Tag: budget

DIY

DIY: Indu Upholstered a Bench for $15 in under 2 Hours

In this post, Indu Bheri, a regular reader of this blog, shares step-by-step instructions how she reupholstered a bench. She generously details the makeover. May I add she makes it sound easy to undertake one of our own. If you have been looking for some motivation to upholster your dining chairs ( I know I have) or bench, then grab this chance. If I may admit I have always dreaded fabric projects. Over to Indu now.. We have a dining table comprising four chairs and a bench. The table, bench and chairs are strong and in good condition but the faux leather on the seats started giving away. We used this for almost 10 years and I was contemplating if we needed a new dining set. I kept going back and forth and felt that’s unnecessary and we could do a makeover project for the bench. Took a trip to…

BANGALORE

Design 101: HOW TO PULL OFF THE MINIMALIST LOOK WITH AN INDIAN TOUCH

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I have been a long time admirer of the clean, minimal look. And, I can only blame this fondness for a pared-down house on two things: one, it takes less time, effort, and money to maintain a minimal home, and two, there is no constant compulsion or confusion over what to buy to keep up with the trends and neighbors. In short, I have discovered over the years, that a minimal home is the secret to our stress-free lives, and the most preferred place to just be. In recent months, fewer knick-knacks has also helped me in combating dust mites and other allergy related issues of my son more effectively. If you have been a long time admirer of this look, but not sure how to tailor your home to this trend, this post will come to your rescue. Take cues from a step-by-step tour through four homes designed by Livspace to pull…

2 BHK

This expat shows us how to tastefully decorate a home on a budget. In New Delhi.

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Katie shares the challenges of being an expat in India when it comes to renting and decorating a home. She lets us into her eclectic home that is gifted with natural light, her design sense and penchant for DIY projects. Lessons we can learn. If you are a regular reader of AT, I bet you have seen this. Digging through the treasures of AT, I re-discovered Katie’s home in New Delhi. As an expat living in the capital, it can be daunting to find a home on rent with enough natural light, space, and finally, furnishing it to one’s taste. On a budget, of course. When you look closer, you will find that the home is decorated on a shoestring budget with flea market finds, DIY hacks, and budget decorating objects like the railway clock. Things that don’t burn a hole in a one’s pocket yet make the home look…

LIFESTYLE

Add To Your Cart: Set Up Your Guest Bed Room In Less Than INR 95,000

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If you had INR 95,000 to set up a guest room, what would you add to your cart to make the room functional and aesthetic? Check out my list. We live in an era where we understand and appreciate the merits of shopping online – be it for our personal wardrobe or taking it as far as setting up a whole home. The convenience of comparing prices, designs, returns if it doesn’t match our preferences or dimensions are unparalleled. I wanted to illustrate how to set up a guest bed room in less than INR 95,000. This is more along the lines of “Shop the look” you may find on many sites, but this is more comprehensive in that products are curated from multiple sites and chosen to fit a budget and a minimalist theme without going over the top. These are bare essentials for a room. Having said that,…

INSPIRATION

How much does a stainless kitchen cost and should you get one? Hint: Well under 5 Lakhs.

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As you tour new homes, how often have you wondered how much the interiors would have cost? Most of the fancy kitchens cost an arm and a leg ranging anywhere between 10 and 15 lakhs. I personally find designing the interiors of a house akin to taking any competitive exam when it comes to stress levels. If you are not fortunate enough to have zeroed in on the right interior designer, you wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat with so many unanswered questions. When we were designing our kitchen, so many questions ran through our minds on a daily basis, and without a proper designer, Google was the only answer. I’m sure you would have faced these at some point of your home building journey: Marine ply or BWR ply? Or stainless steel? Hetitch or Blum? Steel hob or glass hob? Granite or Corian top? How much…

KITCHEN

Friday shopping: 5 canister picks for the kitchen

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Surprised that Friday shopping is back? Oh well! I figured I might as well curate my shopping cart into a post since I spend so much time ogling through random stuff all day. I am in the process of discarding stuff right now and buying canisters/jars for the new kitchen. On top of my shopping list was a rectangular spice container to hold essentials: turmeric powder, paprika/chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, chat masala, and kasuri methi powder. These are what I use on a daily basis. I was particular about the shape since it saves space in the tandem boxes.Round containers are not efficient space-wise. But, to my disappointment I couldn’t find anything in India that was a big rectangular box in steel with internal partitions. A company called Shreeji manufactures what I’m looking for but it is meant only for export. I’m trying to get rid of all plastic containers…

REAL ESTATE

Bought a new home and losing your sleep over interiors? Plan and budget better with this foolproof checklist.

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Averse to planning and budgeting? Hate numbers? Don’t fret. Not after you read this post. One of the oft-asked questions when you approach an interior designer is “What is your budget?” I cannot stress the importance of planning and budgeting for interiors because this is a huge project, one with many variables than buying the house itself. Often, we don’t know how much money we have and are scared to spend. At the other extreme, people end up buying more with limited resources, resulting in credit card debt. Both the extreme case scenarios are not ideal. And if you ask me, budgeting for interiors right up to the point of moving in starts well before you begin house hunting. Let’s say, if you can afford to spend Rs.1.5 crores, then ideally your house including registration should not cross 1.35 ~ 1.38 crores considering you don’t want to compromise on interiors.…

Uncategorized

How to change the look of your wall in 4 hours

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Last December, we changed the look of the focus wall in living room with Asian Paints’ decorative paint as part of their Surprise your Spouse campaign. Now, I’m looking at various options to transform a wall in the dining room for a budget under Rs. 10,000. The partially open wall divides the dining area and the kitchen. I would love to give a fireplace look to the wall with some lanterns and low-seating wooden dining table. The look is fresh in my mind but I’m having trouble deciding on the tiles.

For a fireplace look, the choice is easy if the area is large. Any deep-red brick color should do but I’m skeptical as it would make the small dining room much smaller. While scouting for ideas, I came across these lovely well-lit rooms with a rustic feel in the 2008-2011 BBC Good Homes CD collection (have you seen it?) and Houzz.

After looking at these images, I’m leaning towards a lighter color palette – a mix of silver and grey with a brick pattern to give that rustic look.