Deep Purple & Blue

Photography: Lights

2012-02-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just look at these gorgeous lights! they just get my drooling!!! to go to this stall in global village is like entering paradise! I have loads of beautiful images to share! will be back monday....

Have a lovely weekend!

Blogging Tips: How to enlarge photos on Blogger

2012-02-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

We all love beautiful bright images! Since this year I am focusing on working on my photography skills I thought It would be a good start to write a post about how to enlarge the pixel size.

Apparently its not that difficult! everybody seems to manage! I have to admit it took me half an hour.. In my defence Inayah was in the room rumbling and distracting! here is how it is done.

Step 1: Upload image.

Step 2: go to the HTML tab in your post bar. Right next to compose tab.

you will see something like this

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s1600/DSCN8756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s320/DSCN8756.JPG" width="240" />

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s1600/DSCN8756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">

Step 4: Now all you have to do is to find height="320" and width="240" ( the parameters are variable)

Step 5: Once you locate the height and width

vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s1600/DSCN8756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> height="320" src="

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s320/DSCN8756.JPG" width="240" />

These are the px of your image, everything in between is cursor (that is what I was told).

Now erase them.

Step 6: your code will be like this

vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s1600/DSCN8756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> src="

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s320/DSCN8756.JPG" />

Step 7: Now look for s320 in the src code which was between height and width. You can change that into the size you desire. the options are

s320,s512,s640,s720,s800,s912,s1024,s1152,s1280,s1440,s1600.

I chose s512 for mine and the code turned into this:

vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s1600/DSCN8756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> src="

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPlavyFO6GI/Ty4c9KR7y7I/AAAAAAAACLY/sahDnEtxaqo/s512/DSCN8756.JPG" />

>

and the image turned into this

And from now on all my images will be big and bright and beautiful!

image source: me

Inspired Monday!

2012-01-23T00:17:00.000-08:00

I had an extremely inspiring week through out!! I love one of those days when I just keep following one amazing link after the other.. opening tab after tab after tab..until my system jams but I still cannot bring myself to close it down coz I still have so much more to digest!

Here is an amazing Monday morning inspiration for you!

photo source: scoop.it interior design and decorate

Sneak Peak: Lime room

2012-01-18T23:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peak in the room which I recently designed. I am in love with the lime high winged chair. The color is just gorgeous! and the cushions are my asolute fav. what could be better than lime chevron!

Loved working with Lime! stay tuned lovelies have a wonderful weekend!

Fabric Heaven!

2012-01-18T01:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most exciting thing to anticipate when going back home is my visit to the fabric shop!

Where rows and rows of fabrics are waiting for my fancy! Piles of colors and pattern! and for the price so small it makes you tingle!

can you spot the perfect charcoal grey and white stripes crush!

ikat !!!

Geometric!

Dreamy florals!

and look at these eclectic fabrics!

room for endless creativity and combinations!

and ofcourse how could I part with this classic crisp white beauty!

Looking back at these I am deeply yearning for the ones I left behind! coz I already have an entire suitcase dedicated to these! I will soon be sharing my collection and the bed linens I got tailored! Can't wait to set it all up and share!

Have a fab day ahead!

Chevron love

2012-01-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

This is the lovely image I used to wake upto and sleep to in my room back home.. Hey everyone!I have been back home and it has been an amazing month! I have loads of excellent stuff to share with you! But for right now.. Happy New Year and have a brilliant day ahead!

wall stencil!

2011-12-01T05:27:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to start this new project.. my own room!! .. and to star toff there was this first question of thte wall behind my bed.. I want to make it a feature wall.. But the question was to paint or wall paper!! I rolled the options over and over and over in my head.. nothing seems to be perfect! What I am looking for is a neutral largely black and white room whcih can be turned and reinvented with accessories!

So the wall!! and then I read this post from allthingsthrifty and immediatlely knew my answer.. It will be wall stencil! I loved the way her wall turned out and how it opened endless possibilities!

So here are my optioins!

so my first option was something like

damask

morrocan

But than I ran into this beautiful image and I am all for it!! I think this is it!! :)

The beautiful transformation and the tutorial is all here.

image 1 hawaiidermatology

image 2 wall-designs-guides

image 3 homedeco2u

Happy Tuesday!

2011-11-28T22:41:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Dxb sky!

My husband took this pic on one of our sun set watching expeditions.. There is no other way of ending a day than sitting on the beach and watching sunset!! Sort of takes you away from your not working laptop or your dead internet connetions!! Now that I have all those fixed!

Have a beautiful week ahead!

Inspiration: Kinfolk Magazine

2011-11-23T05:33:00.001-08:00

Have you ever had an ordinary day which is suddenly turned amazing with a few flicks o pages or a few click! ofcourse you have this is what blogging is all about!

It was totally relaxing to read through this beutiful emag, which I was just catching up with. I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I picked kinfolkmag/. But it turned out just beaufitul! seriously you have to read it to know what I am talking about! every piece is beautifully written and is full of enchanting description!

this piece just completely took me to a journey of the taste buds and really captured the Bazaar street literally in words.. a beautiful read!

What kinfolk drove home was the fact that it is the simplicity and the companionship at the get togethers, which matters the most! A message they delivered so well you will fall in love with get togethers all over again!

Happy Thrusday!

winter 2011-2012 fashion must haves!

2011-11-22T04:38:00.001-08:00

As I look out of my window to a beautiful cloudy Sharjah sky!! I cannot help but think finally!! Winter is here in UAE!! Here are my staples for this winter..

1. ombre plaid coat: plaid coat is biiiiig this season! I love it in all shades and hues, but I particularly loved this ombre plaid coat. Talk about statement!!

2. patterend sweater dress: I love these sweater dresses.. Any patterend sweater would work well cobra society, tribal, this one is Napalese! Isn't it gorgeous! and those knee length boats! how could you possibly go wrong with this!

3. big wooly large collard cardigan: There is nothing known as winter without big comfy wooly cardigans! I love them, crave them, want thgem! and all I am into this season is grey!

4. striped sweater: Stripes! stripes! stripes! A must have for any season! I love this high neck in red and black!

5. ruffled drape sweater: this sweater is just too cute for words! what a perfect go to item paired with jeans and boats!

6. drape cardigan: For all those not-so-cold-yet days a little cardigan is all that you need to keep you away from sniffles!

7. basic cape shawl: I am all for cape shawls this season! Definitely going to opt for a statement shawl. However, this basic seems fine to me as well!

8. white ruffled shirt: And what better item you can buy than a white ruffle shirt to cap it all!

Now that my winter list is organized I really hope that we get really nice chilly break from the sun here in UAE! :)

Have a wonderful, cozy and chilly week ahead! And I am off to compile my winter acessories look! :)

Hey!

2011-11-20T02:35:00.001-08:00

rasmalai

gulab jamun

I am so excited to be back here!! I sorely missed blogging.. But things had to be the way they were.. I had a fantastic at home vacation.. (if there is any such thing) and had a wonderful Eid..

This eid I made smoe fantastic rasmalai and some gorgeous mouth melting gulab jamuns.. and I could spare some of these yumminess for styling as well.. :)

I hope everyone else is having a fantastic november. I am dying to visit all my regular blogs and some emags. Its time for some inspiration..

See you all.. Have a fantastic week ahead..

photos by: me

I Love..

2011-10-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

1. I am in love love love with these ceramics by diet lind wolf. There are a must on te list.

2. This Ona pitcher from crate and barrel had always always been on my list, and it is a staple for eery houselhold in my opinion..

3. My love for these owls is pretty recent. I was never too keen on them. But these are too cute for words.

4. These reusable baggy bags can be folded into a neat little pouch and can be easily stowed into a suitcase! Handy and trendy! what more can you ask for!

5. My recent discovery is this little textile shop from NYC. Their products are green and their textiles are original. This is my pick of the selection..

Hope you enjoyed my pick of the stores! Feel free to add on. I mean who does'nt like the pretty stuff!

1. dietlindwolf ceramics

2. Ona large pitcher

3. roseandgrey

4. BAGGU reusable bags
5. Namad pillow

Beautiful Sunday

2011-10-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Uss ( Osayed)+ Sam (Samia)= UsSam

My husband got this name plate when we got engaged..

without question it is my most fav momento ever!..

