Home Tour - An ode to Southern Hospitality!

I am fortunate to have many favorite "home away from homes" here in the USA, far away from my own parents' and friends' home in namma Bengalooru. An escape... a place where I can just be, without having to "run the house", but just relish in the receiving end of thoughtful pampering and scrumptious good food!  Waking up in the morning  to the smell of freshly brewing coffee..and mouth watering South-Indian tiffin... sitting in my pajamas until I have to get ready to go shopping or to the spa or some such indulgent endeavor instead of rushing to work with vestiges of a hastily eaten breakfast, if any!!!! 

   

You see, when we immigrate, we make USA our home, we develop networks of friends and extended families here, and it becomes an imperative fall back, a much needed retreat, in the chaotic, corporate, stir-crazy worlds we live in! 

And a retreat it was, with my lovely friends - Ashok, Anitha, and their kindergartner Abi. Not to forget their rollicking chocolate lab Ginger! Ashok and Anitha have just welcomed their second baby into this world, and are delightfully giddy with their new arrival! So, join me Aalayam family, in congratulating this lovely couple who opened up their hospitality to me.... to Aalayam, and shared their gorgeous Southern home replete with the modern Texan charm!!!

As with most homes in Texas, the most striking feature of Ashok and Ani's home is its gorgeous high ceilinged architecture. While this style of construction can be a design intimidation for some, the home owners have embraced this feature and played it to their advantage. The Texas sun streams into their family room which has this gorgeous showcase fireplace feature, rendered even warmer with the spicy cinnamon color splash on the wall!

Ornate Tanjore paintings and brass artifacts in shadow boxes adorn the feature wall that reflects the rippling sunshine and add an elegant grace to this home.  Many of these vintage, much loved pieces are gifts from family and friends and have found a pride of place in this beautiful Texas home.

Its rare to find tufted leather seating in a warm and cozy living space, much less, an Indian living room. Leather always evokes images of sleek, sophisticated and modern and cold, yet, the homeowners get the balance of chic classy and warm classic just right! The chocolate brown sofa adds that gorgeous neutral grounding to the earth tones sprinkled all over this living room!

And of course their island kitchen is a dream one for me! Large and spacious, with a tons of above and below counter storage, it's the perfect hub for family dinner preparations, conversations and baking projects. 

The kitchen veers off to a sunny, informal dining area which the homeowners use for eating, homework, and other daily, comforting activities young parents indulge in with their children! (Read messy crafts, endless drawings, puzzles..midnight milk and cookies..and endless coffee and doughnut conversations!) And how easy is it to clean up messes on the lovely, cool stone floors? Thank Heavens for some small favors.

I had to sneak peek into Ani's pantry and share this quirky and functional spice box arrangement. Isn't it so cute that all the spices are labeled in Ani's neat handwriting? This spice box medley pays perfect homage to Ani's neat and organized lifestyle. 

Now, get ready to get transported into a modern seaside retreat in the middle of suburban Austin! This gorgeous master bed room has been hand painted by Ashok and Ani with painstaking precision. Can you think of how many things could go wrong while painting stripes on a textured wall? Yet the room looks lovely - modern, sophisticated and classy with metallic accents and subtle seaside themed  decor. Just the perfect retreat for the home owners!

I heard most Texas homes have their master bed room on the first floor. These Texas birds don't have to fly high to find their nest, do they! Just off the master bed, is the mocha colored staircase for the second floor. The colors around the home are perfectly complimentary to each other. Never too overwhelming, never too dull. Just perfect.

Upstairs is a visual treat. A cute little kids room which Ani is planning to remodel for the new baby and her big brother! Ani, please share with us the picture of the new room when it is ready! We are curious to see how the lil nest turns out, after all our design pow-wows! 

Ashok is a movie buff. And a tech geek. He is also the coolest guy to visit because he has a larger than life, home theater media room setup upstairs, done up in fire engine red,  replete with sound masking curtains, digital dolby sound, Hollywood themed trivia, dozens of Blu Ray discs and accouterments thrown in for good measure! 

Aah, to recline in those chairs with a big bag of popcorn and be lost in a true-blue Indian movie! Sheer "home away from home" nirvana! 

This vintage box office style media room is a design inspiration, and a superb personal stamp the home owners have brought into this modern Texas home. I can easily imagine hiding out in this media room doing movie marathons after a stressful work week!

The guest room gets some design love too! Coffee and Gold colored accents are interspersed with teal blue...A never fail combination. My favorite part of the room is the vines that start from the window, looking like a real branch has made its way through the window into the room! 

Finally, the perfect topping to Ashok and Ani's hospitality, is how they appealed to my gastronomic cravings at all times of the day! Did you know Ashok brews his own lattes and cappuccinos? He has a dreamy coffee machine which he put to delicious use during my visit there. I almost wept to leave that java junction behind! 

Now, I leave you with an image of succulent Texas mangoes topped with French Vanilla Ice Cream! I added crumbles of Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut into mine... Pure and Simple Dessert Heaven!!

