Pretty Festive Decoration Ideas for Your House

As Navratri has already started and Diwali is just a few days away, it is time to give your house a booster of festive decoration. Apart from typical rangoli, diya and wall hanging decoration, try something new this year, and wow your guests.

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Entrance Door: As door is the first thing that gets noticed whenever someone enters the house, it goes without saying that it is the highlights of any festive decoration. Ditch ordinary decorative elements, and hang a stunning flower door basket on your door. Try different types of flowers to create an eye-catching entrance door.

Windows: Make your windows look colourful and glittery with different colours of fairy lights. You can accentuate it further by using a combination of flowers and lights. Wrap the lights around marigold flower garland and hang it on your windows.

Living area: Create a fabulous centerpiece for your living room with some lights and transparent jar. Take up colourful fairy lights and roll them in a jar or vintage lantern, and place it on the tabletop or any place you want to accentuate. You can also wrap these lights around empty birdcage or put them in a fish bowl.

Personalized gift box: Exchanging gifts and sweets during festive season is very common trend. Creating personalized gifts could be a tiresome job. So, gift boxes are the best way to use your creativity. You can personalize the boxes by adding bright color lace or creating a star on it using variegated paper.

 

5 Brilliant Ways to Brighten-up Your Home in Monsoon

Yes, monsoon is all about getting drenched under waterfalls, spending lazy afternoons sitting in the window, and having ubiquitous pakoras with a hot cup of tea. But, along with this fun, monsoon also brings dull, grey weather, cloudy days and gloomy ambience. Here are 5 brilliant ways to burst the monsoon gloom and keep your home monsoon-friendly.

Add some green plants: Nothing can bring more liveliness in a house than vibrant green plants. Generally, all types of Indian plants grow faster and bloom in monsoon. Add some greenery in your home to instantly lift up the aura & mood.

Bright and colourful upholstery: It’s time to roll up your expensive carpet, curtains and other upholstery at home. Go for colourful and trendy items that are easy to clean and enhance the look. Pick colourful cushions in a mixture of solids and patterns for your sofa. Leaf green, aqua, turquoise,
sunflower yellow are some recommended colours to liven up your home.

Scented candles: Sometimes a damp weather leads to foul moist smell at home that is tad difficult to remove. Keep some fragranced candles handy and light them when that foul smell is hard to ignore.

Let your home breath: Lack of ventilation results in dampness. Open your windows when rain takes a break. Ensure your doormat is at the place to avoid those muddy footprints. Let your home wear fabrics that are quick to wash and dry.

Proper lighting: Wipe out darkness with proper lighting. It can make a hell lot of difference in creating a lively and vibrant ambience. Make sure that the house is well-lit during prolonged rainy spells.

Mistakes that Make Your Home Look Smaller

Thanks to the soaring prices of properties, every inch of the home needs to be utilized completely. Here is a list of some things that usually go wrong while decorating a home & making it look smaller. Avoid these mistakes and get the most out of your every square foot.

Matching everything:

Decorating every aspect of your room in the same colours, fabrics and patterns blends everything in each other; and everything visually becomes one. Bring variation by mixing styles for cushions, upholstery and curtains. If you want a co-ordinated décor, keep the same theme either for walls or furnishing, but not both.

Using dark colours:

Avoid using dark colour wallpaper or paint to decorate your walls. Dark colours absorb more lights making rooms look smaller. Using light colours will make the spaces feel airy and open.

 

Misplacing furniture:

Whoever has ever owned the furniture will surely understand the pain of arranging it. Pushing all of your furniture against the wall is not a good idea. Empty centre of the room makes the whole space feel smaller. Arrange the furniture away from the walls in a strategic way with cosy groupings.

Overdose of ornaments:

Those knicky-knacky pieces you think make your home adorable, might actually be making it look cluttered. Stop littering every surface of a room. Instead, you can create seasonal display of minimal items and change them regularly.