Here is to a happy, romantic, nostalgic sunday..

Blog Love

2011-10-20T05:58:00.000-07:00

decor8

I love Swedish Design and Interiors..

Lovenordic

The monotones and neutral hues

emmas design blog

The lack of color..

cherry blossom

The textures..

a view to

Beautiful photography..

cherry blossom

loenordic

Industrial elements..

cherry blossom

Disheveled beddings and industrial lights..

lovenordic

And their patterns..

varpunen

Simply mesmerizes me.. and takes me to a whole new dimension!

I love Swedish blogs and here are my favs where I go for some Swedish inspiration.. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Twinkle Twinkle little star_ Pink and Yellow birthday party Part II

2011-10-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

And here my little daughter turned 2!

looking so bewildered with all the spraying and all.. :)

This is her dessert table..

mini star cho-caramel cupcakes, birthday cake, date toffees, lemon tarts

Homemade strawberry ice cream

And this is the second post of Twinkle Twinkle little star birthday party, which I hosted for my lovely little "thing". I baked the cake and the cupckaes and toppings and tarts and everything from scratch.. Even the icecream was homemade.. The snacks and the drinks I did myself as well.. As well as the arrangements and all the tags and banners, invitations.. as well as the party hats. I guess I am just trying to drive home the fact taht what alot of work it was. But real fun ofcourse! I am ery happy with the end results! and so was everyone else! And I think that the party

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

DO YOU KNOW HOW LOVED YOU ARE?

I loved every moment of throwing this elaborate party. All the recipes and the printables I will be posting soon. Hope you enjoyed it.. And the face that Inayah is making in the second pic is a SMILE.. She makes that witch of a face everytime she faces a camera. or is asked to smile.. :)

Have a great day ahead!!

Twinkle Twinkle little star- Pink and yellow birthday party

2011-10-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

I have been incredibly lazy about posting my daughter's birthday party pics.. She turned two this August.. and it was a bery planned and celelbrated event around which I plan my whole year.. Complete with pom poms, mini caramel choc cupcakes and home made cake I went crazy arranging for everything.. I loved doing the whole " Twinkle Twinkle little star- pink and yellow birthday party". Here are a few of the details of the party.

Beautiful Sunday

2011-10-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Here is to a beautiful, ordinary yet inspirational Sunday!

Room Makeover: Design Details

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

This was the room before.. And I loathed it.. not any more.. coz it went from this

To this...

So what I did here was.. break the giant bare white wall into structure with the wainscoting.. and make it the feature wall with the help of color.. so a really bold, dark, intense color just filled the room with character.. To be honest I was a bit intimidated when the first coat was applied.. But I am in LOVE with the end result..

Than came the bedding.. I ALWAYS ALWAYS felt that what this room needs the most is help with the bed.. If you notice the headboard in the first two pics you will see that it is a huge wooden headboard which has alot of height somethig which just cannot be covered with two simple pillows and ordinary lamps.. Fortunately, I stumbled onto these gorgeous oversized headboard pillows which are amazingly squishy and comfortable.. and covered the width perfectly! Ofcourse all blue and the brown just evoked the Ralph Lauren look which had to be there in the bedding.. So this is my version of the basic white cotton bedding..

My greater focus for the lamp was the HEIGHT!!.. I wanted height.. I wanted them to stand out, either on the same level of the headboard or bigger.. So I found these beauties, which turned out to be perfect. Both in their gold carving_ which added beautiful details with the wainscoting_ and their round plates contrasted beautifully with the straight lines of the wainscoting and the headboard.. And ofcourse their height was perfect..

To the rainbow I added a frame and painted around the wainscoting..

For the curtains ( My appologies for the quality of the picture.. for all the shots were taken an hour before I was flying out of town and I haven't been there till now..) I kept the white cotton drapes as the same and only added two chiffon drapes to the railing. one panel was white vintage lace.. and the other is two toned fawn taupe shade.. Now the curtain makes beautiful feminie touch.. and I would love to add a lace or trimmings..

I hope you can see it better in this pic!

And the angle in the the wall got a beautiful gold framed mirror...

I hope you enjoyed the design details.. there is alot more to add.. but I think these were the major design issues that were handled in this room..

Stay tuned for a tutorial on wainscoting. Which I will be posting soon..

Have a great day!

Room Project: Revealed

2011-09-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well here is the room project photos that I completed this summer.. Its mostly DIY.. with a very limited budget and alot of furniture restrictions.. Here are the before pics and the details and Here and Here are the inspirational posts..

Next I will be sharing all the details and the nitty gritty of the project..

So far just the feast for the eye.. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts..

Have a brilliant week ahead!!

Room Project: Sneak peak

2011-09-11T03:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a little sneak peak from my room project.. :)

More to come on it soon!

Here are the Before pics..

Room Project: Before pics

2011-09-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

It feel like ages since i blg last time.. and i am sure it has been as well.. But i am most excited to be back and I have loads to share.. I have two BIIIG projects to reveal.. and the first stop is this room! my room back home! These are the Before pics.. It desperately needed help for sure!

The room is a good spacious room with lots of white bare walls.. The furniture seem to fall loosely around with nothing to pull it together.. My sister painted the rainbow for my little girl when she was born and it held its own meaning..

There is this angle to thge wall which makes it difficult to place side tables alongside the bed.. Than there is this niche, which was initially painted red to add color to the room but looked pretty lame actually!

Apart from the bed and the side table the room has this black couch and a big bearly dark brown desk which is used a s a work table and a baby changing table simultaneously.

More to come on this soon...

I am obsessed with...

2011-07-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with..

these colours..

and...

These rooms!!

image source:

image 1 colourlovers

image 2 unknown

Pink and Yellow Party!

2011-06-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

I will be spending the weekend finishing with all my pending plans for Inayah's birthday! Next month i might be going back home! and ofcourse with a month vanised time just flies! Lots of plans of family coming up as the vacations started! Lets see how it goes!

Here is a multiple user template I designed and lets see how I use it!

Wainscoting

2011-06-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

I am head over heels in wainscoting right now!! I am sure after seing these images you will too!

image source:

image 1 designfromca
image 2 designdazzle
image 5 centsationalgirl
image 3 designindulgences
image 4 picketfencedesign

Moodboard: Yellow and Lime room

2011-06-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

I posted the room love/obsession of a girl's apartment here, and now comes the awesome moodboard! When I started to create the moodboard I realized that there can be two moodboards for this room_ one indulgent and the other one budget friendly. So, here is the indulgent moodboard for this amazing room!

1. Astrid chair, Nile Ikat Anthropologie
2. Habitat Tripod lamp
3. industrial task lamp west elm
4. Decorative vintage drawer display
5. Decorative Vintage Drawer Display
6. bird cage from save on crafts
7. paper bird cutouts
8. pink console
9. jute floor cushions
10.Bryonie porter wallpapered furniture
11. hanging_seat
12. ladder book case from polyvore
13. Cushions
Black and silver pillow
lambskin pilow
hand crafted black and white leave pillow
hand embroidered patch work pillow
bloomsbury pillow

Inspiration: Yellow and lime

2011-06-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

My todays inspiration is this cute girls apartment! It comes from a Hindi movie, I rarely noticed the hindi flick sets! But this one really popped my eyes! I mean seriously I could not focus on the movie just wanted a better look at the look and all the detailings. I looked up over the net and could not find the name of the set designer or the gallery of the set! I had to take the stills off the movie clips and well they are with their inadequacies!! But wait till you see it! It is awesome!

The main feature is this canary yellow wall with strings attached and bird silhouttes sitting on it along with post cards with the clips! Truly AMAZIng!!

Please try to ignore the characters! this was the best I could get! Anyways the wall had its backdrop to this swivel bamboo chair!! How cool is that!

Looking precious! The chimes and cushions adding the funk!

Whats more! Vintage frames adorning the wall!! with vintage photos!

Here is a glimpse of it while the camera was rotating thus explaining the blurriness of the picture!

The other showstopper is this birds cage over the lime arm chair! The bird cage has a white porcelain bird in it and is wrapped with fairy lights and becoming magnificent!

This is another image that I caught while the camera was rotating! Notice there is no bed in the room, the sleeping area is on the mattress, which works beautifully here. But I cannot help wondering if there would have been a bed what sort would have worked the best.. hmmm... Point to ponder..

