Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Diwali Wishlisting with Shopo

Diwali here, far away from the motherland is quite tame. It involves heading to a friend's place for dinner and some Indian-esque dressing up. Back home, Diwali was a week/ two week long celebration involving lakshmi puja, a week long marriage of tulsi to krishna, gorging on sweets and lots of noise and sparkle. So I promptly agreed when Krithika asked me to come up with a Diwali wishlist from products launched by Shopo exclusively for Diwali. As an NRI, all I can do is dream about an extravagant Diwali, so dream a little with me?

 Diwali is all about....

 An invitation for an evening of celebrations
 L to R: 1, 2 and 3


 An evening brightened by the soft light of candles/ diyas

 L to R: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6


An excuse to dress up: Sigh... This truly is a wishlist. I love sarees, but never get to wear them here.

 L to R: 1 and 2

A bit of sparkle, a bit of bling

L to R: 1, 2, and 3

And of course, an excuse to re-decorate your home!

L to R: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Love what you see, head here to Shopo to check out their Diwali offerings.

~ Happy Diwali ~

{Credit for all images go to Shopo and the creative talent behind the products}

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Art of Stenciling

As all of you who've read this post, know how much I love going beyond just dabbing some color on walls. Here is some gorgeous stencil inspiration (To be specific, inspired by India pied a terre via Pinterest), that has been making me wish I didn't live in a rental.

Over the past 2 years, with great delight, I've followed Maryam setting up of her boutique hotel 'Peacock Pavilions'. I love how she has stenciled Moroccan patterns in so many innovative ways with absolutely gorgeous results.

A stenciled staircase

Ceiling and Floors



And even stenciled placemats!


Here's some more inspiration from Melanie Royals of Royal Design Studio responsible for several of the stencil projects featured above at Peacock Pavilions.




This lovely stencil design called the 'Gujarat Indian Border' was on sale the last time I checked. I need to mention that the colors used here also have lovely names- China Blue, Bengal Rose, Indian Purple and Agapanthus.
 via

Leaving you with one last image...
 I had a wonderful thanksgiving with family and friends. Hope yours was as good?