CHOSEN once again........

Hi all,

Your constant quest for more from my blog has kept me motivated to come out with interesting posts, one such being "Reviving old board games as a part of Decor....". I am very happy to inform you all that, this post has been selected as one of the top posts of the week by the Tangy Tuesday Picks team of Blogadda. My heartfelt thanks to this group for choosing this post as one amongst it. Please click on the picture to access the link.

Using Themes with PLAYMOBIL to decorate your Kid's Room...

I recently bought this from Kaufhof in Germany. This is a beautiful playmobil wedding set that I actually picked up for my daughter...........but have been personally displaying it to showcase my collection. PLAYMOBIL is a plastic toy making company headquarted in Zinndorf, Germany specialising in such theme oriented plastic toys. We initially picked up one set and then realising that we can create a whole wedding theme, we picked all the below shown sets. I must tell you that I am in love with these......Please take a look.....

Some more lovely playmobil sets are....
Advent....
Animal Clinic...

Egyptian Sphinx with a mummy...
Dolphin House....
A Pirate Set....................and many many more.....For more information on this, please visit the www.playmobil.com . All pictures in this post have been taken from this website.

I would love to use them as a base concept to design kid rooms in extraordinary themes. They are also good for displaying during Bombe Habba or Gollu in tamil which means the festival of displaying dolls celebrated traditionally by South Indians during the Festival of Dussera.

Reviving Old Board Games as a part of the Decor...

My best childhood memories go back to the schooldays when we would anxiously wait for the summer holidays. All kids would meet in our Grandfather's traditional home. The ladies of the family would scout for reasons to meet and celebrate. I still smell the smoke of the burnt firewood that was used to boil water in huge Copper pots for our daily bath. Sundays would be restricted for an oil massage followed by an ayurvedic bath. Today, we go to 'The Spa' to pamper ourselves. All kids would line up to eat the simple yet tasty breakfast served on green banana leaves. After all the morning chores, it would be time for us to sit on the beautiful red-oxide floor to play various games which could be easily drawn on floor using chalks. I remember playing games like Chauka baara, pagade, palangulimane (all traditional games of karnataka) for hours together. I really really miss those days.
As I was looking for some pictures and information on some of these board games, I came across this beautiful and informative website http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.com/ by Raghu Dharmendra and RG Singh on the various board games of India. I simply loved this site. I request all my readers to please check this blog.
In this post, my intentions are limited to using these board games as a form of deco accessory as well as blending it to our daily lives. Contemporary decor has been the order of the day in India, more and more people are wanting to decorate their homes in a clean-cut, clutter free style. But our day-to-day activities and life-styles are getting more and more hectic by the day. What we need at this time is some fun and relaxation in our own homes without having to step out especially after the office hours. Thanks to the apartment culture, we are able to have some indoor sports and fun activities inside the complexes itself. With all these, there are still some people who would want to enjoy them from the comfort of their own homes. This post focuses on some board games that can be used as a part of the home deco in any style of design and doubles as a deco accessory. Please click on the picture to get complete information on the particular game.

PAGADE......

Simply spread this on a center table for a colourful look. On regular days, one could treat this as a table runner. On relaxing days, pull out the pagade accessories and play a relaxing game of pagade. For the non-Indians, this may sound a bit too difficult, do not worry, simply click on the pictures and this will take you to the link of kreeda kaushalya, wherein raghu and singh have very clear information about the history, rules and guidelines to playing each of these games.

NAVALGUND...

Use these as a form of art and on normal days display them on your wall. Simply remove them off the wall and use it as a board game when you want to entertain some guests. This will act as a deco accessory on the wall, a game board and you dont have to worry as to how you would store them......because it already has a space on the wall. This is ideal for a contemporary style of decor.

GANJIFA CARDS.....

These come in decorative boxes which act as an artefact in itself. Simply keep them wherever it looks good on display.

PALANGULI MANE.....

These can be kept on display on a center table. On regular days, simply fill water in a few, float a couple of flowers, light candles or traditional diyas and dhoop (incense sticks). This will act as your decor scheme. On days when you are relaxed and in the mood for some play, keep some shells handy and use it as your palanguli mane game board.