Another view! I am not very keen on the fairy lights on the curtain rod.. But they too are working their magic!

The bird cage upclose and rotating thus the blurriness!!

And I come back again to the wall!! Doesn't that make you smile! :)

The tragedy in the movie, the hero is leaving the home they created together but how can you take your eyes off that wall!!

The pop of pink frame the pattered ethnic cushions the decal perfection.. Just perfection! So sad that the hero is leaving!

I wanted a closer look at those cushions and this is what I could get!

The house was shown as a deprecated old flat so it does'nt have any of the fine detailings the wrought grill and the switchboards are obvious all around! But the star that steals the show in this image(if you can make anything out of it) is the dresser!! What a marvel!!

Here it is on a closer look!

Cute accessories!

Mirror is very interesting! Bit plain!

But then heroine dressed her up with these cute belts! :)

Other features were tons of books everywhere!!

And a terrific ladder full of them!

A cute little breakfast nook or dining area whatever you call it! But the sign is so cute!

This (below) is the entire image crappy I agree, but do you notice the layered rugs and the knot of scarves in the corner!

I am still swooning over the images! And my mind is racing in all directions! There is nothing like a Monday morning inspiration!

Have an Awesome week ahead!

Vintage Fairies: Free Blog backgrounds!

2011-06-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a really inspiring morning so far! One of those days when you hit the jackpot.. In mycase its graphicsfairy. The blog is amazing, and you find tons of vintage stuff, posters, printables, bottle labels, all for free! Whether you hold interest in vintage labels or not, it is totally worth a click! I am sure you won't be able to stop and you will find several great ideas to use them as well!!!

Here are few of my picks!

You can find looots of interesting stuff there and tutorials to use them as well! for instance this vintage label+a hand towel= turned into a pretty little french towel!! for the tutorial go here.

I would love to do it on table mats or sack cushions or napkins, or pillows, or tote bags, or favor bags, or runners maybe! on anything basically!! towels ofcourse look equally good as well!!

The other fairy i met today was and is backgroundfairy, and I must say that these are some extremely generous and talented women! On this amazing site you will find great vintage background anad rexpective headers all for free!! And there are simplest of tutorials to teach us how to go about installing them in our sites as well!! I must say that I was in desperate need of all this blog equipment!! I have been on this site for more than an hour and i am not done yet!! I just keep going on and on! and I advise you to do the same!

Go here to find some of the free stuff!

Have a fabulous day ahead!!

Pretty Outdoor Party: Ingredients

2011-06-08T04:13:00.000-07:00

I was stuck with this pretty little party that I posted last night. You can view all the pictures here. So today I decided to scour the net and find all the ingredients which would make this party! And I found some pretty great stuff!!

Read on to find out!

patiofurniturestation

1.The first ingredient that you need for a pretty outdoor party is one large chunky rustic dining table.

skcnis

1.2.3.

2. Than you need an assortment of vintage chairs, wrought iron or wooden that is your call. You can paint them different shades or colors of black, brown, white charcoal grey or royal blue. Or for more exquisite and bold touch you can paint them canary yellow, pink and blue!

inspirebohemia

3. The first accessory for this table would be a hand painted morrocan tile used as a coaster!! I Love Love Love this ideas and the prints are amazing!!! Do check out the link below the picture to this amazing site where you will find tons of inspiring morrocan patterns and prints!

shoppingblog

daniellebaird

gabrielletomasko

4. I love Caribou Coffee and insired by their cute napkins you can also design your own napkins or table mats. Take a large piece of paper and pen draw something on it. Make photocopies and place them in front of the chairs on the table! You can print them out on napkins as well or you can have a pen ready and encourage everyone present to go ahead and unleash their creativity. It can be an awesome momento of the party!

taradennis

5. Complementing to the earthen theme of the party this DIY jute table runner looks simply amazing! You can find the tutorial by clicking on the link below the pic.. There is some seriously fabulous stuff featured in Tara Dennis blog! Do check that out starting from the table runner ofcourse!

fairy lights

6. And ofcourse some pretty fairy lights!

lanterns

7. Instead of just some white votives scatter some of these beautiful lanterns around for a beautiful glow and a doze of rustic!

mason jars

8. For the centerpieces, simply gather some empty jars and bottles and fill them up with gorgeous vibrant colored daisies and peonies!

magpiepaperworks

Or you can paint them as well with this very simple DIY by magpie paper works! Just follow the link below the picture!

wooden crates

9. Ofcourse the natural choice to hold the drinks would be wooden crates! For the mason jars, fairy lights, lanterns, and the crate and so many more things my go to is save-on-crafts.com. I have blogged about them before save on craft. I spent hours surfing the site and selecting all my favourite pieces! The prices are great! their stuff is fabulous and there is looooaaads of inspiration there! So do go check that out (Note: I am not being paid for these words. This is just my personal opinion)

welovejenni

9. For additional oomph and interest serve your guests the food on chopping borads! Ofcourse the chopping board should be new and it should'nt have much chopping on it! :)

thelongthread

vogue

11. Finally I would love to dramatize this place with some vintage fabric scattered around in the form of cushions and drink table cover or maybe on the floor for some lazying around or to lay down and watch some movie or old pics on the projector!

I do hope that this post sparks someone else's imagination as well coz I would love to see more inspiration or maybe an actual setting or a party! For me *sigh* alas I have to wait for a balcony to perhaps grow out of my apartment or something!!

Have a fabulous day ahead!

Pretty Outdoor Party!

2011-06-07T04:07:00.000-07:00

Speaking of parties! I Love this amazing outdoor fete featured by thesweetestoccasion. I Love the completely homely and welcoming feel of it, and what a relaxing night it would be for friends to come over and for the weekend! Even if you are ordering pizzas and coke its still worth setting up this place. so chic!

And what i love about it is that it is completely doable! All you need is some mismatched chairs, wornout outdoor table, ferry lights, bottles and empty vases for centerpieces, a runner of leather for the table, some hodgpodge printouts for the table mats, mosaic tiles as hot plates and some wooden crates to hold your cups and glasses. Unblieveable! Those sound like household items and bits of creativity to me!

I am sorry! I could'nt help it! I loved them all so much that I could'nt resist posting them all! The only thing missing is a projector with old photos and memories and laughter of your closest friends and pals!! What a perfect night! :)

Pink and yellow party inspiration

2011-06-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

Its time that I should start working towards the event my whole year revolves around! The birthday party of my little girl, who will be turning 2 (IN) this August. It might be a little early for everyone else, but for me i am rather late! I have huge ambitious plans for the party! Lets see how it goes..

For the color scheme I have been stuck with yellow and pink for like forever.. From the previous year everytime I thought of Inayah's second birthday it had to be pink and yellow!!

But I know that I dont want to base a party on colors only.. So lets see which other theme gets into it.. I am having rather fun finding all sorts of inspiration on all the event planning sites. They are amazing!!! there is really cool stuff out there!!!

Here is some pretty pink and yellow inspiration and many more to come!

Happy weekend!

2011-05-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

The weekend is here and I am settling in the mood... It has been a busy inspiring week.. and I am really looking forward to the family and cooking time that I am going to have.. Ummm Yes I am upto a little something... and ofcourse I will let you all in on that once it matured enough to be announced.. Meanwhile, here is the motive that I designed to go on top in the middle of the bench.. I am obsessesd I know... But that is just me!.. :) Lemme know what do you think! You like it hate it... think it should be different! Hmmm I want to know.. Personally I LOVE it.. I am a little bit extremely proud of myself.. :)

Have a great relaxing weekend! And come back again energized and vitalised on monday!

See you monday!

Lonny, Rue and Trad-home

2011-05-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

My eyes have been completely glued to the Computer screen for the past ummm almost 12 hours.. I have been finding excuses to run back to the computer to read every word, picture, detail, link of lonny..

And..

rue Issue 5

And my next stop is trad-home!! I am already rubbing my hand in anticipation and my teeth gleaming with the thought of devouring it! GOsh i love online magazines! and such good ones!!

Happy reading everyone!!

2011-05-24T03:19:00.000-07:00

Harlequin Bath rugs

I am in love with these bathmats from Ballard Designs! And my personal preference will ofcourse be the black and white one.. Although my bathroom is all offwhite and peach!

