JOIN USFestivals are knocking on our doors and it’s time to get our homes ready for all the celebrations, rituals and more, says Ruth Dsouza Prabhu.
The festive season is upon us. From now, right up to New Year, we have a host of festivals that will bring in good cheer and happiness into every home. While plans must be afoot for family get-togethers and some great food, now is also the time when your home gets a festive makeover.
This is the time of the year when most homes are given a fresh coat of paint in a bid to cleanup, to welcome gods and goddesses. The decor you choose will have to primarily match your paint.
If you are scouting for some interesting ideas to do-up your home this festive season, here go a few suggestions to help you get started.
Pick a theme and core design: Festive decor may take on several looks. If you are going the traditional way, then nothing says it better than diyas, flowers and candles. There are numerous beautiful ways in which you may use these elements to create a theme.
This festive season, you can consider pulling down your cloth curtains and stringing up marigolds instead. Rather than choosing the plastic and silver thoran that is so common these days, create a natural one of your own.
Bring in some natural floral fragrances into your home. Place a broad candle on every table around the house and encircle it with a string of jasmine. Gradually the heat will dissipate the smell of jasmine all over your home. If you have a staircase running through your home, you may want to draw garlands around the banister of the staircase.
Bring out your large glass bowls or perhaps invest in fish bowls of varying sizes. You could also consider buying cylindrical glass tubes of varying colours. Pack together roses tightly to form a mushroom-like cap on these glass openings and place these arrangements around your home. Each time the flowers wither, you may replace them with other options, such as orchids or marigolds.
Diyas and candles may be used all over the home in various ways. You may consider filling out a chalk-based rangoli design with diyas to enhance its looks. Create arrangements in safe corners of your homes with diyas using traditional patterns of mangoes, peacocks, lamps, firecrackers like sparklers and the like. Consider using diyas only if you are sure that children and pets are not going to ruin your designs or hurt themselves inadvertently.
Go kitsch: Our festivals are all about colour and sound. Loudness is key to having a great time. Perhaps the same can be reflected in your decor. You could consider bringing in Indian kitsch in the form of interior decor elements.
A great place to begin is with the lamps on your side tables. Get yourself some lamp shades that are done up in the bright colours that are so characteristic of kitsch art. If you would rather invest in a new set of lamps, there are several options in lamps, with varying sizes, shapes and colours. Give your furniture a kitsch makeover – from sofa backs to cushion covers, curtains and curtain holders to bedcovers.
You could even consider buying some festive motif dhurries and quilts and use it on your floors as well as the walls.
Nothing says festive season like bright shocks of colour across your home.
Select a state: India is a vast country and perhaps its cultural diversity is much bigger than we will ever be able to perceive. Every culture has its own unique way of doing up the home for a festival. You may consider taking a leaf out of one of these books.
Perhaps the flower and brass diyas and chattis of Kerala might add to the festive decor. Assam extensively uses cane and fibre-based home decor elements. Pair them up with flowers and lamps.
You could also use the Baluchari prints of West Bengal for your furnishing – they make for some wonderfully designed sofa backs, cushion covers and curtains. In fact, you may consider buying a saree or two and even using them on your tables or windows.
The decorative kalashes from Maharashtra can brighten up even the dullest of corners in a home. Place these at the entrance, on the staircase, in random corners across your home and see how they light up the space.
Use Rajasthani artifacts like bells, mirrors and colourful tassels. With so many artifacts from different states in our country, you will never run out of ideas and will always have something innovative to show off to friends and family.
Accessorise strategically: Who says that rangolis are only meant for floors. Look for flat wooden surfaces all around your home. If you are good with chalk, make simple square-based rangoli designs, four to six in a line. Over each of these designs place a single diya. This way you may brighten up side tables, mantle areas and even the centre of your dining table.
Rummage through your bangle collection. You are sure to find several bangles that are not complete sets. Glue random bangles together to form of a cylinder. Place these bangles stands of sorts around your home and light small candles in them. The aura they give out can be amazing.
There are several such interesting and quirky lighting options you may want to consider. If you have wine glasses of various sizes and shapes, you could perhaps place them on your table in varying heights. Place a t-light in each of them and see the sparkle they bring to your place.
These are just some of the many ways in which you may do up your home this festive season. Inspiration may hit you at any time and you will be able to come up with several ideas. So go ahead, ring in the festive season with style and give your family something interesting to talk about.