ROSEWOOD INLAY CHESSBOARD....

MARBLE CHESSBOARD.....

One can use this as a center table or a bedside table top. It will act as a deco accessory and can also be used whenever you want to play.

CHAUKA BAARA... VIMANAM....

Use this on the wall as a colourful art piece. One could simply remove this off the wall and use it as board game. This is a great form of entertainment when you have guests in groups.

This is just a preview of some games, all these and more are available at their showroom RAMSONS in Mysore. All pictures in this post are from http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.com/.

Dear Readers, Please share any of your treasured childhood memories with respect to board games. Think about how we can use them as a form of decor as well as use this as a board game in today's stress filled life.

Some easy to do Decoupage Ideas.....

Last week has been very hectic with a lot of work and travel. I am very happy to note that many of my readers also share a great interest in the art of Decoupaging. I have been constantly getting e-mails requesting some more simple ideas to converting boring spaces into interesting and decorative spaces using decoupaging. Here are a few of them...Please take a look.

A simple home-office set-up....Some flasks and trays converted into decorative accessories...
A simple example of a living room deco......

A theme room.....all using decoupage techniques.....

Some crockery and trays...

A simple chair in a pinnocchio theme...

A simple chair in animal prints....

A deco tray.....in crackled effect...

(Photo Credit: Marabu Home Deco)

Answer to Sravi's Question.....

Sravi from This blog does not have a title as the author's not witty enough to think of a good one. has a question for me.....

Sravi's Question: I have an open terrace in my house..as you do.. and some greenry! I wanted to get some garden furniture,which i can place in there...all that i have found in chennai are some metal/steel ones.. which i feel will get hot and hence cannot be used till it cools down....what kind of furniture would you suggest? also,which material/stuff should I use for a temperary roof ??? thank you for ur time!

Sravi, I have 3 answers for you.........

1. Low Budget Idea: Get some Neel kamal plastic table and chairs which will cost you about Rs. 3000. They are heat resistant and rain proof. So, you dont have to worry about it when you are not at home and it rains all of a sudden. But these do not look very decorative. so, my suggestion is........do some work on it ...like stenciling or give it a base coat of dark green and decoupage it with some pictures of flowers and greenery (if you wait for a couple of days, you can see an example of a chair that i have decoupaged with children chart pictures). A very inexpensive way of converting. In addition to this, you can use rolling sheets which can be rolled out to have some privacy from above or buy a big garden umbrella.

Below are some pictures for your reference.

(Photo Credit: www.netshops.com, www.webdesign-elements.com, www.familycrafts.abouthi, www.indiamart.com)

2. Medium-Budget Idea: Have a rolling sheet fixed at one end of the terrace. Place some cane furniture with a small glass table. Some bright cushions in red and green will look beautiful. but you have to be careful and see to it that when you go out, you roll out the shutter so that even when it rains, the furniture is not damaged...

3. High Budget Idea: Have some kerala tiled roof with pillars. Some log-wood furniture with lovely cushions will be a permanent solution. For interest, you could add some teracotta pots and hangings....

Since you mentioned the word temporary, I think option 1 (low-budget idea) would be the right choice. Please let me know if you implemented it with some pictures of the makeover. I would be more than happy.

My Creation in Green combined with an Achromatic Scheme...

Many of my readers have been asking me to do some scheme in the nature's own Green colour. I have personaly always liked green and so wanted to do something in green too. I had been looking around for some inspiration and then found this picture on Flickr by imelde. This put me to a thought process............. and....an instant outcome is this collage.
The products displayed here are from funrose, aunt sharon's attic, rosen berry, alcazar furniture and amara.

Thank you Blogadda....

I express my heartfelt thanks to http://www.blog.blogadda.com/ for listing my blog in their post on 9 Best Indian Interior Design blogs. Thank you once again. I will continue to work and inspire my readers with some more interesting and informative posts. To see this, please visit.....

http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/07/28/9-best-indian-interior-design-blogs

http://indianinteriordesigns.blogadda.com/