Black and white bench!

2011-05-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

Heeey everyone.. Here is the tufted black and white bench that I recieved.. hmmm needs sprucing up.. Don't you think!! I am going for an embroidered motif for the base.. Annd

I am fancying chrome legs! hmmm.. How would I go about that!! I don't know.. But I guess I will find a way!

Black and white and yellow bedroom: Progress

2011-05-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

SO far the progress on the room is:

pbteen

Given the white curtains with black borders..

wakeupfrankie

THe headboard has gone for the upholstery and tufting..

livinglivelier

The X bench inspired upholstery for the bench at the foot of the bed..

I have a few reservations about what the craftsmen got out of my draft.. I am pretty surethe curtains will come out without the bottom border and well lets see.. Fingers crossed.. I am expected to recieve the deliveries sometime soon today!

Have a Happy and a loaded of work day! :)

image source:

Black, White and Yellow

2011-05-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

I am so glad to declare that Osayed(my husband) changed the color scheme of the room, and now we are working on a black, white and YELLOW!! room.. :) Cheeerrs!! wow.. i am so excited having a canary yellow in my room rather than the robin blue that I planned initially.

I am always warm to yellow, but its the first time I am harbouring it for my living space! Truly excited.. I will keep you posted.. Here are some black, white and yellow inspirations!

homeklondike.com

unknown

image source: homeideasdesign

Lahore Fort

2011-05-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

During my visit last week one of the marked feature of the Mughal Empires that we visited wasThe Lahore Fort. With its marvellous architecture and engineering techniques, it never cease to inspire and enthrall me.. The grandeur, the art genius, the luxurious lifestyle reflected through every stone and carving.. Everything just speaks for itself of the glorious times!

Front gate of Lahore Fort

The entire old city of Lahore boosts amazing cultural and antique shops, that are a treat for locals and vistors . Here are some of the fantastic inspirations I found in the shop! Believe me there were tons! Everytime I visit this place I vow to do a place which showcases around the grandeur and the antiquity of the Mughal era! Wow that would be such a dream home! Imagine a bathroom inspired by Sheesh Mahal (Palace of mirrors) where one candles lights up the entire room!

I leave you with some great Monday morning inspiration!

Have a lovely morning!

2011-05-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

It feels so good to be back here typing and writing a new blog post.. I had been back home for the past three weeks and it has been an exhilirating and inspiring tour. We visited the northern areas which are the reath taking and culturally rich hills and mountains.. you just cant get enough of the beauty!

Experienced snow fall for the FIRST time! Yes for most of you it must be a shock but that is the truth about us plateau people!

sight seeing..

fun projects..

lots of fabrics and looooads of inspirations..

Lots more to tell and share which will be coming soon! More on the projects that I attempted at home and the one I am about to take over here!

Tree houses

2011-04-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

What a sweet retreat! I LOOOVVVEE the idea of a tree house! It makes me swoon everytime I think about it! I dream and dream and dream of a beautifl tree house for ourselves! and not just one for the kids to play in but something romantic and secular and totally fun and ofcourse architectrally and interior wise beautiful!!

Something like the amazing tree houses featured in this article!

Its just going to make you smile and dream on and even amaze you! :)

Have a wonderful day!!

P.S. Are your heads running with the designs for the interiors of a tree house!?!? :) I know min is!! :)

image source www.toxel.com

Ultimate Blog Party!

2011-04-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Its the time to party! And that too a blog party!!

I am so excited to be a part of it.. Although I fear that I might be a little late in joining in! However better late than ever.

Thankyou for dropping by my site. I hope you enjoy your time here and find some inspiration..

I am Samia.. currently a stay at home mom to a snazzy toddler girl! My husband is a really sweet guy who is total fun to be around and like a real best friend! I-share-every-dirty-little-secret-with-him sorta guy.. Three years into the marriage and so far it has been a fun roller coaster ride.. He is an SAP consultant, which means that we move around thge globe from project to project. In these three years we have moved 9 times!!, packing, repacking, unpacking included ,sometimes on a days notice!!

I started blogging during pregnancy, due to lack of work for me and abundance of inspiration here in the blog world. I just had to join in to contribute my part. It has been a wonderful journey. I am learning at every step and figuring things out for myself.

This blog is primarily about interiors and design coz I am obsessed with it, but knowing myself it branches into a little bit of crafting, some photography, party plannings, table setting and daily inspirations. However at the end of the day the most important job of our lives takes over and that is being a mommy!! So you will find a bit of mommy stuff there too..

I am excited about joining into the blog party! You can join in as well and win some fabulous prizes for yourself as well!! the likes:

A full blog design!!!
and
A complete blog makeover!!

Best of luck with that! And hope you join in on the fun and hope you come back again as well!!

All the best!

Inspiration: Anna Spiro of Absolutely Beautiful Things!

2011-04-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Her quirky pink wallpapers!

Her beautiful collections and tablescapes!

Her GORGEOUS!! GORGEOUS!! chairs!!!!

Her ginger jars and blue china and boxes!!

Her choice of water color paitings!

Her mismatched cushions!

Her shop Black and Spiro!

And ofcourse we all love her for bringing us friday flowers!

For Alll these reasons and many more Anna Spiro is the One and only one person, who is my earliest inspiration, and the only one person who inspired me to start my own blog! I love her style , the colors, the mismatched patterns, the blue china and ceramics. Everytime I am at her blog I am inspired in whole new ways!

For this reason I have decided to spruce up a room Anna Spiro Style! I really hope I can accomplish that, coz my personal style is a bit more modern and minimalist than hers. But for once in my entire life I want a room fuullll of pattern and fun objects and cushions and ceramics and evvvverything over the top and ofcourse ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

And I do happen to have the perfect setting to do that!

Really just close your eyes and imagine for a second this room filled with quirky obects from Black and Spiro!

I am suuuuuper excited! this is going to be a real fun project!! I really hope I can come up to the expectation!

This is my mom's lounge which has plenty of fun basic furniture items, but is bare when it comes to accessories! I am so looking forward to the awesome patterns and cushions and tablescapes that can be brought into this place to spruce it up! Cherishing, loving and planning for every detail possible!

I will be posting other inspirations and finds as well as the moodboard soon!

Here you can enjoy the amazing dose of inspiration from absolutelybeautifulthings! Enjoy!

All images, except the last three, courtesy absolutelybeautifulthings!

Welcoming Spring!

2011-04-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

I was desperately in need of some flowers for my room and was telling my husband for quite some time.. But unfortunately on our long drives at night all the flower shops would close! Despite his best effortss he could not find me the desired flowers! This weekend however, when we took Inu for her share of fun at the rides I finally found the flower shop at the corner of the mall which had all sorts of lovely flowers! Daisies vs orchids vs bamboo shoots vs peonies! I ended up with a bunch of these gorgeous lillies!! When I bought them none of the flowers had blossomed! But now...

third one is blooming as well .. sitting so happily on our window..

Its amazing what a bunch of lillies can do to your room!

Weekend Reads!

2011-04-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

The weekend is coming to an end soon and i am curled up in my bed under the effect of the medicines I have just taken! My baby just passed the flu to me! And i am sniffing constantly as I am writing this! But here are some amazing reads I just went through today. Enough to make me sit up and share it with you!

dabblemag

If you are a fan of food and travel as well as interiors than this magazine will give you everything that you ask for! It has tons of materials on everything. From food to thrift plaes in the places they take you. Great as a retreat for a sick weekend!

ivyandpiper

is packed with style and beauty and pretty images! A must stop for some weekend inspiration!
Here is another interesting link I bumped into and loved http://lainbloom.blogspot.com/. Its a brunch recipe and I loved the whole idea of it and the biscotti looks amazing!!

My next stop is

ruemag

The title looks as intriguing as the rest and the issue is amazing as promised! I love that dresser Weeand what a nice place to take a title shot!

Enjoy your weekend!

2011-03-31T01:02:00.000-07:00

Quatrefoil

2011-03-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

I am in love with..

Quatrefoil

I was flipping through my 'I Love" folder and I noticed the abundance of this lovely pattern.. I am not i love I am shamelessly helplessly obsessed!

image via colourmehappyblog

via madebygirl

image source jenerationinteriors.com

image source royaldesignstudio

image source organized-design

image source www.younghouselove

Just can't seem to get enough of it!

You might very well imagine what the wallpaper of my new room is giong to be! love it on the walls, on the floors, on the bed spreads and accents! you name it. And the colors are superb as well! Kravet has some amazing colours and patterns which look superb on cushions!

I loved that DIY lampshade by organized-design Here you can find the tutorial and the template for the lamshade. The CSI Project has some amazing transformations as well. Here you can view the free template as well as two amazing DIY's.

And there might be some nice DIY in the making as well for myself! I don't know! I am seriously tempted!!

Have a fabulous day ahead!!

Photography

2011-03-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be a great start to a Monday by sharing some gorgeous pics. Here is the beautiful Sharjah skyline at a light festival held here in Sharjah. The whole building was illuminated with a simple projector!

Seeeee!!! It was a marvellous show! with lights and effects and stories!

The buildings looked so beautiful it was surreal! It was amazing how a little bit of imagination and hard work turned these architectral masterpieces into art to marvel!

I wish Osayed (my husband) had taken a closer view of this! How beautiful it would have looked on my desktop screen saver!

The light show was accompanied by the dancing fountains as well.. And with the right music they told the entire history of U.A.E on these walls! Amazing Don't you think!

And here is a little bit of my honey bun Inayah! These days I am hard at work at my quaintessetial photography skills for the blog. Not surprisingly my husband Osayed is so much better at it. And SURPRISINGLY! I am finding this sorta difficult task to handle! But I am bent_ hard or not I am gonna be there.. These days you will find me running around the house with my nikon camera dangling from my neck and the camera manual in my hand taking shots evvverywhere. Just trying to figure out the aperture, and the white balance story!

This image was taken by husband!

And here is my shot!

hmmm Getting better! At least from where I started from! If only I had managed to capture a better look and at an angel which would hide the imerfections of her look rather than highlighting the dangling hairpins and the wet shirt front!

But What the Heck! Here it goes my photography week!

I will be head over heels in photography and will keep you posted! Wish me all the luck possible!

Have a fabulous week ahead!

Black and white moodboard

2011-03-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

dorothy draper chest image via examiner.com
black and white tufted headboard image via style court
bed sheets images via apartmenttherapy.com
side table image via decorpad.com
crystal bricks lamps image via smartshopbuy.com
chevron rug image via courtneyoutloud
monogrammed pillows image via chicdeac
fabrics for the cushions image via manolohome
Yuvans geometric reversed turquoise wallpaper image via wandrlust

black and white bedroom inspiration

2011-03-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the inspirations for the black and white room that I am designing for myself here in Dubai! Really excited about the project coz this would a clor scheme which is pretty close tomy heart and goes limitless in its look and creativity! Some eye candy!

Black and white tufted headboard,

monogrammed duvet,

white sunburst mirror,

bench at the foot of the bed,

geometric black and whitefabric, white side tables, white curtains with black trims.

Turquoise walls, black and white trimmed pillows and curtains, black and white geometric art and bold patterned duvet, white lamps.

dark statement walls, white decals, monogrammed pilows, black and white accent pillows, chrome pendant statement light

White room with black edges and turquoise accents, white tufted headboard with black rim, turquoise bench at the foot of the bed, black and white roman patterned shades, turquoise lamps

Tufted headboard, in neutral with accent color highlight, neutral wall, accent gray lamps and pillows and the bench at the foot of the bed, variation in the accents, lchrome lamps brocade cushions, patterned fabric all in the same hue.

Turquoise geometric wallpaper, groupings of photos in black and white, tufted headboard, chrome lamps, white shades, black and white trimmed covers, accent color duvet, white an black rug, white curtains.

dark walls, white and black headoard, white mirror, bold black and whtkie patterend accents, crystal lamps, black shades, white sidetables, table as the bench

Black and white bold wallpaper, white base and black trimmed cushions, yellow accents, tufted headboard, white sideboard, white and black textured rugs

image 1 shelter
image 2 houseofturquoise
image 3 desiretoinspire
image 4,5 signedbytina\
image 6 unknown
image 7 unknown

Detox Diet III

2011-03-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

I blogged about detox here and here, its benefits and how its done, now all you have to do is to pair these methods with some pure self love and get ready to embrace a refreshed and energized you:

Here is what you have to do:

via whole-body-detox-diet

Detox bath

A detox bath routine starts with dry skin brushing _ a technique recommended other than detoxing as well. Than comes the bath or shower with maximum hot water you can take to increase prespiration and finish off with cool water splash. You can use some bath salts as well as some seaweed to make the erasing of toxins deeper. Make your bath more luxurious with some aromatheraputic oils.

here is the entire detail availble which pretty much narrates all that I just expalined but I love viewing that page and its fun to imagine a luxurious bath like that so go ahead enjoy!

Here is another recipe for detoxifying salt soak and ginger bedtime bath as well as a professional detox bath recipe the likes for which our celebreties pay at luxurious spas!
Yoga

via sheknows.com
Any detox diet can be and should be paired with any form of light exercise like aerobics, walk or yoga. Me being a complete yoga sucker for detox or not chose yoga naturally. I did some treadmill as well for the increased blood circulation, but kept it very light and a minimum to 10 to 15 mins.

My yoga routine followed early morning 10 min ujay breaths with some stretchings for my legs and followed by some joint twists. And after that I followed sadie nardini'score work out for better abs. You can view the youtube video or choose something to suit your needs. Just make sure that you find a nice quiet room or nook with lots of natural light and white walls to do your routine. Always make sure that you do these routines on an empty stomach and whilst wearing loose clothes.

Detox foot massage

Detox foot massage technically involves some method of using electrolytes to detoxify_ something I am sure works but is not just for me. There is a high recommendation of using foot patches as well, and it seems like a great technique to try as well, but in my opinion the simplest act of soaking feet in warm water with some salts and than massaging them gently with almond oil will do the trick as well.

Some other At Home Treatments are:

•Dry Skin Brushing

•Tongue Scraping

•Hot Shower Therapy

•Hot Towel Scrub

•Neti Pot for nasal cleansing

•Detoxifying Baths

•Homemade Salt Scrubs

•Enemas

•Healthy Sleep

•Pure Drinking Water

Special Outings or Assisted Treatments

•Sauna/Steam Room

•Mild Exercises

•Chi Kung (Qi Gong)

•Yoga

•Outdoor Adventures

•Dancing

Some Professional Treatments
•Body Work

•Swedish Massage

•Lymphatic Drainage Massage

•Acupuncture

•Reflexology

•Shiatsu

•Reiki

•Maya Abdominal Massage

•Spa Treatments

•Seaweed Wraps

•Salt Glow

•Hot Stone Therapy

You can read about all of them and their details here

THE BEST ADVICE FOR DETOX DIET:

Listen to your body: Don't exert yourself or exercise too much or whatever. learn to listen what your body is saying.
SLEEEEP: At the right time and for normal 8 hours. That is the best wonder you can do to yourself
Give lots of love to yourself and enjoy the process. Usually its ourselves we take for granted the most!

Lastly!

HOW TO GET OFF THE DETOX DIET:

For my part I wanted to reap the benefits of detox for a bit longer and after two weeks of living beautifully withour caffiene and fats and junk food I had no idea how to come back to my ld lousy habits. So here is what I did:

Started introducing more protein at the end of the detox as has been indicated in the menu.
Remained true to my green tea and kept the use of black tea and coffee to a minimum.
Stayed with my yoga routine.
Kept half of my salad bowl and smoothie meals as a part of my diet.

There you go my complete account of the detox series!

Here is to a sharper, brighter you with a glow in your skin, lustre in your hair, sparkle in your eyes, shine in your teeth, soundness in your sleep and skip (instead of aches and pains) in your gait! :)

Have a wonderful, beautiful, energizing day ahead!

Detox Diet part II

2011-03-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

Okay here is the deal with detox: You need to concentarate on taking as many fruits and vegetables and antioxidents as you can in a day. Which means that your diet is primarily limited to friut salads and vegetable salads. Here I try to show you how to add variety to your healthy detox meal and how to make it delicious and oh so irresistable!

First thing first:

maxupdates

Upon rising
• 1/2 lemon squeezed into a glass of warm water
• 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds in a glass of water

Lot of guides

Tea: You can take any herbal tea, but this is the recommendedone.

