Can you transform the monochromatic look of your living room in under 30 minutes? Or, if you were looking to render a festive look to your home, how would you do it? All this, without spending a lot on repainting the walls, buying curtains, accessories, or make your credit card bill run into pages the next month?

A friend of my husband was visiting us last Saturday from Denmark. I decided to give the living room an ethnic touch. So, yes, it is very much possible to transform the look in a short window. You just need a ladder to reach the attic and dig out the brass goodies your mom gave for the wedding, or take out the silver stashed away in the hidden drawers. No kidding. This is exactly what I did, and of course, to bring in the color a  bit of shopping on Flipkart.

This is how the room looked before the transformation.

I identified the shortcomings such as no color, barren walls, corner table too drab, no artifacts, and the table lamp not having any character. In short, there was a lot of room for improvement while still keeping the minimalist theme of the house. I didn’t want to clutter the space with stuff that we trip over each other.

Accessories such as cushion covers, candles, photos and plants are the quickest way to bring in a whiff of fresh air into a room. In this case, since it was an ethnic touch, I brought out the brass diyas as well.

So, I made a list of the elements that will bring about the transformation in a jiffy: