thought artichokes could form a table centerpiece...Great idea!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!!

Indian themed festive floral decorations

Hello friends..How are you all? Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of autumn!! Here in Hong Kong it is starting to get pleasant.. with cool winds, milder temperatures and lesser rains. This time of year also brings lot of festivals..Starting with Ganesh chaturthi ( more info about this festival here).. Sharing with you the decor I did yesterday for the 10 day festival..

I created the floral arrangements as quickly as I could in 15-20 minutes as the baby was starting to lose patience.. sitting in his high chair he was wondering what Mommy is doing:)

I have finally found out where the flower market in Hong Kong is..It was a splendid discovery..I was totally blown away by the amazing variety of  exotic flowers..so many different types which I have never ever seen.. I will definitely take pictures and do a tour of the flower market on the blog as well.. So I got some flowers and florist foam. This is the Indian style floral decoration I did in a copper vessel..

I also made modak with Khoya. I always make khoya at home with Ricotta cheese.. Added sugar, cardamom, fine powdered coconut,saffron to it. Shaped them with modak moulds which my mom had sent me..

21 modaks and 21 flowers( in the arrangement)

I put some florist foam in the clay (oil) diyas/ candle holders and kept single flowers in them..

Made traditional Indian dessert- saffron shrikhand with yogurt (hung overnight and strained), sugar, cardamom, almonds, saffron. 

Last not least I finally opened a etsy shop on the auspicious day:)

How to jazz up an old toaster

The other day I was passing by the Pylones store at a mall. Pylones has lot of innovative, super cute yet functional items of everyday use. I really loved the toasters with polka dots and flowers..They could add a dose of prettiness in my metallic grey and white  contemporary kitchen. I drool over it every time we went to that mall. 

 So I thought I don't need a toaster as such I have one....then why not jazz it up a bit. I brainstormed some ideas and came to conclusion that I will use the remaining pieces of the cherry blossom wall decal. I had used it in my previous kitchen..you can see it here..

So I cleaned up the toaster and then fixed the flowers on all sides of the toaster. As it is a wall decal it is quite durable and waterproof as well. Do you have a toaster or any such item at home, jazz it up with wall decals!!!!!

Indian independence day party idea : Tricolor cake

Look whats fresh out of the oven ...I baked a pound cake with Tricolors!!! 

It is very easy to make..Just prepare the batter as usual recipe..Just before pouring into the pan, divide the batter into 3 equal parts ..Put a few drops of orange in one part and few drops of green in another..

Now pour the batter one by one..Bake as per the recipe.

The same way you can make rainbow cake or cookies..

Happy Independence day to all my Indian friends!!!

Cozy corners of my new home

Hello friends!! How was your weekend? I went window shopping:) Actually since we moved into our apartment here in HongKong , we have been checking out furniture and decor shops almost every weekend.. I find HongKong to be a interior designers delight!! I am thinking of doing a post later on the fantastic decor shops here..

I am excited today to share with you the space from where I blog..Before I moved the bulky cupboard (yes single-handedly) around, I took pictures of the handy nook I had made for all the electronic gadgets on a folding table.. It was a real sour for my eyes so I had kept my peacock painting near it to add some beauty to it..

 So one afternoon when my 5 month old was taking a nap I moved our good old ( it is 11 years old..sigh) cupboard from the living room to the dining room..I didn't have the time or the patience to remove all the stuff inside it.. So I just put a tape on the doors of the cupboard and dragged it .. I guess because it is so full with stuff, nothing moved or fell out..:)) Once this was done the beautification part began..

I kept my 'The great Buddha' painting over it in the center..(If you are interested in art then take a look at How I made the great Buddha painting here) In this house I want to try to put as few nails as I can.. So I decided to place it on the table top and not hang it..That also brings the painting to the eye level when you sit at the dining table. 

I hate to see wires of electronic gadgets around..They make such a mess..So I hid all of them hidden behind the cupboard and some behind the painting:) I hung curtain tiebacks over the nobs to jazz up the cupboard ..I hung them in such a way that it is not difficult to open them without removing the tiebacks.. 

Kept some silverware, a rattan holder for remotes/pens/notepads.. Used my maroon and golden canvas paintings as coasters..

This rose flower scented candle is in a handmade jar..and that's a satay fan.. According to Wikipedia it is a "Fan being used to fire-up the coal in a grill used to make satay." I use it to fan myself when it is hot outside like a coal grill:) 

This black leather cube was always in our foyer room/entry area in all our previous homes but here it has found a new role.. I kept a red and golden embroidered cushion over it to jazz it up..Here I sit while the baby sleeps staring at your beautiful blogs, my Facebook and  looking at the green mountain and....

occasional rainbows!!!!!!!

