British Paints… Deewaron se dil tak.

Do you know the British Paints ‘Deewaron se Dil tak’ story?

BRITISH PAINTS is a SBU of Berger Paints India Limited, with headquarters in New Delhi. It operates in the Retail, Industrial & Projects verticals.

British Paints has in its portfolio a complete range of decorative & general industrial coatings which are distributed pan-India through a network of 48 branch offices and over 12,000 channel partners. These are serviced by dedicated manufacturing units located in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Their brands such as Glo, Expa Cool, Shingar, British, MasterBlaster, Acri-silk and many others are household names, with wide spread acceptance amongst all end users. Their product range includes interior and exterior emulsions, wood finishes, distemper, enamel paints and all products required to make a dream home. British Paints endeavors to serve its customers with top of the line coating solutions, backed by committed teams of professionals across all functions. It is one of the most preferred names in the paints industry and their experts provide guidelines and tips for beautiful home interiors through their website.

British Paints released an advertisement that is truly commendable. It’s a take on the modern girl’s choice of finding her life partner.

Watch the British Paints TVC here.

The ‘JAAN ki DAS’ TV Commercial has become very popular. The advertisement, to say the least keeps the audience hooked till the last. It shows young girls giving missed calls to an unknown person called ‘JAAN’( The mobile screen shows the name saved as JAAN ki das). The advertisement does not reveal the true identity of the jaan till the end. The ad shows the girls, lost in their own thoughts of ‘JAAN’and their dreams of making a stunning, warm home with their beloved JAAN ki das. Giving a glimpse of his persona, by showing only his hands, wearing a bracelet which is a symbolic representation of a very popular Bollywood hero. You are thereby left to assume that the beloved of all these girls will be dashing, impressive and Hero like. But contrary to that, when his true self his revealed, he is nowhere near our assumptions and expectation. But he has a ‘Home’ that is the real show stealer which has been painted using British Paints. So the ‘British paint home’ is the one for which the girls’ falls for!

British Paints- JAAN ki Das ad thus successfully establishes the fact that a classy home done up with British Paints is the choice and first preference of today’s generation girls for finding the suitable life partner! This Ad leaves you in no doubt that a well done home with great interior is the choice of millions.

Based on this TVC seeding as well as a contest around the hastag #MissedCalls, a twitter Influencer Outreach Program was executed on the 16^th September which became a great hit.

This campaign aimed at increasing the  views of the ad and with the help of twitter promote the brand. JAANkidas ad is brialliantly conceptualized and it encouraged many to tweet and participate in the contest. Tweeps were asked to describe about their feelings during a missed call. They were questioned about the various excuses one makes to give a missed call to their crush. And…there were amazing replies from tweeps.

The results were outstanding and it was trending in India for more than 6 hrs.

Thus through the advertisement and twitter campaign, British Paints clearly establishes itself as a paint company that makes the dreams of million girls come true in our country.

DIY GANESHA

Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner. I thought of sharing some easy DIY to make Eco-Friendly Ganesha at home. Going green is the need of the hour.Enjoy to your heart 's content with these super easy ideas which with a little practice even the kids can make. Use your creativity along with my ideas and yo! you are all set to enjoy the festival with a bang!

Method -1

Materials needed: wheat flour, turmeric, vermillion

1.First determine the size of Gajendra you want to make.
2.Knead the wheat flour and make dough, adding water little by little.
3. while kneeding also add turmeric until it gets the right hue
4.Shape into a ball. Now slowly give it the shape of the elephant -God
5. Lastly with the help of vermilion (kumkum) give color to the trunk eyes and the padams.

Wasn't that an easy one. Come on. Now for another method.



Method-2
 Materials needed: Rice flour

 This is a super simple one.
1. You can use the store bought rice flour for this.Initially for a few seconds fry the rice flour in a pan
2. Now you have to  knead the same, adding water( usually double the quantity of flour) keeping it, in the pan itself and stirring it,till it dries.

3. Just shape the ball of dough (adding a little oil in your palms) into your favourite Lord Vinayaka
4. You can use mustard for his eyes .For a bigger eye use peppercorns and clove for the tooth in his trunk.

Method -3
Material needed: Turmeric powder

This is a Vighnaharta made a little while ago for  a family function by my mother.

