Maintaining Your Carpets This Monsoon

The gloom lifts. The moods change. The beads of steamy sweat evaporate. There’s celebration and bonhomie all around. Yes, the Monsoon brings much-needed respite from the scorching Indian summer. Unfortunately, it also spells doom for carpets in your home.

But don't worry! Just take care of a few things to prevent your beautiful carpets from looking lifeless and dull this season.

Use Doormats & Rugs

We often don’t realise what we bring back home. During this season of muddy puddle sand wet roads it’s best to use a special mat at the entrance of the house to wipe the shoes on and use indoor rugs strategically. This reduces the mud your carpet is exposed to.

 Pick Lightweight Carpets & Rugs

The heavier the carpet, the harder to clean. During this weather, it is best to opt for lightweight carpets. These rugs come in vibrant and diverse colours, which will definitely go well with your chosen decor.

Vaccuum/ Broom Regularly

 The carpets tend to hold on to the minute dust particles, which is deeply absorbed in the carpet lining. To avoid your carpet from looking lifeless, it is best to clean on a regular basis.

Use Special Cleaning Products

The carpet fabric, which is always thicker than other carpets has a massive moisture retaining capacity which can result in unwanted fungus or bacteria growth leading to infection. So, do use special cleaning agents available at your local store. You may also use a mixture of white vinegar and water followed by baking soda to clean, thoroughly. Vacuum the carpet after it is completely dry to make it look new all over again.

I hope this makes your life a little easier during the season and you can spend your time enjoying the Monsoon. Bookmark this page as we will bring you more of such information to make your life much easier as a home maker.

Image Credits:

http://www.cefirse.ird.fr/content/view/full/84716

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How To Style Your Sofa

Sofa is always the main highlighting feature of any living room. If your sofa is dull and life-less, then it can totally spoil the show of entire living room. A well styled sofa can achieve very polished and designer look for your living room. So if you are having a boring sofa at your place, then few tricks can uplift the look of the sofa and your living room. 

 

Whenever you are thinking about styling the sofa, it’s not about styling only its upholstery or cushions. Its overall look of the space needs to be styled or uplifted. 

Let’s start from the rug. To define the position of your sofa, add a rug below it. If you are having neutral coloured sofa, then coloured, vibrant rug can make it interesting. It can bring focus to the seating space. 

Side table with some beautiful home decor accessories can also enhance the sofa setting.

Nature can always uplift any bland backdrop. It brings freshness to the surroundings. You can go for a beautiful potted plant beside the sofa to make the space nature friendly.  Selecting colourful pot or interestingly shaped pot can provide designer look. There are a various options available for the succulents.

If the backdrop of the sofa is plain, then salon wall or little collage of frames can do the trick of making the backdrop interesting. Having your favourite artwork or family pictures can make it a conversation point in your living room which is actually a basic purpose of living room. If you have window behind sofa, then choose beautiful curtains for the backdrop. Always go for curtains which has high quality fabric and interesting design or print. You can also go for a sheer curtains which allows natural light and ventilation as well as retains the privacy. 

Choose the lighting near the sofa bit carefully. If you have side tables beside the sofa, then opt for side table lamps with beautiful shade which can complement the sofa upholstery and the throw pillows. If you do not have side tables, then go for floor lamps. Taller floor lamps also help in adding the height to the room. Another highlighting feature can be a chandelier placed at the centre of the rug or centre table. Design of the chandelier can be royal and regal or modern or contemporary as per your living room decor.

Beautiful, well organized centre table with assorted accessories is also important to uplift the seating space. Make sure height of the centre table will not be more than the seating level of sofa. Always keep the centre table clean as it tend to get cluttered. You can keep some beautiful accessories in a well-organized manner to give your living room luxurious look. 

