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In this season, there is no better subject than Lord Ganesha. Ganesh Chaturthi preparations are going on throughout the country. Many of you must have done all the preparations, so this can be your check list & for those of you in the process of doing so, can follow these quick & easy guidelines. This blog is a special subject related to interior decoration & I thought of giving it a few guidelines with respect to Vastu. There are 2 main things involved in the Ganesh festival. 1. Decoration There is no hard & fast rule on how to decorate. For decoration use easily available things at home which are also ecofriendly, to avoid pollution & extra garbage. eg; flowers, leaves, plants, cotton clothes etc Avoid synthetic, rubber, plastic materials. Backdrop Backdrop makes the entire puja stand out. While choosing materials try to use natural materials as mentioned above. Avoid too many colors. Choose 2 or maximum three colors from white, orange, yellow, green, gold, silver etc. Choosing dark colors will affect your mood & vibrations, so be aware about it. Remember idol should be the highlight & not the backdrop. You can make the backdrop simple & ecofriendly by keeping plants around the table as shown in the picture. Lighting Let natural light be a part of decoration. Don’t overdo artificial lighting, keep it balanced. Give an overall mild lighting. Never focus light on the idol’s face. You can make a combination of ambient lighting & accent lighting for better results. 2. Idol selection This is the most important thing to consider. Go for clay idol for obvious environmental reasons. A seated Ganesha brings in peace, happiness & love (spiritual growth) whereas a reclined one brings in luxury, comfort & richness (materialistic growth). Pay special attention to the trunk. Trunk to the left symbolizes prosperity & happiness. Lord Ganesha with trunk to the right is believed to be difficult to pacify & hence one need to follow all the rituals correctly. Idol Color White idol symbolizes harmony, peace & happiness. Alternatively, a saffron colored idol can also be chosen for self growth & success. Never face the idol to the south as it can do more harm than good, according to Vastu. Never keep an idol in the bedroom, store room or under the staircase. These are few of the basic things when one follows, makes the festival full of joy, happiness, prosperity and of utmost tranquility. Wish you all a happy Vinayak Chaturthi !!

Tired of seeing same ceiling everywhere made up of plaster of paris, gypsum board or plain ceiling? Then why don’t you try something different which is simple, low budget & trendy. I am talking about an industrial interior which is in growing trend. It is opposite to what is normally done. Instead of hiding the unpleasant things they are exposed proudly & kept them in raw form as it as. To know more about it read further. Following are a few guidelines which need to be followed while opting for industrial look. The key thing to remember in industrial interior is to keep the space open & minimalist as much as possible. Architectural elements Keep the structural elements as they are. For example metal doors, windows, AC ducts & pipes. No need to worry about false ceiling as pipes & ducts are the main heroes in this. AC ducts & electrical pipes are the things which are normally hidden in the false ceiling for aesthetics. Same things get enhanced in industrial ceiling as you can see in the pic. Color This is the most simplest yet critical task in industrial interior. Black color should be in use as metal will be prominent in the space. It should not be more but need to be balanced with other colors. Whether it’s a wall, furniture or accessories don’t choose too many colors but go for neutral color scheme. Combine them with golden, bronze or copper tinge to give a rich look. Light Light is another important element in industrial interior. You can use led lights to highlight things or industrial lights for ambient & task lighting. While choosing light again make sure there is metal element in it. Then those could be used either as chandelier, single pieces or in cluster. Pendant light or floor light can be used depending on the requirement of the space. If you have glass partition wall, then neon lights can be used to write some personal message on it to give some dramatic effect. Furniture & Accessories While choosing furniture strictly avoid bulky sofa, chair or any such furniture. Choose furniture for function & not to occupy the space. Let it be minimal & simple, to solve the purpose. While choosing accessories be careful with the color. Black, white & grey combination art pieces, paintings or accessories adds beauty to this type of interior. So do try hands on some art piece.  Material While selecting materials keep in mind these few things. Walls can be of Matte finished or exposed bricks. Flooring can be of finished concrete, kota, wooden etc. For kitchen, platform could be of concrete or stone finish. If using as pantry it could be of wood or metal as well. These are few of the important points one need to consider for industrial interior. Industrial look has been popular in malls, restaurants, pubs, workplaces. Now this is creating place in homes as well. If one is thinking of new & different look then this is the best option in my opinion, do try.  