1. Take kneaded turmeric powder
2. Give a rough shape of Ganpati and voila you are ready with your own Lambodara.



Method 4
Material needed: Potter's clay or kids playdough

1. Keep the form of the cute Ekadanta in mind or a pic in front before you start.Since you are using potter's clay or terracotta that will air dry, you have the basic ingredient at hand
2. You only need to give the final shape.
3.Now go ahead and paint according to your imagination.

Method -5
Materials needed: Newspaper, maida(refined flour), salt & loads of patience

 This Mooshikavahana may induce laughter, since it did not turn very much like 'The Gajapati'

This is the link that I referred while making this Gajanana.

http://www.woodooz.com/2012/09/a-do-it-iyourself-idol-of-lord-ganesha.html

Do visit the site for the correct method and its an easy one

Let me tell you, the paper mache clay came out well but it is my inability to shape it well that has led to its current state. Also I have learnt that to get a fine clay one must opt for tissue papers rather than newspaper.

Go ahead and make your own Omkara.

Mangalamurti Maurya! Ganapati Bappa Maurya!

Drape your windows in style with Custom Furnish- Moulds & Motifs

Curtains are needed to dress our windows.When designing and decorating our homes, selection of curtains is an important task as curtains are seen not only as an element of decor but also a necessity. They are required to block excessive light and to induce privacy.

It is also a good idea to change your curtains every few years... you will notice a sea of change in the decor of your home merely by changing the style and fabric of your curtains. So when I received a mail from  one of a kind online curtain store, I was very excited to give a new look to my home. At the same time, I was a little apprehensive too, since I have never ordered a curtain online.

I had so many questions in my mind regarding the fabric,the stitch and the style. But I was not disappointed. In fact, after going ahead with this online mode of selecting the curtain, I have saved my time and energy which would have otherwise been spent, if I had to actually visit a store to purchase.

Custom Furnish Moulds & Motifs is the one of a kind customized curtain store, that I am talking about.The process of ordering the curtains is easy and interesting too.

The site is efficiently designed and it is a step wise procedure and there is no room to go wrong.

The various points in selecting the curtains are as follows.

1. Select the curtain style

2. select Fabric

a. Order sample

b. order curtain

3.select dimension

4. select lining type

5. select hardware (optional)


Everybody may not be an expert in visualizing or imagining the look after changing your curtains. That's particularly where I liked the concept of Moulds and Motifs. The site is designed such that after each step of your selection you can notice the  effect it brings about.

Step 1: SELECT THE CURTAIN STYLE

Such a wide range of selecting the style. The eyelet, flat panel,Ripple fold and classic tab are the commonly seen styles but the inverted pleat and pinch pleat can actually give you a very formal look.I think they can be ideal styles even for a office or a home office.


Here I chose the eyelet style for one pair of curtains and for the other pair I went for the classic tab option.

Step 2:SELECT FABRIC

Now let's come to the main part. Let me inform you they have a wide range to choose from.You can even sort by colour, material and pattern.
There is one great facility that they offer here. You can go for ordering 15 samples of fabric of your choice. The samples are delivered at your doorstep. So now here the confusion of selecting the appropriate curtain for your windows & doors end. You can feel the fabric, note the exact colour and print & then make an informed decision. After you choose the fabric you can return the samples through their pick up agent and then place an order to buy.

It's so convenient to choose the material since all the information is clearly mentioned. Another interesting aspect is that you get a fair idea of the price one has to pay. As you proceed to each step and make selection the price accordingly varies.

Here are the samples that I ordered. I must mention that the samples were neatly labelled and you have a measuring tape and certain notes that are provided in the kit to make your selection easier &  gives you the instructions to measure the dimensions rightly.
Providing swatches is a great idea because all your doubts about the material and its feel is eliminated.

STEP 3: SELECT THE DIMENSIONS

This step is an important one where in you have to mention the dimensions you would need. Do not panic...They have provided various guides and by following it,you can easily determine the measurements.

A detailed description of measuring when the curtain rod is mounted as well as when it is not mounted is provided.If you follow their instruction, there is little scope of making a mistake. Also according to the dimension of the windows and doors that you provide, the site gives you a suggestion of how many pieces of curtains would make your door or window look classy and stylish.

