Light up your home

Deepavali brings with it an air of freedom, festivity and friendliness everywhere. Home décor also contributes towards ensuring there are positive vibrations in your home. Cleaning the house and decorating the house with vibrant colours, fresh flowers and lights all add up to the positive spirit that Deepavali ushers in. It is important that any idea of home décor is linked with happiness, contentment, peace and positive feelings in the family.

Deepavali is the time for spring cleaning of the house. After a thorough cleaning, give your home a fresh and bright new look with fancy decorations. You can decorate your house with something traditional yet trendy.

The main objective at the time is to keep the rooms clear of clutter and have as much open space as possible. Once this is done, upgrading the furniture or enhancing the look of the house with accessories will make it brighter and more beautiful.

Because the living room is where you will receive guests, this is the room that will need more creativity in terms of design and decoration. There are many home improvement ideas that will help you spruce up your house during the festive season. Use traditional Indian fabrics and design themes all over the room.

Irrespective of whether your interior décor theme is modern or contemporary, a touch of Indian design will look appropriate. You could also create an Indian corner with a few traditional Indian items placed on a colourful area rug.

Artificial flowers are pleasing to the eye and are easy to maintain. They can be placed in a tall vase or can be scattered in different parts of your home in different kinds of vases. Deepavali is the festival of lights and you can decorate your home either with tiny diyas or scented candles.

This will instantly transform the house and make it look captivating.

Try out patching and painting the walls and ceilings with colours like off-white, beige and pale yellow. Paint the ceiling the same colour as the wall for best results. Bring new paintings from the market to give a new look to your home. There are also many Vaastu and Feng Shui related products in the market, which can infuse a lot of positive energy in your home. You can alternatively use electric lamps too which come in different styles and colours.

Nothing can make your home look and feel more festive and inviting than a bunch a versatile candles.  The trick is to present them differently. Fish out some corrugated packing and dress your candles with them. Empty jars make lovely candle holders. You can strategically place the candles near a mirror for that extra glow. You can also light up dozens of ordinary white candles in a big pail and watch them glow.

Bring out those silver bowls, fill them up with water, put in a flower or two and it becomes a centrepiece. Silver icecream cups can make stunning planters. You can also fill up your morning teapot with roses and can get some heads turning. Blooms inside inverted wine glasses with candles on top is a three-in-one idea. You can use your muffin trays for candles or stack up a number of regular dinner plates, throw in some silver bangles and some tea lights and you have a winner on your hand. Flowers don’t need vases. You could use beer mugs, old aluminium buckets or a flower each in a wine glass.

Even your mother’s pickle jar or a coffee tin can work wonders. How about placing some lemons and a few greens in a bowl. Deep maroons or minted golds, turquoise and shimmery silver, pale cream and glowing copper are some of the favourite colour palettes for Deepavali.

Usher in the festival with these small, inexpensive decorating ideas and bring about a happy transformation in your home. A combination of flowers, lights, water colours, cushions, rugs and crockery can bring a fresh feel in your homes.

(The writer is an interior designer.)