Ginger Tea Recipe

• water, 4 cups

• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger root

• optional: honey and lemon slice

Peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Once it is boiling, add the ginger. Cover it and reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain the tea. Add honey and lemon to taste.

supplements:

Vitamin C supplement after breakfast.
Multivitamin after lunch
GNC has a wonderful detox program. You can go to the store and ask for the detox kit. It comes with the entire menu and the supplemets as well as boosters which helps the body release toxins etc. I personally didnt follow that program but it has great views and if you are interested you can try for a better fitter version.

Now comes the diet: I used a combiation of soups, smoothies,desserts with my salads which was fun and appealing. This combination added variety and treats for my tatste buds, although I stuck with a few for more than a few days coz I loved them so much. Here is the plan day by day.

WEEK 1

angelahardison

MONDAY

Breakfast: Omelete made of two eggs and cherry tomatoes, seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper.
lmonds and walnuts on the side, ginger tea.
SNACK: smoothie of strawberries, orange, apple.
LUNCH: Mexican tomato soup, salad with hummus.
DINNER: Lentil curry.
SNACK: Orange and date dessert.

TUESDAY

Breakfast: Banana, pears, apple, orange, salad topped with almonds, raisins and walnuts.
snack:       smoothie
lunch:        carrot and lentil soup, nut butter on wheat free toast.
dinner:      Spinach curry with wheat free pasta and stirfry veggies
Snack:       Date and rice krispie biscuits

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Fresh fruit salad of your choice with ginger tea.
Snack:       Date and rice cripy biscuits
Lunch:       Carrot and lentil soup (leftover) with salad
Dinner:     Stirfried oriental broccoli.
Snack:      Fresh fruit juice

THURSDAY

Breakfast: Start the day with cereal ( the recipe for detox cereal is given below)
Snack:      Cucumber and celery sticks with hummus
Lunch:      Chunky vegetable soup made from vegetable stock,
Dinner:     Marinated vegetable kebabs
Dessert:    Apple sauce

FRIDAY

Breakfast: Compote of mixed dried fruits- soaked in orange juice and served with live youghurt
Snack:       vegetable broth
Lunch:      Masoor dahl curry
Dinner:     A selection of roasted vegetables aubergines, beetroot, onions, tomatoes, courgettes with
                pumpkin seeds and crumbled goat cheese on top.
Dessert:   Pomegranate ice

SATURDAY

Breakfast: Mediterranean omelet made of red onion, cherry tomatoes and courgettes
Snack:      Strawberry juice
Lunch:      Popcorns popped at home without butter from the organcic corns served after or before fruit

                 salad
Dinner:     Fish fillet and tomato salad
Snack:      crumbles made with oats and crushed nuts toppings

                                                                     via house of brinson
SUNDAY

Breakfast: Oat porridge made of old fashioned oats and served with your choice of non dairy milk, fruit
                 and honey
Snack:      smoothie
Lunch:      Pasta made with simple tomato sauce and served with steamed veggies
Dinner:     MAshed potatoes with hummus and red beans served with salad
Snack:      Orange and date dessert

WEEK 2

MONDAY

Breakfast: Poached organic eggs with steamed spinach
Snack:       Strawberry, orange and papaya smoothie
Lunch:       Chiled beetroot soup
Dinner:     Oriental stirfried broccoli
Snack:      Nuts and fruit

Tuesday

Breakfast: Detox cereal
Snack:      Date and ice krispy biscuits
Lunch:      Steamed broccoli sprinkled with sesame seeds and beets served on lemon juice and brown
                rice
Dinner:    Asian potato and egg curry
Snack:     Nuts and dried cranberries

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Fruit salad (I was hooked to my early morning large bowl of bananas, grapes, pears and
                 strawberries topped with tons of almonds and walnuts)
Snack:      orange juice
Lunch:      Spinach soup
Dinner:     Tomato and chickpea casserole
Snack:      nuts and dried figs

THURSDAY

Breakfast: Oat porridge
Snack:       strawberry, mango and avocado smoothie
Lunch:       Goat's cheese salad with walnuts sprinkled on top
Dinner:     Baked sweet potato with roasted vegetables ( Follow the recipe given below it is delish)
Snack:      nuts and raisins

FRIDAY

Breakfast: Poached organic eggs with steamed spinach
Snack:       strawberry , orange and papaya smoothie
Lunch:      Baked potato with Greek salad_ Feta cheese, onion, cucumber, black olives and tomatoes
Dinner:    Baked salmon with vegetables of your choice
Snack:     apple sauce

SATURDAY

Breakfast: Omelet and fruit salad
Snack:      vegetable broth
Lunch:      Spinach soup
Dinner:     BBQ chicken with hummus and salad
Snack:      Roasted mashed sweet potato and ginger tea

SUNDAY

Breakfast: Fruit salad
Snack:      citrus smoothie
Lunch:      sweetcorn soup
Dinner:    Beef steak with baked vegetables (coz you are coming off the diet)
Snack:     popcorns

Here are the links to all the recipes that are included in my menu. There are loads of recipes and data available on the net. You can determine your own plan and make your choices. But these are the tried and tested recipes.

Detox cereal
Detox soup
Detox Salad
Detox Dinner choices
Detox Desserts
Fruit Smoothies

And all the beautiful images that you see which are not labelled with the source are from angelahardison. Its a wonderful link to follow and a great source of wonderful recipes as you can see from the images. It is not entirely aimed at detox, but seems to be rising from the same theory. A wonderful place for all nutirition lovers and not.

Tomorrow I will be back on all the wonderful accompaniments of detox diet, which will turn this experience more heavenly and divine for you leaving you on the seventh sky!

Hope you enjoyed the post! Feel free to add in, leave comments, enlighten or share more recipes and sources.

Have a great Week ahead!

Detox Diet: Part 1

2011-03-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks I have been on a detox, a diet specifically designed for the body to remove all its toxins and waste and as a result rejuvenate and allow it to function better. Which means no processed food, no sugars or high fat, no complex carbs, and no caffiene ( which explains my absence from my blog!! I fell asleep so easy! )

The foods that you can have are all sorts of fruits and vegetables, organic yoghurt and cheese( in the strictest versions even the milk and dairy is not allowed) herbal teas and large doses of antioxidents such as strawberries, blueberries, garlic, ginger, citrus, green leafy vegetables etc.

Believe it or not the food that I had in the last two weeks had been DELiclious!! and filling! I immensely enjoyed taking the light foods and the soups and salads. You can only imagine what good they are doing to your body!

Looking at these pictures make me want to go back to the diet again!

Detox is not easy! Well at least that is what I realised. It requires alot of planning and cooking because your meals are different from those of the rest of the family. In most cases people fumble when it comes down to plannings of the meals. i think I scored a ten this time around in my meal plannings, coz they turned out to be delicious, ontime and had a wonderful effect on me. Whatever the procedures they are worth the effort and work.

The obvious benefits that you will reap at the end of the detox are:

1. Glowing skin
2. skip in your feet.
3. lustrous hair.
4. rejuvenated
5. recovered from indigestion or piles or any other mild dietary condition.
6. better immune system
7. better and more sound sleep

Not only you will recieve compliments from people around you, you will feel the difference yourself. However, it does'nt come easy. At the onset of your detox program you may feel certain unpleasant symptoms such as:

1. light headedness
2. headaches
3. lathargy
4. dampened spirits
5. in extreme cases nausea

These symptoms normally occur due to the sudden absence of caffiene from our diet or other complex carbs and high energy sugars and fats. You can make the transition easier by starting to prep for the diet by cutting down on the caffiene and other complex foods so as to get your body accustomed to the new regime you are going to adopt.

Tomorrow I will be posting the two week detox diet plan and than I will be sharing with you guys some more tips and techniques to deepen the detox and make it more effective!

image 1 whole-body-detox-diet.com
image 3 easyrawfooddetoxdiet.com
image 4 gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/
image 5 www.backtobasicschiropractic.com.au
image 6 www.bodypower.ca
image 7 www.bodytypequiz.com
image 8 deliciouslivingmag.com

Weekend reads!

2011-03-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

Just got a rather HIIGGH dose of creativity from these e zines.. You know those days when you just don't feel inspired by anything and suddenly you find a gud zine and pages after pages leave you mesmerized and itching to get you off your chair and start working!

