Our Weekend (Part II) – More Home Additions

On Sunday, we focused more on our home. We unpacked more accessories and built the rest of our bedroom furniture that were still in the original boxed packaging when it was delivered.

The rooms are still a little vacant, because we are waiting on our BIG stuff (sofa, entry console table, king-size bed & mattress and nightstand) to be delivered this Friday.



I love the initial start of our Master bedroom. I am going for a contemporary, chic hotel room that just happens to be our bedroom. I have always wanted to come home to a bedroom where it eternally feels like you are on a vacation.

We assembled the two white hi-gloss dressers (from CB2) together, and we worked successfully as a team. He didn't break or destroy one thing in the process. ;)

Our Weekend (Part I) – Aryan's 1st Birthday!

The weekend flew by as usual, but it was a good one. On Saturday, it was our nephew, Aryan's 1st birthday bash celebration, and it was a HIT! (The PUN intended for the theme.)

Nisha & Nirmal hosted a fun and colorful event for people of all ages as you will see. The theme was sports and come wearing your favorite sports team attire. However, Nisha didn't exactly fulfill the sports theme gear. :)

The birthday invite was designed to reflect a sporting ticket, and it was the guest's admission to the birthday bash. Pretty cool "ticket" invite huh? I designed it, of course. All the little bear characters were sporting Chicago's biggest sports teams.

{Invite designed by Chontichar}

Ari had his very own custom jersey made by his mom, Nisha. It said Ari #1 – too cute.

We had to take a picture next to the infamous Chicago Bears player, Ari. Nisha had the bear characters blown up from the invite, and it helped to decorate the sporting theme throughout the recreational space. Also, Nisha had found festive little "sporty" lanterns as great centerpieces for all the tables.

And what kind of birthday would it be without a clown, balloon animals, face painting, juice boxes, cake and laughter – not a good one. Well, the birthday celebration planned by Nisha & Nirmal didn't stop at cool decorations; it had everything that kids & adults would love and enjoy.

And the grand finale moment – Ari's first birthday cake blowout. I don't think he made a wish yet. I think he just wanted to eat the frosting.

{Photographs taken by Chontichar}

From the look on Ari's face, I think his 1st birthday was a success. He made out like a bandit with lots of gifts and money for the college fund; thanks to the 160 guests that attended. Good job to Nisha & Nirmal.

We have a Breakfast Area

Some furniture is finally trickling in, and here's the first of it – our breakfast table & chairs. The walls and table look at little "naked," but over time it will definitely feel cozier.


It just turns out that everything in our breakfast area happens to be from Crate & Barrel. Featured is the Monroe 48" round dining table, the Epoch chair in Cocoa Tweed and the Finley round, white pendant lamp. I bought all these items at different times having in mind, the central focus will be the dining table.

Originally, I wanted this glass table below in a 48" thick glass with a dark wenge oak base. Not to my luck when I went to purchase it, it was discontinued. :( I liked the base a lot, because it had some angle and design to it.

This other glass dining table is from Design Within Reach, and I just loved the base too, but the price tag was a bit over the budget I wanted to spend for a breakfast table.

However, the Monroe table from Crate & Barrel did the job. No solid glass top which was fine, but the base had some of the interest that I was going for. The construction is actually pretty cool; it utilizes ancient Chinese joinery to hold all the solid chestnut wood pieces together. So this should hopefully last for awhile thanks to the Chinese.

Manzanita Branches – gotta lov'em

I believe I have mentioned before that I was creating/constructing my wedding centerpieces. And I am sure you are all curious what must I be doing if I am doing it myself. We are going to have fresh florals, but it's not the main attraction. The focal point for most tables will be Manzanita branches!

When I saw these, I knew I had to follow through with them. Plus, they fit exactly with my wedding inspiration moodboard that I collaged several months back. A wedding that is classic, rustic and simply fun!

Manzanita branches can be seen as structural pieces of art, and you can embellish them with sooo many fun details – flowers, hanging beads or spray paint them. Just look at the range seen here. I see drama with its height and bold, powerful color. What more could you want for a centerpiece.



So Yes I will be using Manzanita branches for our main centerpiece, and No you won't be able to see it until the day of. I have to keep some of the excitement and not give it all away. I can't wait to see the final product too.

A Fun Picture

We were shopping at Costco with Nirmal & Nisha for Aryan's 1st Birthday this Saturday! Isn't that cart huge or what? Costco doesn't joke around about bulk size.

Wedding Food Tasting – Done!

We just had our personalized Wedding Food Tasting at Hotel Baker with the parents and Nirmal & Nisha. I must tell you guys I was a little nervous going into dinner, because we were there to try the Chef's selections for the Indian entrees, and we wanted to make sure the Indian food was up to par for the parentals. As you all know, parents can be very particular about their food.

Also, excuse the lack of pictures for the reason that we didn't want to give away the delicious menu. But you do get to see the parents eating warm bread and butter as we wait for Nirmal and Nisha to arrive. They were running late as usual. ;)

At the tasting, we tried 4 main Indian entrees – two vegetarian and two chicken. The first entree that we sampled was the Chef's take on a vegetarian Indian dish, and it was excellent! This was truly a gourmet dish and not what you would expect looking at it. Flavor in every bite. I am still craving it right now. We tried the second vegetarian dish, and it wasn't as good. It was unanimous, the Chef's Indian vegetarian dish was the winning entree that we would offer for the wedding reception.

