Dear Readers,

The article Window Treatments which was published yesterday has an updated source. The author is “Rekha Nambiar” and she now has the following website where she updates regularly.

http://www.interiorspaces247.com/ 

The RSS feed for this blog is already available on the bottom right hand side of this page.

We will regularly publish articles from Rekha in the coming days.

About Rekha Nambiar:

Rekha is an interior designer based in New Delhi. Writing on interior design is her passion. She enjoys it and feels that this way she can share her experiences with people.

She runs an interior design firm called Indie Home and specialises in interior design consultancy, custom furniture, specialty walls, window treatments and soft furnishings.

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This is one of our first contributed artciles. We would like to thank “Living Space” from Sulekha Blogs who let us reproduce the article here.  

When decorating a room, the windows occupy an important place in the scheme of things for two reasons. One, they occupy a large area, and will direct visual focus in a room. Most homes in India have reasonably large window areas, so windows become a dominant feature in the room. Two, the fabrics and colours need to be well co-ordinated with other things in the room such as furniture, paintings, artefacts, wall paint, carpets/flooring etc.

Image Courtesy : thepivot.biz

When deciding what kind of window treatment would be suitable for a room/area the following things need to be kept in mind.

• What is the overall theme of the room? Western, Indian or Oriental— Classic, Contemporary or an eclectic mix. This would help determine the ultimate look of your windows.
• What kind of furniture is in the room, and what would be the best way to complement that furniture and accentuate it further?
• What is the wall colour and wood finish …this goes a long way in determining the usability of colour in the room? Most Indian homes have white/off-white walls, so they are fairly neutral. However, in modern day interiors a lot more colour is being used and window treatments should complement the colours of the room. Complement does not mean blending into the same family. Sometimes, a contrast is the best way to bring life and drama into a room–even if it is a subtle contrast.
• What kind of flooring is in the room …marble, wooden, stone or mosaic? Pay attention to the rugs/carpets in the room? Sometimes, rugs/carpets can be a constraining factor in being able to play around with different concepts.
• How much natural light is coming into the room? This is a very important factor, as the filtration of light into an interior space greatly determines flexibility with colour.
• Do you want the room to have a formal or informal look? Again, this would have a bearing on the kind of designs one would opt for.
• Is the window close to any large piece of furniture, such as a sofa or a bed?

• What fabrics already exist in the room—and cannot be done away with? This would require a design that would effectively highlight the piece of furniture without being too dominating, and at the same time blend with existent fabrics.
• How can you tie in the window treatments with other accessories in the room? This is the trick that makes the difference between a well co-ordinated room and one in which the drapes look like an afterthought.
• Colour, texture, fabric and design. These are the last things on the list , but by no means the least important…

Colour

Colour, is very important, because just having neutral drapes is effective only when there is some other feature in the room that is providing some colour relief. Colour, does not mean having red curtains —–you could have off-white drapes with some colour detailing and that would be more than enough colour !

Texture

Texture of fabric is far more important than having a multi-coloured fabric because texture has an understated elegance.

Fabric

Fabric is an essential component, because each fabric has a distinct personality and says something about the room. The question is—what do you want it to say?

Finally, we get to — designing the window treatments. This will tie up all the homework you have done above and help you decide which concept would best complement the personality of the room. Going in for simple window treatments does not mean just hanging drapes in a neutral colour that make no statement whatsoever. You can go in a for a very simple style but if it caters to the points above it will end up looking like a room in which the window treatments were given much thought and consideration and end up contributing significantly to the overall personality of a room. In the same way, having very elaborate window treatments that are not well co-ordinated, can be a nightmare. If it is a small window in a big room…drama will probably be the order of the day. If it is a wall to wall French window scenario, detailing and subtlety will be the best way to achieve that integrated design look.

The magic mantra for great interiors is integration, personality and accessorizing !!

Article Courtesy : http://interiordesign.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/10/window-treatments.htm

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Image Courtesy : trolle.it

I’d have not touched upon this topic if it wasn’t for (a) the increasing number of people going in for either treadmills or stationary bicycles at home and (b) the increasing pollution and traffic outdoors.

Under normal conditions, a walk or a jog outdoors maybe considered good exercise. However as cities and metros get more populated and cluttered, there’s hardly any place in town close enough from home where one can take a peaceful stroll or a morning jog. It makes little sense to drive upto some place , take a walk there and drive back home. True there are parks and in some cases like Chennai beaches where there is no annoying traffic and pollution levels are much lower. But for most city dwellers, home fitness equipments are increasingly becoming a default choice.

There are many types of fitness equipments out there. This post does not try to be a definitive guide to which ones to choose. Instead we would like to cover the most commonly used equipment. Maybe experts on the topic can comment.

The two most common indoor fitness equipments that I have seen are
1) The Treadmill
2) The Stationary Bicycle.

TREADMILLS:

A treadmill can be used either for walking or running. These include motorised and non-motorised versions. The motorised versions consume electricity and are also more expensive.

The motorised treadmills have variable speed settings that one can choose from. This way, you can decide whether you want to run or walk, however at a constant pace.

In the non-motorised models, there are settings by which the treadmill offers more resistance to the persons movement. This way, one cannot move faster.

It is recommended that one uses good running shoes even while running or walking on the treadmill.

Features of Treadmills:

• Statistics such as distance run/walked, calories burnt are also available in some models of treadmills.

• Some have safety features built in wherein if a user is not able to keep up with the pace of the treadmill ,it automatically turns the speed down.

• Some treadmills even measure the heart rate.

• Some models of treadmills even come with a built in TV. (Now, how desirable that is, we do not know)

Vendors in India:

• Reebok.
• BSA Workouts (TI Cycles)

Some models of the same can be found here.

You can read about some advice on using the fitness equipment here.

• Hero Cycles also manufactures fitness equipment.
• Afton (Health Club India)

We shall be covering other fitness equipment and how to choose the right one for you, in forthcoming posts.

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It has been in the Indian market for nearly more than a decade now. It has revolutionized the way vessels are cleaned in Indian Kitchens. Yes, we are talking about “Scotchbrite” the cleaning pad which comes from the stable of 3M.

Image Courtesy : 3M India

Before scothbrite, and perhaps still the choice of many homes was the plastic based scrubber or coconut husk or even in some extreme cases steel wool…Each had their own set of disadvantages. The plastic scrubber lacked the friction when mixed with cleaning liquids. This made it difficult for users to fight dirt and stains. It was ok for regular cleaning.

The coconut husk while being “green” in its approach, became moist and tended to loose its roughness which again made it not a good choice for the cleaning. Steel wool is probably the worst of the lot. It not only scratched the vessels badly in the pretext of cleaning but also gave the user a risk of cut or a bruise.

Scothbrite eliminated all these problems. Its synthetic nature gave it the right amount of friction while protecting your vessels, especially the Teflon coated ones. It also gives your hands the right amount of care and despite water and soapy conditions, it offered the right amount of friction to clean the vessels.

After using scotchbrite, one has to remember to squeeze and dry it so that it is as good as new for the next use.

We will try and update some information on the sizes available and also the pricing from some local stores.

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aavaas and forums were inaccessible roughly between 2200hrs and 2300hrs IST. We had a small back-end issue and it has been sorted out. For those who tried to access the information on the portal during this time and experienced issues, we apologize for the inconvenience caused.

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