Asian inspired Buddha corner

So after two weeks of arranging, sorting, throwing and all the madness that comes with moving homes and countries, I think the apartment is starting to look something like our home. There is still lot to do but still there are some nooks and corners developing which we are already falling in love.I would say the decor looks very much Asian inspired with a bit of European touch. 

This is Buddha table vignette I have created on the side table in the living room..The statue is from Switzerland..It is from a decor shop named Interio in Zurich where you will find a lot of Asian/Indian inspired stuff...When we lived there it was my favorite shop to visit any day!!  It has two stores in Zurich ..one at Bahnhofstrasse (small one) and bigger one at Dubendorf.. I suggest you visit the later one if you want to go mad shopping:))

I kept some wooden balls with frangipani flowers.. These flowers are not real.. I bought them from Singapore specifically so that I will never miss these pretty flowers even if we move back to Europe or some other cold country..The wooden bowl is from Malaysia if I am not wrong because I had totally forgotten about it and found it in our stuff now:)

The table has glass top .. I find it so difficult to take a picture of it without getting my reflection in it.. If you have any tips for this do please let me know!!!!!!!

sneak peek: my new home

Hi lovely people..How are you all doing? I have moved to our new home. This home like our previous homes is close to nature.. We live on a mountain and have the view of the beautiful green mountain...There is so much greenery outside..Every morning we wake up by the chirping of the birds..It is really serene and beautiful..

The move didn't go as we had excepted ..It was a total mess by the moving company..We ended up unpacking all the boxes ourselves and since they broke our dear swiss-made bed we have to sleep on a makeshift bed on floor and go through the slow insurance process to recover our loss..:( This move has turned my 5 month old into a mommy magnet.. So we took turns to take care of him while the other one unpacked and arranged our stuff..

So this is how our apartment looked on the Day1-2-3.. I must say it was overwhelming..

I just piled up all the boxes as I unpacked in a corner..On Day 4 when the movers took away the boxes it was a great relief..The task of making this space look like "our apartment" has begun..

After 3 hours of cleaning and arranging I managed to make it the dining table look better..While organizing my stuff I found some hidden treasures.. 

The table runner is a banarasi saree table runner .. It adds the much needed color and jazz to the room..

The table coasters are from Bali.. hand painted on wood in batik style..The tea is Aveda's organic herbal tea..It is amazing..If you are a tea lover you have try this one..It has after taste of peppermint and licorice root..

 Bought the white lilies when we went for a walk in the evening..I still have to arrange the balcony and other areas!! I am focusing on my baby's nursery right now!!

Linking to party at centerpiece wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, show & tell Friday !!

Home Tour: Pacific place, HongKong

For last 1 month we have been living in this lovely serviced apartment. Although it is a temporary accommodation I must say I have kind of got attached to it. It is perfect in so many ways.. breathtaking views of world-famous Victoria Harbour and dynamic Central Business District , a well equipped kitchen with features like a plants and pantry, efficient and spacious storage in all rooms etc.. 

We will be moving to our own pad soon and so I will take you on my temporary home's tour today..This apartment has 2 bedrooms...I will start with the living room..

This is the living room.. Its lovely isn't it!!  I am not a big fan of L shaped sofas..never thought they are comfortable until this one.. As they have added so many big cushions even the hard to sit in corners are comfortable..The first thing that caught my eye was the framed abacus art..It is so fabulous and easy to make..one day I will make for my home as well..:)

    The other brilliant feature I like is the picture panel to hide the TV..

The dining area has two cabinets which have lovely glass vase which have lights hidden inside them..Looks lovely when you want the room to be dimly lit..

The kitchen is fabulous for a person who likes to cook..In Hong Kong space is precious and most apartments we saw ( while house hunting) had tiny kitchen ..But this one is just perfect ..The plant really add a homely touch to this home-away from-home:)

I really love this kitchen..so bright, warm,cozy and modern..

The children's room has 2 single bed and a study table.. Since my baby is just 5 months ,we use it as a play room/ reading room/Devghar ..multi purpose room:) I like how they have hidden the switches and plugs in the head board panel..

The master bedroom area is really spacious.. The storage cabinets/closets are outside the room well hidden in wooden panels..It has really thick dark curtains which helps me oops I mean the baby to sleep longer:)

 You can see more pictures in the last post I did on pillow arrangement here.. 

Apart from these features what I like and would like to incorporate sometime in my home are the rattan fine weaved dustbins( very stylish), remote controlled lights, a strand of fresh flowers and the paintings in the toilets.

Although I am excited to move to our own pad to decorate and design again, I will miss this place!!

All the pictures are taken by me except the ones without a watermark are from this property site. I thought they are way better than the iPhone pictures I took:)

Joining parties at Romantic home, a stroll thru life !!