All the guys enjoyed both Indian chicken entrees prepared by the Chef. And after tasting both dishes, they knew they had to make a tough decision. Within a few minutes, they finally came to a conclusion. The winning Indian chicken entree is .....? All we can say is that it is good.

However, I can tell you for the wedding reception, it is going to be buffet so everyone can sample all the main entrees. In addition to the two Indian entrees, there will be a vegetarian pasta entree, salad, assorted fruit, and appetizers during the cocktail hour. And last, but not least, OPEN BAR for everyone! Almost forgot, there is wedding cake for dessert. :)

A VERY Clean Home

The small renovations, installation of all light fixtures and the painting is finished! Time to clean house. Fortunately, we got some help. Let's thank Quality Maids and Stanley Steamers for their services. Our home is all brand new again.

I Love My Stamp!!

Everybody has to get a custom addressed stamp! It's like having your very own Calligrapher address your envelopes every time. As soon as I got it in the mail today, I stamped away a bunch of envelopes I had for "thank you" cards. I had so much fun doing it too; I felt like a kid again. :)

I can't remember whose blog I found Bryn of Paperfinger, but as soon as I saw it, I had to get one. Our custom stamp only has our first names along with our new address. Once again, I had to blur out our address, because you never know who is out there watching. (i.e. Craigslist murderer – crazy!)

Just an idea for everyone, this would be a great gift for any couple who have bought their very first home together. What a way to make their home address truly special and official!

If I didn't have to work in a budget for my wedding, I so would've hired a calligrapher to address all my wedding envelopes and place cards. I just love typography. And I know, I am a graphic design nerd.

{Images from paperfinger.com}

Check out all of Bryn's work on her website, Paperfinger. She specializes in custom artistic handwriting and calligraphy for individual wedding pieces, or practically anything that needs very cool writing. Or, you can just get a custom version of her writing for your personal address made into a stamp and have it for life. You will never need to buy address labels again, and these look sooo much better!

Not Just A Clothing Store

In all my hunts for unique decor for my home, I discovered cool finds in your not-so-typical stores for home goods. These select stores are essentially known for their fun, stylish clothing, but they also carry a "home decor" section that will catch your eyes too. So the next time you want to find something pretty different for your home, definitely check out one of these stores online or in-person.

Urban Outfitters
I am still searching for the perfect accent chair to go with our main sofa, and I have to say Urban Outfitters has some cool ones. They have a great selection of retro, modern accent tables too.


This branch-like jewelry stand is 19" tall and it can be seen as a sculptural piece of art along with being functional. I got one for myself in white, and it looks pretty darn cool!


Anthropologie


They have very stylish, ethnic shower curtains. I got my sister the blue & green bohemian shower curtain on the left-side. I am quite fond of the black and white cherry blossom curtain on the right-side with the colorful accent birds too.


Also, I just love their collection of vintage door knobs! I wish I would've used in them my house, but it's a little too late. I already got all my hardware pulls installed on our cabinets. I like to contrast new and modern furniture with vintage accents such as these ones. Oh well, another time.


H&M
We all love H&M for their very stylish clothes and affordable prices. And now, coming soon in 2009, they are going to inject their fashion sense into textiles and accessories for the home! I can't wait to see what they offer, but we will have to wait and see since they are not yet available to us.

Shop 'til you drop...

What more could a girl ask for...shopping and more shopping. You'd think it's bliss, but not in this time crunch. My little Mazda3 has been jam packed several times this past week from visiting several stores. It makes me want to upgrade to an SUV, but not just yet. I love my little zoom-zoom car. :)

It's beginning to look like a home...

We have been through so much these past 2 weeks that we are finally getting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the recent installation of the new lighting fixtures and the hardware pulls for the cabinets, it's beginning to look like OUR home.

Drink anyone? Have a seat in our new bar stools that I put together. As Hemal was away on another bachelor party for a friend, I was working diligently hard on our home and making sure things were moving along smoothly.

Also, I just love our new trio pendant lights over the bar! I found this great find on Overstock.com with only 2.95 shipping! These are Porcelaino Barrel-shaped pendant lights and they were produced in Italy. These sculptural pieces of art hanging from our ceiling make a simple, but bold statement.

Also, check out our new pulls for the kitchen cabinets – very sleek and chic next to the Dunkin Donut boxes. We wanted to make sure our handymen had enough energy to finish the work around our house. :)

And the grand finale to this post is our dining room chandelier! It stands out so nicely against our newly painted dark blue-green dining room color! I wanted a little more drama in the dining area and felt this color would certainly do it.

Our lovely, modern chandelier is from Zgallerie.com and when it lights up, it looks like the glass hurricanes are floating.

I believe color adds so much more life to your home, and gives it character, and it reflects your character. Hallelujah to no more white walls.

Color & Fresh Paint Everywhere!

This past week our new place has had several coats of paint everywhere. From the white trim to the ceiling, walls and the doors! The place looks practically brand new. Here's a tease to some of the colors in the house. This is only a few of the colors selected for the house. There's still plenty more to see, but that will have to come at a later date or if you visit in person.

The main house color is called "Rain." It spreads from the hallway to living to the hallway upstairs.

If any of you have been to our current home that we call the "Condo," you all know I have a yellow bathroom, and I could not resist but take the yellow with me to my new house. This is our golden yellow Master bath.

Brand new white doors.

And a pop of red for our back door to the garage. It actually matches our front door. Definitely needs another coat of paint.