Enjoyed High Gloss immensly. brought back to me my earliest love and one of my favourite blogs absolutely beautiful things.. I remember everytime I would visit that blog il get a smile on my face and my mood will soar and my mind will start floating in colors and beauty and pretty things! it was such a far cry from my taste and yet it speaks to me.. now all I want is a canvas a neutral pallette for me to create a space full of fun accessories and warmth.. a moodboard coming in shape in my head.. needs to be followed up soon..

Anyways here is high gloss for you to enjoy!

highgloss

The other magazine that caught my eye was a wedding magazine not a design magazine but I do tend to find inspiration in table settings and you know tips and tricks in acquiring a great wedding and just look at this beautiful image!

Can you imagine what a beautful day would it be!

here is the source of the image and all the ideas!

Darling!

And this e-zine is just amazing! married or not, engaged or not I think this magazine has enough for all to covet! fabulous DIYs and great tablescapes and ideas to spruce up any party! Loved it.. It has tons of stuff and whooping 265 pages full of it.. still going through mine.. why dont you grab yourself some monday inspiration!

Utterlyengaged

Have a fab productive week ahead!

Oscars!

2011-02-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hey All.. yuup the oscars.. all over!! I am not usually that interested in oscars.. they are too much of a hype for me.. but the only thing I am interested in is the gowns of the ladies! and here are the two which caught my eye today.. the ones I wish to be in or somehow create a semi version of it!

Anne Hathaway

Gosh! I just looove her gown! And Hailee Seinfield

I am not like entirely crazy about this one, but she looks so cute and so pretty and I love the feminity of it... and I think I can use it as an inspiration for some of my own creations!

I also loved the gown that Amy Adams was wearing.. I think I am totally crazy about this color.. This looks ammazing!!!

What were your Oscar picks?!

All images via wonderwall

Weekend Find!

2011-02-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

It feels so good to be back at work after a long weekend of tending a sick child down with the weather. Just happened to came across this great source save-on-crafts. It seemed to be stashed with AAALLLL my favourite stuff in resonable prices and all under one roof and soo much more to make me crave and amaze and desire for! Hop on over for a wonderful ride.. But here is my crux! Enjoy!

apothecary

Apothecary jars!!!!!!!!! AWESOME! Love them! and there are trillions (okay not as many) more there! Soooo hard to pick!

Love the color! what an ambience this would create when stringed with its likes!

paper lanterns

There are TONS of options in the paper lanterns and other fabulous lights From Led to decorative to chandlieres to rope lights, you name it..its all there.. Aren't these just gorgeous and so fairly priced!

boxes

These vintage suitcases are screaming my name! Head over heels in love with them..

favor bags

How cute is that striped one and so classy! and those chinese take away bags are such a cute twist! and so reasonably priced!

buckets

Silver buckets! I adore them! beautiful centerpieces..

look absolutely great with foliage as well as fresh flowers!

silver tub

Looking at this tub all I can think of it being full of ice and on top of it assortment of drinks chillllled!! for a summery party outdoors with snacks and complete with a water balloon fight! Dont you think!

branches_naturals

Although i know better resources for naturals but these were some of the cute ones I found! What Can I do.. I just cannot resist!

And there were loooads of other fab stuff which you can find all under one roof and get really creative with! the likes!

hanging lanterns

bird cages

cake stands and cupcake holders

DIY cushion

2011-02-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

When I saw these cushions I knew that I needed to create them! and I did!! And this is my result..

Pretty good don't you think.. I am absolutely in love with them and they look amazing on my black couch in front of the chevron wall.. Here is an easy to-do to create the black and white one..

Things you'd need:

white cushion cover or white fabric (stitched or unstitched that is your will.. I worked on a stitched fabric)
black velvet ribbon (7 meters)
glue
scissors
pencil and scale

Method:

1. Iron the fabric.

2. With the help of pencil and scale draw random lines on the fabric. The scale and size and pattern is upto you.

3. measure the ribbon with one drawn line and cut it and start glueing.

It will start shaping up gradually..

And that is about it.. complete all lines.. Make changes.. Add more.. Adjust your fabric with your ribbon.. and Voila.. You will have your cushion!

Tips and Tricks:

1. Do load up on ribbons. I miscalculated mine and ended up delaying my project for two days leaving it unfinished, which was pretty annoying! SO buy extra ribbon. You never know what it takes!
2. You can stitch the ribbons instead of glueing, but I chose to glue and it turned out alright for me. A bit messy but works pretty fine. So stitching or gluing is your call.
3. The black and blue cushion was a DIY as well but it was bit more complicated. If you are interested email me and I will send you the pattern that I used.

Let me know what you think and please do let me know if you tried it yourself. You can order me as well and I will design it for you. For details email me at get.samiya@gmail.com

DIY room makeover

2011-02-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of days I was at my moms place for a visit and awaiting some long due paper work.. and was free most of the time, so I took up two or actually one projects to complete during my sojourn.. The wall in my room, which was opposite to the bed! It had a makeshift Inayah's dresser.. which was always a huge mess as it turned out to be the best dumping spot in the room.. It was a real eye sore, not exactly the prettiest sight to wake up to..

Here is the before pic.. in its good days

So my inspiration was..

image source madebygirl

image source caitlinwilsondesign

I wanted to do this chevron wall in soft blue and than place the black couch(which i had in the other corner of the room before) in front of the wall and acceroise with these cushions..

So here is the after..

The cushions and the walls are a DIY, whose tutorial I am going to post real soon.. Meanwhile let me know what do you think?

Have a wonderful, cheerful,blissful Monday!

Happy Weekend!

2011-01-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know how you guys do it.. but it takes me forever to go through an interior design magazine. I haven't even finished through Lonny yet!! And I have Matchbook and Adore lined up as well. I just cannot flip through them. I have to soak up every detail and every image! And they have so much in them!

So folks! Its time for me to grab a cup of coffee and snuggle in the bed and read (sponge) on!

What a lovely thought to a weekend!

Happy reading!!

image sources: image 1 Lonny
image 2 Matchbook
image 3 Adore

My Home!

2011-01-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

Here is what my house looked like at the dinner we held for my moms community members.. We worked really really really hard over everything from food.. to the way we looked ...to our place..

This is the console in the entryway.. Its a beautiful Chinese crafted mirror and console piece.. I used two wrought iron lamps to zing it up. I used the mirror to hold the candles and it worked pretty well..

This is the upstairs sitting area. The painting is a block printing panel and the clock is the thing my mom and dad bought for their room after marriage.. Its a pretty basic black clock.. the lamp was my sisters weaving project.. and the beauty of it is that it holds two bulbs facing downwards and upwards.. spreading more light and creating better effect..

The dinning area..

I bought these mats from Thailand. They are a beautiful combination of bamboo and elephant motif lace! They are my favourite piece on the table. The china is my moms lovely china. I love the pattern and the color of these plates.

This is another table scape I created on the center table in the Drawing/Dinning area center table.

Our main sitting area is completely ethnic. From the furniture pieces to the fabric to the carving, it all echos ethnicity. The photo below is of the "Jhola" (day bed which is like a divan but is attached to a frame for pedestals and it actually swings)

The deep red cushion covers were last minute slip covers crafted out of the Greek bordered panels I created as the backdrop of my dessert table.. I wish I could find the purple ones too..

This is the better view of the jhola..

The center table as well is beautifully crafted.

This is the entire view of the room.. I wish I had taken the better view of the art on the walls coz they are my fav pieces.. and I wish it wasn't blurred like this!!

This is my moms place..

I need to nudge nudge nudge myself to sharpen my photography skills coz as I am going through these pieces.. I know how many more lovely angels I am missing out and that I need to share..

But this much for now..

Enjoy!

Casa Hamza

2011-01-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights for me this year was to be interviewed at Casa Hamza.. Hamza Tarar is an interior decorator with impressive achievements to his name. He has worked with the likes of Phillipe Starck and Romero Britto.Hamza Tarar

I was really looking forward to being selected and going to his showroom and meeting him in person. Wasn't really expecting because my CV and portfolio (whatever that means to me) was and is entirely this blog. So for me to hear from them was pretty exciting. I am glad that the opportunity of an apprenticeship was open for all_ those who had interior designing backgrounds and those who didn't. Lucky for us Hamza Tarar himself had no formal qualifications in interior design.