Thank you guys for letting us into your home! Soon your beautiful home will be bustling with the patter of lil anklet clad feet...Congratulations once again! 

With lots of warm tidings from the Aalayam family! 

Love,
Supriya

Media Room - A La Mode! (A fourth of July tribute to American decor!)

A wide angle - to get us going!

Dimmer lights, surround sound, popcorn and  a good game of poker - those are the buzz words for today's post!
Welcome to the next stop on my (Deepa's) home tour. Previously, I've taken you through our guest room and our little boy's room. Today, we are heading to our basement for a tour of our newly transformed catch all space - media + game lounge!

Chic accents = chic room!

We were lucky - the previous home owners had already finished a portion of the basement and so all we were left with was adding our personal touch. Even before I could say the word basement, my husband and son claimed this as their space!   They were excitedly exchanging ideas and I didn't have the heart to interfere. However, I did stake claim to a closet in the basement. This sits underneath the staircase and has wall to wall shelving. It is a great space to store all my extra/seasonal home decor accessories and arts and craft supplies. This closet is now fondly referred to as the Aalayam closet and I love the utilitarian value of this closet! I will share a picture of this someday.

I digress. Back to the media room story... 
Space planning for soon-to-be men's den began in earnest. A wet bar, a game and seating area and media station were all promptly assigned to their respective corners. This room was ENTIRELY designed by my husband and is unlike any other room in our house. The rest of our house is very global in its feel and Indian in its roots (courtesy moi). This room on the other hand as an All American feel - big on style, big on comfort! 

Of course, with men being men, the room was first fitted with a projector and a big screen! That's right - a bare space with a big screen! I was probably the only one in the house who seemed to think that was odd. The boys lounged on the floor with a bag of chips, while the images came alive on screen aided by the surround sound and nothing else mattered! This went on for a few weeks.

But eventually, my husband got down to work and the space was outfitted with all the essential elements - furniture, art work, accessories, a rug, lighting and the finishing touches!.  And it all began with a well conceived, budget-savvy plan! This was his project from start to finish and I must say, I am mighty pleased. An old breakfast table was repurposed as a table for poker nights.

The white accents were all gifts - reuse, repurpose, refashion!

 A previously used media credenza was now positioned against the back wall as a storage unit for cords, cables, gaming console accessories, dvds and books. A few select accessories were used to dress this cabinet for a stylish yet clutter free look!  

Mismatched accents work- don't be afraid to use what you have!

I love his choice of art work for the room - particularly this planked airplane from Pottery Barn! It sits comfortably above and across the length of the couch, grabs your attention and reflects my husband's love of travel. Perfect for his den! Tufted sofas are in and I knew he digs the tufted look but finding something that was appropriate for a media room was tricky and so, he was ecstatic when he found this tufted sectional. It is not too bulky, came in a gorgeous camel shade and has enough seating to allow for comfortable movie viewing.

Playing with a neutral color palette can be fun too!

The inherent acoustics of the room and well picked sound accessories enable a theater-like audio experience . We opted to add a screen instead of projecting the images directly on to the wall and this enhances the picture quality. We enjoy watching movies and games at home much more than heading to the movies and that has always been our thing. With a little planning and some effort we have recreated theater ambience right here at home!

The wet bar area was already painted in a gorgeous dull-red.  A little sprucing up was all it took to make it ready for our guests!

Happy hour anyone?

Overall, the colors are cozy and calming leaning towards rustic and earthy.  This is in stark contrast to the rest of our colorful home but works really well for this room!
My favorite in the room (and it was hard to pick) has to be the coffee table , the round shape adds visual interest and the jali style wood -work incorporates just a touch of India into this otherwise western room. I picked the coffee table accessories - a couple of gorgeous coral accents . They look great as a pair and  combined with a reflective metallic tray they make an eye-catching arrangement!

Jali style coffee table  + coral accents + metal tray = Vow?

In the Dirty Picture, Vidya Balan seductively quips "Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment"  Let's admit it! We love our Bollywood movies!  And their inherent entertainment value. After all, they are so integrally woven in to our cultural tapestry. For expats like ourselves, weekend trysts with Bollywood movies is not just an exercise in unwinding but also a surefire way of clinging to our native identity. With their glitzy and flamboyant fare, Bollywood cinemas have continued to entertain native audiences for over a century now and that includes us. To revel in the Bollywood pomp and show in the comfort of our American home and to spend a cherished evening with each other is something that we as a family truly enjoy and this room enables just that!

Unknowingly, life tends to creep up on us and take over at times! We lose sight of what's most important! And at those times we need to remind ourselves that snuggle-time with our families is as good as it gets!

Next weekend is movie date-night and I plan on showing up in my pajamas!

Hope you've enjoyed our tribute to American decor? Happy 4th folks!

 We have a busy busy summer ahead of us - a fabulous food blogger's home tour is up next followed by a two-part spotlight feature on a phenomenal jewelry artist and her gorgeous gorgeous home! So, do not budge!

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Cheers!
~Deepa
p.s: The pictures are copyrighted. Please ask before using.