Last but not the least, cushions or throw pillows. Cushions has the ability to change the look of seating in an instant. Bright coloured, patterned cushions help in finishing the look. While selecting the cushions, check the design, print, texture of the cushion covers. Quit the trend of matching all your cushions and go for the min 'n' match look. For full look, go for 4 to 5 cushions. Mix up the shapes and sizes as per the design and size of the sofa. Also mix up the prints. Golden rule for mixing up the prints is keep the colour family of the cushions same. This will help you in putting up the well-synchronized look even while having various patterns. There are luxurious textures available for cushions or throw pillows like velvet, satin, fur, leather or linen and many more. Play with various textures to achieve that rich look for your living room.

Image References:

http://modernsofas.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/miles-redd-how-to-style-a-sofa-for-spring.jpg

http://modernsofas.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/A-few-tips-on-how-to-style-the-space-above-your-living-room-sofa..jpg

http://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/c3e1550a0502eada_5033-w618-h419-b0-p0--contemporary-living-room.jpg

http://i0.wp.com/blog.potterybarn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/caitlin22.jpg?resize=1000%2C625

http://www.utrdecorating.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Pillow-styling.jpg

http://ab.weimgs.com/weimgs/ab/images/wcm/products/201616/0054/overarching-floor-lamp-polished-nickel-c.jpg

Rain Rain all the way

Born and brought up in old age Calcutta (Kolkata now) and working life spent in Mumbai, Monsoon has been a dirty word.

It brought misery and loads of it.

Overflowing sewers, flooded streets, damp walls, dripping water from wet clothes all over the carpet, running nose, stuck in a car half submerged… I have had gone through the entire gamut. 

So imagine my surprise when I moved to Goa.

Rains came down in buckets. Then suddenly, the sky would be blue and the Sun would come out, shinning and smiling. Again, half an hour later, dark clouds would roll in, blocking away the light as day time becomes late evening. Another downpour would begin.

Lying on the bed in my 4^th floor flat near Calangute beach, I would keep staring at the sky through the large sliding window, fascinated.

What 50 shades of grey? There must be 500! I used to marvel at the low lying clouds drifting by, changing colours, moulding from one shape to another in those myriad shades of white, greys and black.

I asked my interior designer friend her take on Monsoon. I was surprised by her spontaneous response and I quote, ‘Rain, Rain Come All Again….Quoted from a very old nursery rhymes “RAIN RAIN COME AGAIN...” means Monsoon is all in. 

When monsoon is in mind the picture is more like pastels and  vibrant colors, fancy rain-coats & umbrellas with  dark romantic sky.

She added, her favourite past time at home and especially if it is a monsoon evening, is to curl up on a comfy settee on the balcony, nursing a cup of hot coffee or tea , accompanied with steaming, delicious Pakoras.

But being an Interior design professional, she doesn’t forget to add her warning: Do not ignore what monsoon does in our HOME.

Here are some of her makeover ideas for monsoon.

• Roll up your carpets, rugs in plastic so that you can save them from dampness.

• Keep scented candles nearby. If the electricity goes off (my addition: in Bangalore, they switch off the current at the slightest hint of rain), it might not be a bad idea to keep the generator off while you try to find your childhood ghosts in the flickering shadows.

 

• Monsoon season is the time to have translucent window. Invest in lace curtains or curtains without lining to ensure the daylight passing through, bathing the room in suffused glow.

• Hang some decorative wind-chimes. The sound will definitely soothe your mind.

• Go completely green indoors, the plants will make your home more vibrant and brighten up your space that very moment 

      

And lastly, savour the sound of cascading rain or the steady pritter- pratter of the drizzle as it touches the earth. When the rain begins after a dry spell, go out of the room on to the balcony. Breathe in the smell of the slightly sodden earth. It is something not to be missed.

Hope you enjoy reading…Now Let's enjoy the Monsoon….

HAPPY RAINING…!!!

So that's her take on Monsoon. Well, Women have their way of bringing romantic angle to something as mundane as water falling from sky.

(The blog was shared by Mr Arunangshu M Lahiri, a Marketer, Stock Enthusiast, a writer and heads a Digital Agency.)

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