Bad lighting:

A single source of light, which is common in many homes, makes the room feel smaller. Keep two to three light sources in your home; the light will bounce off the walls and will make your home look bigger.

 

Bring the Outdoors in

Looking for easy-to-do ways to make your home green? Breathe life in your home with low maintenance jar garden. No, we aren’t talking about those conventional pots but a terrarium –a miniature indoor garden inside a glass container.

It is a self-sustainable ecosystem that mimics nature’s own life. Closed terrariums create a warm environment for your plants, allowing moisture to recycle providing a consistent level of humidity. The closed lid lets water recycle itself, organic substance to be reused as plant food, and helps it to maintain its humidity.

Here is a step-by-step guide to make your own self-sustaining mini garden with terrarium.

What material you will need?

• Pebbles
• Charcoal
• Baby tear/ Starfish / Aquamarine plant (Select any moisture loving house plants or even grasses, ferns and miniature shrubs are also fine)
• Soil

Method:

– Take a glass container with lid and wash it thoroughly.

– Then spread some pebbles at the base of container. It will provide drainage to the terrarium.

–  Make the second layer of charcoal, and then make a thick soil bed over it.

–  Place the plant in container and spread soil over its roots.

–  You can also place some toys in the container to decorate it. Once done, close the lid tightly.

Create some more containers and keep them in your balcony and windows. You can even keep them on your study table, kitchen shelf, and also hang them with wires and save some place.

Watering:

Do not over-water the terrarium. Condensation is a sign that your plants are brathing. However, if you are worried, leave the lid open for a while. When the right humidity is established, a closed terrarium can go a month or more without watering. So, even if you are on-the-move or do not have time to look after your plants, you can still bring the outdoors in and make your home greener.

 

Create a Bathroom Retreat with These Tips

Planning to revamp your bathroom? Here are some amazing ideas to help you create a beautiful bath retreat.

• Tiles: Bathroom tiles not only give your bathroom a refreshing look, but also keep it hygienic. Tiles keep your walls safe from moist and dampness. Use a combination of small and big sized tiles to create variations in the design. Choose a color that will not show the water stains and spots.

• Fixtures: Sink, faucets, showerheads, toilet seats, hand showers, geyser and every fixture in your bathroom contributes in creating a pleasant ambience.  Make sure that you choose high quality fixtures. There are different types of bathroom fixtures available in the market. Choose a design that will complement your bathroom’s ambience. Storage also plays a key role in keeping bathroom tidy. Create enough storage space with cabinets, cupboards and shelves.
  

  Think both, usability and beauty.

Lights: strike a balance between bright and soothing lights in the bathroom. Lights in the bathroom should be bright enough to shave, put on makeup, and do other chore. There should also be some soothing lights that will create a relaxing ambience. These lights should be able to withstand a humid environment. Hidden lights in the bathroom are in trend these days. You can also install key lights over the mirror and above the shower.

• Curtains: Take your bathroom décor to a new level with the bathroom curtains. Different types lace shower curtains, ruffled curtains, crystals curtains will create your dream bathroom without causing a fortune. Curtains in the bathroom have to withstand humidity, soapy water, hair sprays and many more. So choose the fabric, length and style of curtains wisely. While buying curtains, choose the ones which are easy to clean and dry quickly.
• Electronic Gadgets and appliances: Installing a music player has become a common phenomenon these days.  Music can change the ambience of your bathroom instantly. Along with a music player, there is a wide range of electronic bathroom appliances available in the market to convert your bathroom into a high-tech thrilling zone.
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  If it is clean, it is awesome!

  Cleanliness and hygiene: No one likes messy and smelly bathroom.  No matter how beautiful curtains you have, and how elegant tiles are installed, if there is no hygiene maintained, your every morning will be miserable. Keep bathroom surface as dry as possible. Make sure your bathroom is properly ventilated. Toss empty shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes and useless chunk immediately. Keep the sanitation supplies such as sanitizer, toilet papers, soaps, towels easily available. Installing bathroom fragrance dispenser will keep your bathroom smelling clean and fresh.