Wednesday, March 11, 2015

My Evolving Home!

Recently, I came across a quote that said, "You have decor OCD if.......your house is a constant work in progress". My home "IS" a constant work in progress and I’m not shy to admit the fact. But to term it as OCD would be an exaggeration. I’d like to use the phrase “a progressive approach” instead, what say? Today, let's take a walk down memory lane and see how my home and decor style have evolved with time. 

The different phases in our lives has impacted the kind of homes that my family and I have lived in and the decor style that we have adopted to suit our lifestyles in each phase. We have gone from pegging our style as ethnic Indian, eclectic modern to global eclectic. My husband and I set up our "first home" together in Bangalore (India). The excitement and anticipation of  building our new home together was indescribable. Little by little, bit by bit we started putting the pieces together like a jig saw puzzle to create a home that would reflect "us"! My husband and I are both born and brought up in South India and adore the arts and crafts of India, so it was but natural that we were drawn to ethnic Indian decor. Wooden carvings, Tanjore paintings (from our travels), brass artifacts (our own finds as well as those inherited from our families) and colorful Indian textiles came together to create a space that exuded authenticity and was a creative fusion of our heritage. However, within a year of setting up this place, we had to uproot and move thousands of miles away, with job opportunities taking us overseas (USA).
(A peek at a few corner's of our very first home in Bangalore (India - 2003). These pics were taken 8 months after we had moved into this home! (I scanned hard copies of the pictures I had and hence please forgive the quality of the images.))
In a new country (USA), we were excited about the opportunities that lay ahead of us. As a working couple, "condo style living" located in the heart of down town, was ideal for us. We'd finish work and most evenings were spent exploring the new place or indulging in one of the many restaurants that lined the down town patch. Like most first timers who come to this country and end up at IKEA to shop for furniture, we were no exception. The modern, affordable furniture from IKEA seemed ideal as we were unsure  of how things would play off with time and if we had to move back to India, it would not be a big deal to get rid of the furniture. But living in a home without personality was not for us. Discovering new decor stores and lifestyle brands on weekends, we found pieces that we had fallen head over heels in love with and brought them home. Within no time, we saw a theme evolve organically - we realised we had a collection of Oriental themed decor and decided on an eclectic modern Zen vibe for the space. 
(Our condo - Functional pieces, nutty colors and Asian decor accents, create a relaxed eclectic modern living space (2009))
Next came "the home for the baby" phase. We had kept the decor minimal knowing fully well that we were ready and wanted to start a family soon. So when the happy day came, it was easy to store away all the breakable decor and other things that could be a potential hazard for the baby. We child-proofed the space and made room for the baby's crib, play pen and all.....With  a baby in the house, toys started to take over the place in no time. We focused on finding creative ways to store my son's toys in an attempt to make the place look a little less like the "Target" toy section:)

Once the baby phase was over and our little fella had stabilized on his feet and had found ways to entertain himself with his toys and not our decor accessories, we started bringing out the stuff that we had stored away one at a time. With a firm "NO", we were able to get our little guy to understand that it was NOT OK to play with our stuff:) And finally we decided, it was about time to settle down in a place we can call our own and plunged into buying "our forever home".
This is our current home:) A collection of 15 years - things that we absolutely love and truly adore ! A style that is globally eclectic with a strong Indian undertone to it. 
It’s been 4 years since we moved into our existing home. The one thing that my husband and I were sure of while decorating this space was adopting an adventurous style. A style that would blend our Indian roots, travel finds and our personalities as a family. The first and foremost thing we ensured was to have our collections from India brought here. Then we scouted around for the perfect new furniture that met the functionality and style attributes. Next we combined new with the old - this was our biggest challenge! Every weekend, we’d try and move things around until every piece had its place of importance and worked harmoniously in the space. We totally love how everything came together:) 

With our son all grown up and 8 years old now, my husband and I have had a little more time to spare and focus on developing our hobbies and interests, this past year. We have successfully integrated the requirements for these into our existing design layout:
My blog adda and studio! Having a dedicated work space to blog and paint, helps me focus on my task at hand and not loose momentum.

