Tag Archives: chandeliers

Good Finds at Good Earth in Chennai, India

Posted on July 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I need to get my mind out of the gutter that is our Chicago basement lately, and find a happier place, like the original purpose of this blog:  decorating the India apartment!

We visited Good Earth while in Chennai last year. Good Earth had the merchandise mix we love:  comfy upholstered furniture, old Chinese cabinets and tables, plus a dash of India. This is pretty much the style in our Chicago home.

Things we saw at Good Earth …

I like this interpretation of columns, fashioned of wood and painted silver:

Cozy seating upstairs:

The Chennai apartment’s living room furniture may wind up similar to the arrangement above. With a sectional, coffee table and a few chairs. Natural color furniture accented with brighter colors in pillows and small furniture.

After visiting numerous lighting shops with an overload of LED strips flashing primary colors like Christmas lights indoors year-round, my husband liked the quieter elegance of the chandeliers at Good Earth:

They had many chandeliers like this, some small and some big.

There was a Chinese opium bed coffee table with red lacquer legs and sides and a woven top; I thought I snapped a pic of it. It was gorgeous! It was just like this one found online at Admiralty Antiques, but it looked far better in Good Earth’s Chinese+India styled living room setting:

Here are images from Good Earth India:

Here’s a Good Earth store, from a Huffington Post story about the woman who founded the company:

You can see there, the mix of Chinese style influence with Indian. An Indian Summer blog post also gives a peek into Good Earth’s design process with luscious photos of Good Earth merchandise.

We purchased some pillows. I will photograph them soon. I brought them back to the U.S. because I didn’t want to be without them. You can tell I’m gonna have a hard time decorating an apartment that will mostly be on the other side of the planet! It can’t all be brought home with me!

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Posted in Chinese Furniture, India pied-à-terre Decorating, Shopping in India, Travel in India

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Our House Loves Arhaus

Posted on March 14, 2011 by | 1 Comment

You know the HGTV show Find Your Style? Here the host shares her top 10 tips to find your style. These tips are right-on because they’d point us directly to our style — Arhaus style! We finally visited an Arhaus store this weekend, and I walked into the pages of my favorite furniture and home decor catalog. It felt like walking into our house. Main difference being, we don’t hang price tags on stuff in our house.

I snapped some pics of our favorite things, as we’ll surely go back for some. Lots of inspiration from India there, including:

I’ve already planned to put a piece like this in the Chennai guest bathroom, which has accent tiles in silver, gold and copper. Something could be set on the shelf to hold towels. They also have smaller gold tables:

This table reuses carved wood pieces and old printing blocks:

I dropped heavy hints that this is a perfect home decor item for textile aficionados!

I was also planning to visit our favorite dusty warehouse in Cochin and find an old wood window frame to recycle as a mirror. Just like this:

The iPhone photo here stinks. But this mirror seemed to be drybrushed with a “dusting” of gold paint which made it shimmer just enough, but let the old wood show through.

They had a series of iron grilles in wood frames. What a great idea! This one was more unique, looks like a peacock:

This was a pretty display. My husband said the natural texture screen in the back is made of the little stems that hold coconuts on the trees. He said in his childhood, he and his friends would collect them and burn them. Now, they could sell them! I like the natural texture with the crystally chandelier pendants. And of course the mix of textile patterns and colors:

Those chandeliers did not turn out at all. Sorry they look like ghostly apparitions here. I think they are Lydias.

I most like these global things mixed with transitional furniture. That is our style!

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Foyer Furnishings

Posted on February 26, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Today’s vision:

Inside the main door of our Chennai apartment, there’s a 10′ x 11′ space before entering the main living area. We’ll install a tall bookcase with library ladder here (as posted about previously) because the ceilings are 10′.

Something like this French Dressing bookcase with ladder:

No ladder, but like this style from Jayson Home & Garden:

Then against the opposite wall, a settee. Something with faded color like this antique settee from Jayson:

The settee’s side view will be visible from the living area, so it should be attractive:

Or something with less color, but so cute and with quality details, like this from Jayson:

Thus far this is the French part of our India pied a terre, but where’s the Chennai? Where’s India? It would be in a pillow and draped shawl or throw, like these below. A kantha pillow from Jayson:

And this silk shawl at Etsy, found among a mother-in-law’s wedding gifts in Kerala: 

Definitely, shopping for saris will be on our Chennai agenda this spring. Kantha looks like it takes much time and patience to do, but I can do a pillow size project.