Notice the price factor changes and towards the next step you can actually see the true representation of the curtain you have chosen in your mentioned style and dimensions.

In this step, if you need a sheer, you can go for that too.

STEP 4: SELECT THE LINING

Whether you wish to not have a lining or a lining in polyster or black out interlining is your choice. For the dimension, you mentioned, the price is calculated again. Guidelines to select the proper lining is also given.

Step 5: SELECTING THE HARDWARE

This is the final step in your selection.For those of you, who would want a curtain rod too, this is an additional facility on offer. I felt they have a good variety in the hardware for rods and rings. Again the finish,price, material all are mentioned.

STEP 6 : SHOPPING CART

After finalizing on all aspects, you can proceed to the shopping cart. Here all the inputs are mentioned and the final look of the chosen fabric is displayed. Wasn't that an easy buy. That too at the comfort of your home?

Now , here are the window curtains that I chose for my home.

I specially liked the black & grey floral one. It  is a rightful combination of classy fabric and print and helps in blocking the excessive sunlight that enters the room. The teal coloured curtain helps lift the monotony of brown woodwork in the room and brings colour to the entire decor.
The curtains are neatly stitched and has a good fall.

My Experience: I had a wonderful experience, selecting curtains for my home from Custom Furnish.At the same time, I would like to make a small suggestion to include fabric blinds too. They are quite popular these days and would be a good idea to include them in the currently available style.
I would definitely recommend my readers to purchase curtains from them.

Art with paper!

Art with something as ordinary as paper is unimaginable! That’s what sanjhi art and quilling is all about. If the material is as raw as paper then the accolades goes to the artists, whose visualization can make all the difference. Isn't that so true?

Quilling art by Vaishali Rastogi

My recent post on the designerboard forum is all about paper art and also about two young super talented artists Pooja Ajmera of Teekhi churri and Vaishali Rastogi of Kagaz kala creations.

Go here to know and read more on this art.

Sanjhi art by Pooja Ajmera

Styling with books

Courtesy: Pinterest

This post is for all the book lovers out there...Books have the capacity to transport us to a different era altogether. I simply love the smell of old books and I take great pride in saying that some of the books that, I enjoyed reading as a child has today been passed on to my children. I know this feeling only a book lover can understand.

Courtesy: Pinterest

Every book you have read is just a  different combination of 26 letters. 

So true yet...

That's the thing about books, they let you travel to faraway lands without moving your feet.

when we moved to our current home, I was sure, I needed a separate corner or shelf to hold my collection and not only in my bedroom but also in the kids room as they too are turning out to be like their 'momma' - A book lover!

With the sun light during the day...an ideal time to spend in the company of books!

Books, magazines, knick knacks and art supplies

This is my book arrangement. A dedicated wardrobe for them with glass doors, just near my work space and close to the bed.So that every night before I drift into sleep, I get to read at least a page or two. what with innumerable magazines of travel and decor that I have subscribed, space management requires skill, patience and time.

For the time being, this space is sufficient. 

Also takes care of all my art & craft supplies.

You can arrange your books in various manner but be sure that you arrange it such that you are able to spot the one you are looking for immediately.

Some tips for arranging the books.

1. Sort them either by subjects, colour or author.

Magazines can be stacked separately. 

2. Group them together. May be say as  fiction or Non-fiction.

3. Keep certain essentials like bookmarks, pens, pencils in your book shelves. You never know when you would want to jot down an interesting quote or mark a page.

4. Art lovers can also keep their supplies in these shelves.There are many of those book inspired art, when we would want to try our hands immediately on a craft or art after reading about it in a book. That instant satisfaction is something you have to experience to feel it!

5. Last but not the least keep your book area clean  and tidy. You can place certain decor elements to make it look interesting and eye catchy.

 Here are some  more book arrangements that I found on Pinterest that looks awesome. 

I loved the blue decor!

Kitchen or reading nook?

This corner, I guess is for those who love to cook up a story...(smiles)

 If you can create a reading corner near your books, nothing like it. Books can be your best companions. So enjoy reading!

Point to note: A BOOK IS A GIFT, YOU CAN OPEN AGAIN & AGAIN!