We incorporated a pool table in our basement for my husband! We as a family seem to enjoy this on game nights. Being an indoor sport it comes to our rescue in the cold winter months when its frightfully cold outside and all outdoor activities come to a stand still:) 
As time goes by, I know we will have to deal with the other phases - be it the empty nest syndrome or maybe down sizing to a retirement home where all the rooms are on the same floor ( I know my knees will thank me)! 

My family and I,  have "LEARNT " from experiencing life, "EVOLVED" and "GROWN"..... and so has our home. And this is how it should, as we strongly believe that our home is truly an extension of us......We love our home and look forward to coming back to it every evening. The process of rotating things from storage to keep things looking fresh,  adding a seasonal twist to the ambiance or discovering a new piece to add to the family's collection is something that we enjoy thoroughly and will continue to do so......  

I'd love to hear about your home decorating experiences and what you have to say about a home being an evolving space. So don't forget to drop me a line here or on my FB page.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!


Images: Clicked by Sruthi Singh. Please do not use without prior written permission. 
Images are the property of Sruthi Singh and subject to copyright.

14 comments:

  1. Loved your post.... seem to be a beautiful journey from bangalore to Us

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  2. This is a beautiful writeup. I live in a rented house and while I do splurge on the occasional painting or cushion covers, big ticket items like sofa and outdoor furniture is still something we are struggling with. I wish I had the courage to just go all out.
    Love your home. All of them.

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  3. Each and every liven up corner of your home assembles inspirations. Seeing your home always spreads waves of pleasure. You have a pleasant sense of visual harmony. Your past, present and future tales surely made my day :) Wish you loads of many more progressive approaches!

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  4. It is so nice to see your style evolve Sruthi - from very Indian to a 'Global Desi'. When I first moved to the UK as a junior doctor we were given hospital accommodation and moved house/town/shires every six months - were forced to keep our collection of artefacts small and to store their original boxes for easy transport - and every six months, relocating all my little bits and bobs to rooms with a different configuration altogether was a fun challenge. Once I had my forever home, I quickly found my style, which is very eclectic - I mix and match with abandon, and everything seems to fall together - I like everything to be colourful, though - that's my main ask - a visual nightmare for people who like neutral colours perhaps, :), but we love it - it is Holi every day in our house!

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  5. Well chronicled home journey! I have had my share of moving and setting up homes only to move again (over 15 times actually) but surprisingly I had come to enjoy the process - allowed me to pay attention to my evolving taste. I can relate!

    ~deepa

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  6. What a beautiful post, Sruthi! Its so true that a home is an ever evolving place. Although its been a couple of years in my current home..my decor style is always evolving. I find myself happily arranging and rearranging the little corners in my home every now and then.
    A home should reflect one's personality, and yours surely does! Love the happiness, love and warmth your home generates :).

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  7. Our home is always work in progress and ever evolvibg. Its always an extension of us, what we are.. Well written and reflects my thoughts.

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  8. Very beautiful . I loved your study area the most. Liked the fact that you husband is also so involved.

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  9. What a beautiful post Sruthi... it made me go back in time and remember the various hostel rooms to my 1st apartment and then my first home with after marriage....Thank you for sharing this... I loved every word and the pictures as always were beautiful :)

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  10. Beautiful Post Shruti!!!! As soon as I finished reading, I bookmarked it so that I can read it again and again. We have just moved to 'our forever home' and leaving 2 phases of life together, We do collect the artifacts we love, but couldn't put everything at place as we also at a phase of 'a home for a baby'. Our journey is just stared :) Hope our journey will be as excited as yours!!!

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  11. Could you please share where you got some of the items in your house ? That coffee table/trunk is beautiful.

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    1. Thank you Anonymous:) The coffee table is from Cost Plus World Market!

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  12. Beautiful home Shruti. We moved into our home sweet home 2 years ago and i have a 4 month old, so we have paused decorating for now. I must say I have gathered quite a few ideas from your lovely home so thank you! I love the handling bells and the wall mounts. Would you mind sharing where you got those from?

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  13. Lovely home..Stumbled upon your blog via pinterest.. I really like the way you have brought all things together.. The one thing that stuck with me is the Decor OCD, because i do exactly the same. Having moved to my new 2bhk apartment in London year ago. Im still moving around / painting and doing loads of DIY.. Its absolutely therapeutic and..Interestingly i have a similar coffee table..
    I can resonate to a lot of things you have mentioned here.. Thanks for sharing.. Asha

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