A side table is always needed. I like using old chests and trunks. The coffee table in our Chicago living room is an old Chinese trunk. Pieces that have been places and seen things, and overheard conversations that they will keep secret. Like this antique wallpapered chest at Jayson:

You can get an inexpensive old chest, apply wallpaper and then rough it up and peel it to make it look old like this.

To contrast the rusticness, I’d set something jewel-like on the chest, like these boxes from Atlantis Dry Goods:

And a rug, one that I wouldn’t mind messing up as it’s inside the main door. Like the over-dyed rug trend — old rugs destined to be rejects if they weren’t refashioned – something like this one from ABC Carpet & Home:

Above the settee/chair and chest, I’d hang a big abstract painting. I’d take a risk with something bold that doesn’t even try to match. It must be bright and cheerful, like these from Amanda Collis on etsy:

Although the above paintings are smaller. We need something big for a big space. For an effect similar to this shown at A Perfect Gray blog:

Of course we must be able to hang things near an entry/exit doorway. These cool elephants shown at Honey & Fitz etsy shop could do the job:

For light, I’d hang Moroccan lamps like these from TAZIDesigns.

This reflects how the global style (in my mind) is shaping up for this place.

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Design Your Own Pendant Lights & Sconces

Posted on February 19, 2011 by | Leave a comment

This morning I multitasked over breakfast, eating while flipping through the latest Rejuvenation catalog. And I intended to blog about my affection f or Rejuvenation. I was eating at our kitchen island under a trio of Powell pendant lights from Rejuvenation with burnished antique  finish and amber shades …

… which replaced a ghastly flourescent tube-based light that’s completely inappropriate for a kitchen. Plus it made our faces look awful tired when cooking dinner after a long day at work.

I ate breakfast under Powell pendants after I brushed my teeth to the light of Rejuvenation Dale sconces flanking our master bathroom mirrors:

What I love about Rejuvenation website is the ability to try on various finishes, shades, lengths, etc. to create a customized light. For example if you visit the Dale sconce page as of today, you see this:

If that doesn’t fit your decor, play with it. You can even orient the sconce to face upward. I created the Dale sconce below when we renovated our bathroom. It’s admittedly a very safe design, with brushed nickel because that’s the finish of  the plumbing and metal accessories, plus a white shade to cast the most light:

As shown in the above photo, we installed three of these sconces – two single sconces and a double sconce called the Veneta (different name but same design). I originally ordered four single Dale sconces but discovered there isn’t enough room for two single sconces between the mirrors. Returning those two and ordering a double-sconce replacement was painless. No, I’m not paid to blog so enthusiastically about Rejuvenation. I just love them! Truly this company’s service was one of the few painless situations during the bathroom renovation so that alone is enough to make me loyal for life.

But you can get far more creative with the Dale sconce than our bathroom sconces. I didn’t want the sconces to be a focal point because the shower is the focal point and the bathroom is small enough that too many visual things could get busy. I have a philosophy that bathrooms should be serene, not busy. Usually I’m in a hurry when I’m in the bathroom and don’t want the extra frenetic energy of visual cacophany. On a more practical point, I tend to break glass, so cheap and easily replaceable shades is best approach when I’m in the room. 

Here are more creative Dale designs – antique copper finish plus a fancier US$205 shade, facing up (don’t let me near this shade!):

Or, this:

Or this, oil rubbed bronze finish and coffee color detail on shade:

All the possibilities! And this is playing with only one product. Go to the playground that is Rejuvenation’s website and have some fun! If all the possibilities fry your brain, Rejuvenation’s suggestion wizard will offer ideas based on age and style of your house, room and type of lighting you need. 

I suspect some Rejuvenation lighting will be flying over to Chennai with us. Something with this teardrop shade, I’d love to see in our India pied a terre:

But unfortunately the shade is pricey and there’s a clear correlation between price point and probability that I’d break the glass! Our very long stemmed Riedel glasses terrify me when I’m supposed to be enjoying the wine. Why o why …

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