Continuing with the series focused on decoration. We have discussed enough about color. One of my friend said “It is quite confusing so give me easy ways to choose color while decorating my home.” So let us see how to make it simple. While choosing color for your home/office you need to have one of these goals. 1. Soothing and relaxing : Monochromatic color scheme creates simplicity, unity & soothing effect. This is based on how the brain tries to make sense of new spaces. The less the brain has to understand, the more quickly it absorbs everything. This promotes a more peaceful mindset. Mono is single, chroma is color.  When shades & tints of single color are used , a monochromatic color scheme is formed as shown in the picture. Start with the color of your choice & then with the help of shades, tones & tints give the illusion of space. Shades : In shades, the base color is darkened by adding black to it. Tones : Here the base color is made dull (desaturated) by adding grey to it, and Tints : Tints are the base colors which are lightened by adding white to it. Monochromatic color scheme is the easiest to use and hardest to mess up. Tip: To avoid monotony use textures & prints in accessories & light. 2. Elegance : Neutral colors create an elegant, rich look & give flexibility to the room.  Neutral color includes black, white, brown, grey & beige. Great advantage with neutral colors is that they don’t have much effect on moods. We can add furnishings, accessories & art pieces to create a particular type of mood.  White, off white, light grey to light medium beige shaded are great for people who enjoy the feeling of clean, bright and open space. White color creates the feeling of elegance & larger space & so it can be used for small rooms. You can use black or brown color as an accent wall to give the stylish look to the room. When used sparingly black & brown gives the feeling of richness, confidence and being in control. 3. Warm or Cozy When you want to make a small room look bigger, use lighter shades of cool colors such as blues, greens, purples & anything in between which recede visually & make the walls feel away from each other. Suitable for smaller rooms. Refer the picture. If you want to make a big room feel cozy and intimate, use warm colors; such as shades of red, orange, yellow or anything in between that make the walls look closer. This is ideal for bigger rooms.  Hope this article will make the task easy in picking color of your choice. Quiz time What is the mood created in the following pic? Choose one of the options below : Elegant? Vibrant? Soothing?

Often people mistake design with decoration but both are completely different topics. Design is making the available space functional and appealing as per clients need and requirement. Whereas decoration is an act or object intended to increase the aesthetics of a room. I am starting a new series called decoration. Decoration may look like simply placing some artifacts and furniture but there is more than that. Decoration has many different layers which need to be taken care one by one. The first layer of decoration is color. Color is a vast topic, it consists of color types, color schemes, meaning of various colors & also advanced color theory. In this blog I will tell you about color types. Let’s start with simple things called cool & warm color? Cool Color The name itself tells that it gives cooling effect to the eyes. Cool colors are used in a room where sunlight is more Cool colors can be used in south & west side rooms It consists of colors like blue, green, purple and anything in between These are called cool colors because they remind us of earth, water & trees which represent nature. They create serene calmness effect in a room. In this pic you can see green walls & plants which represent cool color. Only cool colors may create dull atmosphere so to create rhythm & unity, need to add some tinge of warm or neutral color. Here, neutral colors like grey, black & white are used in accessories along with brown sofa. Warm color Warm colors are used when there is a small window or no window in a room Warm colors can also be in north or east rooms Colors like yellow, orange, red to pink give warm feeling Shades of these colors need to be chosen in such a way that they feel warm & not scorchy. In the above pic, the room does not have window & so it was feeling dull. To remove dullness of the room, walls have been painted with warm colors & to break the monotony, a big grey chair is added. Similarly accessories, paintings & plants of cool colors can be used to bring harmony & balance in the space. Keeping these colors in mind you can play with their shades & tints to get the desired effect. You can check more about color, in how to choose paint for your room. To know in detail about cool & warm color & more about decoration I have developed a course called “All about interior decoration“. Click here for more information. Quiz time Which color type is used in the above pic? Also can you tell which color principle gets applied in this? Click here for hint. Write your answer in the comment box below. Coming up next more interesting things about decoration.

Continuing with the series focused on health & wellness called, Ergonomics. In the previous series you read about – It is dangerous if you neglect this One thing How to have proper posture while reading, writing & watching Best practices to increase work efficiency Whether to push or pull a load & now the most important part in a house, the kitchen. A kitchen is a cooking place, store room, dining room, family room, working place & thus an important place in the house. The kitchen is said to be the heart of the house. But do you feel exhausted after working in the kitchen? It could be either you are moving a lot or standing still. There are guidelines to minimize the stress in a kitchen & enjoy cooking. In general, kitchen counter top height is between 28 to 34 inches. If necessary, customize it as per your height. Kitchen is divided into 3 areas & are collectively called as “kitchen work triangle” in architectural terms. Let us see them in detail & their relation with each other. 1. Storage Cook top includes stove/cooking range, microwave, oven, etc. It also includes preparation area which in turn includes chopping, kneading, grinding, etc This area needs to be clutter free as it requires more platform space. Points to remember: Towels, dish soap, and sponges should be near the sink. Oils, spices, pots, pans, and cooking utensils should be within reach of the stove. Knives, peelers, and cutting boards should be near the food preparation counter. In kitchen work triangle, when an imaginary line is drawn connecting three of them it should form a triangle as shown in the pic. The distance between refrigerator (storage), sink (washing) & stove (cooking) should be between 4 to 9 feet apart. The total length of all three must not be less than 13 feet & not more than 26 feet. There should not be any obstacle along the triangle. When kitchen is planned as per ergonomics, It helps to reduce work fatigue It helps to prevent accidents Helps the cook to be more organised Kitchen would be much cleaner & easier to work Along with the work triangle, there are many other important things included in an ergonomic kitchen which I will cover in the next blog. So keep watching this space.. Reinforcement time: Why there should not be any obstacle along the work triangle?