The interview time for me was about 20 mins and it took place in his chic office. The whole showroom was a sight in itself. The store showcases brands like Versace, Fendi, etc..

I was sitting downstairs waiting for my turn on this Versace sofa and isn't this pendulum light just amazing!. It was so hard to resist the urge to upset the pendulum just a wink. It looked so pretty and so touch-me-not!!! The whole time I was there all I could think of was if i had it in my place what would Inayah do to it!

Here are some of the questions of the interview, which I found interesting and which I'd want to share with you all. It means that I am skipping all the what did you do and how you are here questions..

Okay one more thing. Is it only me or its everyone that every time you go back to the questions you find the right answer a better answer so here i will be giving both

HT. Why Deep Purple and Blue?

Me. Because I was sitting at home doing nothing, so I sort of stumbled to this blog absolutely beautiful things and soon I got involved so much that I had to start my own to share and store my ideas.

HT. Why interiors? Why not something else?

Me. Ummm.. Because i was inspired so much. ( the right and better answer: because this was something I could stay up doing all night. The criteria to start a blog was to find a niche you could write 10 articles in a day. and Felt that I could do that or wanted to do that)

HT. What is your style like? Which designer do you think is closest to you?

Me. Nate Berkus.

HT. Why?

Me. Umm because his work is minimal, more modern. For instance Kelly Wearstler is bit over the top for me. Vicentte wolf is bit mature for me. So Nate is more to this date. And he was m earliest inspiration. (better answer: My taste went from nothing to modern to vintage and now it sort of is in the balance of it all. and I find some of that in Nate's work. )

HT. If you had to blog about this room what would you write? :)

Me. I would talk about the sophistication of this room and the great French chair. And everything the chandelier (which I totally loved) the all black accessories.

HT. Okay and what would you change in this room if you had to?

Me. ummm... Those chairs ( Christopher Gyle signature chairs.. which weren't usually in the office but were brought in for the interview)

HT. Those are Christopher Gyle chairs..

Me. ummm.. yeah..but perhaps in some other color.. they are just not me..

HT. Maybe.. But these are the original Christopher Gyle chairs.. What else?

Me. ummm.. perhaps add white.. This room is too dark for me.. (The room had walls of ash grey curtains.. and the rest of the room as you can see here.. The table was a marvelous pattern.. or maybe i wanted it to be..
however i liked it.. ) Perhaps add white walls or something.. just add white in here.. ( the better answer: I will leave all the accessories and the furniture black as it is.. and have white chiffon curtains as walls with black trimmings.. and the ceiling too will be white with black details. The ceiling was black and had a checkered detail on it..)

HT. How did you came to hear about Casa Hamza?

Me. It was accidental.. I was running through the pages of a magazine and the apprenticeship program just came up. I looked up on the net and was amazed by all your work and the details and the luxury living showroom. I mean it was pretty exciting to see all those things i blog about here in Pakistan.. I mean its the first time we can see ghost chairs in Pakistan. ( the chairs for the interviewee were ghost chairs).

HT. People think why do I have plastic chairs in my office..

Me. They do?!?!.. I know.. how things work here

HT. And do you think the big black foot and the smoke chairs are too much for the Pakistani taste as well..

Me. I do.. yes it is.. It needs a bit of coaxing..

HT. Okay.. and how do you think you will do that.. Lets say you were to put a horse in the lounge of a client.. you have decorated it all.. white and modern and everything but you want to add the horse there.. how would you do that..

Me. ummm... well... I will convince them,, that this is how it is working.. and..

HT. How will you convince them.. For instance.. I am the father.. this is my wife.. and my daughter ( assistants). How will you convince us.. Convince me..

Me. Well.. ummmm.. being a blogger.. I am a visual person.. and I know that images can make you change mind about things.. I will show them how it looks.. and you know put something in front of them.. which they can See.. and you know tell them the reason.. if I am putting it there.. it is for a reason of course.. so IL tell them the reason whether it is a coffee table or a statue or something.....

HT. No.. Well.. if I had to do it.. I will tell them that we have done their home in all white and modern and minimalistic.. but it needs an impact... a piece of art or sculpture.. and I think this horse will add that to your lounge ( the exact words that were in my mouth but had no idea how to put them... So this is the way its done.. his voice Was very convincing..)
Are you a person who finds it hard to change their designs according to the client's desires and needs?

Me. I am.. A little actually.. That was one of the reasons I didn't choose interior design as a profession earlier in life..

HT. Soo why now? What makes it different now? Why are you making this choice now?

Me. Because now I have someone to learn from.. (suggesting Hamza)

HT. Okay.. so you are willing to change and learn..

Me. Yes of course..

HT. Okay.. Well.. It was very nice meeting you.. and we would love to have you here... but the only thing I am concerned about is your dealings with the client..

Me. Nooo.. I wouldn't be worried at allll.. I am very good with people.. and am a fast learner.. If I were you I wouldn't worry about that at all.. It is only a matter of time I master it as well...

HT. So you are willing to adapt?

Me. Of course yes I am...

HT. Great.. Well we will be contacting you soon.. If you get selected for the second round..

And that was the end of my interview with Hamza Tarrar.. I think I did well.. And it was really nice being there... I was totally excited to be there.. and kept thinking to myself what a great and fabulous and amazing opportunity it would be to work with Hamza Tarrar and learn from a pro.. I am literally dying for this opportunity.. Its all i could wish for.. Sigh! .. and I know I can do this!

As far as i know.. based on this interview.. my name was shortlisted for the second round.. according to his face book page.. So lets see.. ;)

I was pretty thrilled with all the furniture there as well... and Hamza did tell me to research the brands he works for or with.. (I am not sure.. I think with.. ) I remember the two... and he mentioned them in the interview as well... so IL be doing them first that is Versace and Fendi.. :)

I hope you all enjoyed!

Here are some more lovely images from his show room for you all to enjoy..

Have a lovely day ahead!

Happy Monday!

2011-01-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

My entire weekend, infact the whole week, was consumed by this dinner party we were holding for our community members. We worked really hard. The food turned out scrumptious. My desserts were amazing!! We transformed our entire place as well! Our home looked really pretty!

here is a sneak peek..

This is the image of the console in the entryway.. Normally it is the dumping place for keys and bags and papers.. but for the occasion it became gorgeous like this! I particularly loved this image! Isn't it lovely!

Enjoy!

Happy Monday everyone!

2010...

2011-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here I am sitting in front of the computer reminiscing 2010.. and thinking What DID i do in 2010? Here are the major goals met in the year 2010..

1. Created two dessert tables and a 3D soccer ball cake for my sweetie pie.. something I never imagined I could ever!!

The fact that I made the fondant as well was more than AMAZING!!!.. It turned out very satisfying the way the fondant rolled into the hexagonals and the way these hexagonals shaped up.. And yes I make the best mud cake ever! No doubt in that..

2. I also loved doing the dessert table for the wedding.. Something I never thought of doing as well!! The greek pattern bordered panels for the backdrop turned out to be my favorites.. there were some problems in the overall management of the event.. but a good wholesome experience..

3. Went to Dubai on routine trip.. and Thailand as a bonus

4. Decorated my room for the first time! Made the mood board, ordered furniture, crafted a few things.. Its not complete as yet.. but here is the sneak peek..

5. Was interviewed with Casa Hamza.. I consider this an acomplishment in itself to be short listed on the basis of a blogger.. It was a dream come true actually meeting Hamza Tarrar the man who has build a place for himself amongst all these master minds..

There were some interesting questions in the interview.. so il be sharing them all here.. and there are some design details which I had been dying to share here.. perhaps in the next post..

6. Got done with my sister-in-law's wedding.. in which i was completely busy looking pretty!

Take care everyone!

2011-01-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

We capped off 2010 with hustle and bustle of my sister-in-law's wedding. My contribution in it was to add the ethnicity.. and a dessert table.. unfortunately the dessert table was not lit enough to be shot well.. but there were and i worked really hard for all the arrangements... went totally crazy!!!! my sweetie pie too was ignored... but it went really well!!

Here are some of the pictures to share!

Happy New Year everyone! (I know I am a bit late)