Dining Room - Before & After

The inspiration for our dining room décor is from this art.  There is a story behind this artwork.  My friend from India, with a beautiful home and a collector of antiques had gone for the Jaipur Art Festival.  Jaipur is the capital of timeless splendid art and the most culturally enriched city in India.  When my friend saw the painting she called to say that she found this art that I would like.  I didn't even see the art, knowing my friend's taste, I asked her to buy it and mail.  LOVED every bit of the art and especially the colors.  So our dining room was decorated around this art from Jaipur!

When we renovated our house, we didn't decorate the dining room,  just put what we had together.  This was the before which I then thought looked fine.  Until I actually put these pictures together, didn't realize it was perfectly imperfect!

We painted the wall with Benjamin Moore White Dove the same as all the trim in our house.  BJ White Dove is a warm white and the ceiling dark pink, thus it gives a pink hue in the room.

 

 

 

We bought the chandelier from the New York Light district.

 

 

 

Brought these lanterns from Morocco.

 

 

The plate from Istanbul.

 

I love to have flowers on my table...

 

 



Windows to the world

When we added on our family room, my one and only inspiration was a picture of a church window with paisley design from a magazine.  The first couple of photos below, were what I really wanted and the family room addition was planned around this window.  The focal point was to be the window.
Researching the exact window, it obviously was an original window in a church and now made into condos. I tried with so many different window companies to have it custom made to no avail!!!  So we settled for the window/door that we currently have...deflated?!

This is our window in our family room.  Nothing like the paisley design but it is still a focal point in our family room.  I also wanted Transom windows above the sliding doors.  Due to structural issues with the porch the idea was scratched.  Thus, I installed a mirror above the sliding doors and added strips to elongate the look of the doors in lieu of the transom windows.

 

Morning coffee view...

 

 

Dusk view... 

Some inspirations that I had saved when we were planning our addition.  Windows that is to die for!  Who would leave the house if you had windows like this to the world.  You don't need art work when you have windows like these...

 

Kalamkari in mainstream...Pottery Barn has upped their game!

Kalamkari is an indian art which is literally translated as "Pen Craft".  It is an ancient form of art originated from a town call Kalahasti which is about a 3 hour drive from Chennai...previously known as Madras.  We have been to Kalahasti several times to a well known temple.  The original Kalamkari art depicted hindu mythological scenes or dieties.  It has now transformed to other designs.  The fabric are hand painted or block printed using vegetable dye. 

I recently saw that Pottery Barn started to showcase Kalamkari pillows.

 Madhubani and Kalamkari

 

Medalion pillow

While browsing around in Pottery Barn, bought a pillow for good measure!  Here it is sitting in my living room. Not Kalamkari, but beautiful embroidery from India.

 Kalamkari is also on the runway