Here’s how to contact me.
Hi! I’m Deb. I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with 1 husband, 2 cats, 3 laptops, 4 Buddha statues and a whole bunch of travel mementos.
India pied-à-terre as a place
The India pied-à-terre* is a real place. It’s an apartment in Chennai, a large city in Southern India. We’re slowly making it into a livable “second home” space. It’s not easy to build and decorate a place on the other side of the planet when we live and work in Chicago.
I launched this blog in October 2010, when the India pied-à-terre was just blank concrete walls, floors and ceilings. I wanted to share the inspiration and the process for designing and decorating it. Hopefully sharing would inspire and help others.
As of now, early 2013, it’s still not anywhere near done so you haven’t missed anything if you haven’t seen “after” photos or any photo that looks like a complete, finished room! They don’t exist yet, but someday they will. The plans are all set and ready to go. We just need to get to India more often. You can follow our progress here: Construction and Decorating.
India pied-à-terre as a life
Since starting this blog, “India pied-à-terre” has evolved into a mindset for me — a way of being. It now means more than just a place and a space.
India pied-à-terre stands for:
- Making your dreams come true
- If you can envision it, find a way to do it, make it happen
My dreams have always included travel and design.
Travel: I’ve always suffered from wanderlust. I once thought it wasn’t possible for me to see the world. But you know what? You can find a way to make it happen. It doesn’t have to take a lot of money, I now know that. A more global view is now part of my life. I can’t tell you how to make it happen for yourself; we all find different ways to get what we want. I can only say from experience: it’s far less painful to find a way to wander, than to just lust for it!
Design: Oh, my love for design, it’s all over this blog! “India pied-à-terre” has come to be about a mindset to let yourself dream about something you want to see created. Envision making it happen. Then go ahead and do it. Don’t worry about it, just do it. Don’t wait for someday. Make that someday be today. That’s led me to do more DIYs that I share here, and more projects around our Chicago house, instead of waiting for the next trip to India.
I am a happier person by making these visions a reality, and I hope you are inspired here to do the same!
* What is a pied-à-terre?
Hi Deb.
This is Manny from Sharrell’s blog. Yeah..are you an interior decorator yourself? You blog looks like it. :)
Yeah.. I went to Vel’s website but it looks like its under construction. Any advice on how I should go about getting my Kitchen done before I contact Vel?
Thanks for you help
Manny
Hi Manny,
No I’m not an interior decorator, just a hobbyist or very interested person for decades now! Here’s Vel’s site: http://www.velsinteriors.in/ which I can see right now. I really don’t have advice on getting a kitchen done before contacting them, because that is what they do — they can design and install a kitchen. So we are not doing it ourselves, as we cannot from such a distance — we are working with them to do the kitchen and bathrooms.
Deb
lindoooo!!!!
Parabéns
Hi there, I just found your blog and I love it. I moved to Chennai after I got married and though we already have our dream house, it really needs a make over, however, we have just started our business and are short of cash. So till we make enough money, I have been collecting bits and pieces of inspiration. Your blog really speaks to me and I’m going to be a regular here.
Btw, there’s a similar door in my aunt’s house and it’s from an old temple. Is that similar to your?
Thank you! I’m glad you found things you like here and are inspired. Hearing that makes doing this blog worth it. I’ve done the same thing for a long time — really, decades at this point! — collected inspiration until we’re able to do something with it.
The door is about 100 years old and is from a home in Kanchipuram. Here’s a post with more info about the door: http://indiapiedaterre.com/2011/08/09/very-special-main-door/
Hello m’am Deb. I note with interest your love for hand block print textiles. We are wholesalers /exporters of 100% cotton hand block printed ladies kurtis (tunics). I’ d love to talk to you. If interested you can email me on lotusfashions23@gmail.com. Thanks.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond. But thank you for your comment!!!! & I couldn’t find an email to send this to, so I thought I’d write on your blog. Very fun and colorful! Let me know when you do this- send me a photo or your blog post!!!
Cheers, Jamie
http://www.lifeasapepin.blogspot.com
In Response To:
This is a fantastic idea! I saw it on a link party. I’m absolutely going to do this — never thought of using candlesticks to make the tiers. Thanks for sharing it! By indiapiedaterre.com on MISSONI {for Target} Tiered Serving Trays on 11/13/11
Deb-I love your eye for detail. I live in Chicago and am originally from India. It is stupid, but I have been so intrigued as well as felt excited at the same time that I have wished to see you in person. I do understand the space needed between virtual and real and therefore if it is an asinine request please ignore it. I love your page on pinterest and follow it all the time. Regards.
Hi, thank you so much! I have met a few people “in real life” through this blog and am always happy to do so, some in the Chicago area too. Email me at india.pied.a.terre “at” gmail.com and we’ll see what we can do! I do keep myself more private online than many other bloggers, mostly because my purpose for this blog wasn’t to put myself out there publicly online. But it’s always fun to meet people with common interests here!
Hi there, You’re an inspiration to me hearing about the travels. I love your idea about the dirt in the spice jars. Where did you find spice jars like that. I would like to find myself a set just like yours.
HI Deb…..love your blog! We also travel to India (and other parts of Asia) and own an Asian Import Store in Orlando, FL. In fact, my husband will be in India on a buying trip next month. Check out Washburnimports.com. Also, our stores convert to bars at night (The Imperial at Washburn Imports or Imperial Wine Bar), as so many people wanted to rent them out for private functions. In person it’s much better than the website! If you make it to Orlando for any adventure, I’d love to show it to you. I love your style and sense of adventure.
Hi Suzanne, I’m so glad you enjoy the blog! I love Southeast Asia too in addition to India. Now your store is definitely more of a wonderland destination for me than Disney! I do get to Orlando about once a year for conferences – it’s so popular to hold them there. I will definitely remember you and contact you when I’m in Orlando next. The pieces you have are so beautiful and I love the older looking styles. And the opium platform bed – my husband has talking of wanting a platform just like that for our apartment in Chennai! Thank you for contacting me Suzanne, I’ll let you know when I’m in Orlando. Deb
I was thinking about you this weekend. I was in Bahrain and we stopped in the souk to look at a pearl dealer. Across the alley was an amazing indian restaurant hole in the wall with fantastic food where we had a snack. As we were walking out of the souk we passed one of those local art/crafts shops that had afghani wedding headdresses outside, and the guy in our group went in to look at them, which is always bad news for me because, you know… that’s one of those situations where money suddenly flows out of my hands in a way I simply don’t understand…. :) Anyway, while in there I found these GORGEOUS stamp/seal rings from afghanistan. They’re heavy silver with decorative metal or stone work on them, and they have huge stone heads with seals carved into them, apparently family symbols for marking documents. One even looks like a dragon, some are script, or horses. Girl… I cannot control myself. I bought 10 of them plus an amulet/pendant with a seal, for $480. I love mini-collections of unusual things like this (and I haven’t seen them anywhere here before), so couldn’t help myself. Immediately thought of you. :)
Hi Andrea! Oh I applaud you!! I would have done the same thing, including the OMG-what-did-I-just-spend afterwards. Display them in really cool way so you can enjoy them all the time! :) And when you look at them, they’ll remind you of your trip and the food and the souk … That’s why I like traveling and buying things that way instead of from a catalog. It’s more worth it! This is so weird, I just got a delivery from etsy, I ordered a stamp/seal from China! From a woman who traveled there decades ago and said she had to really finagle the shop to sell them to her. It’s like the little red seal you see on antique things shipped out of China. Mine has a sitting Buddha on it. So funny, we probably have the same taste! These things will only appreciate in value, that’s how I justfy it. We were recently told that a carved Indian temple door with kama sutra scenes we got about 17 years ago has gone up in value 5X and will only keep going up because you can’t get those things out of India nowadays. That’s better than some of our retirement investments have performed! So, hey, go for it if it makes you happy! I hope you had lots of fun in Thailand too! Deb
Hi! Glad I checked here, since WordPress on my phone never gives notifications to me anymore… Did you post the Chinese seal? I’d love to see. Ill send you a pic of the rings. I can’t wait to get sealing wax and see how they transfer. One of them rattles, like there’s something the size of a marble inside, and another huge trapezoidal shaped one has heft that makes me suspect its build over a wood frame. Love stuff like this, I could explore these shops endlessly!