Decorous Corner - Trash to treasure - Granite pieces

We had recently visited a clubhouse ... many changes had been carried out since our last visit ... but the best among them was this creative use of trash granite pieces ...  I was simply bowled over by the breathtaking wall mural near the poolside ... all sizes and shapes of red and black granite pieces, gravel and pebbles were embedded into the cement to form this attractive mural...

 

The whole mural had been divided into three layers ... sea, land and air ... and accordingly the animals and birds were distributed ... 

 

Fish, frogs, water birds, crocodiles, alligators, crabs decorated the sea ...



Wild animals, domestic animals and farm animals were distributed on the land.

 Birds of all types decorated the top of the mural ... there were also animals which live on trees like squirrel, monkeys, etc ... looking up ... it looked like the birds were in the sky ...

My favourite corners were these two ... big uneven pieces of colourful granite in which lines were carved out to look like flowers and leaves ...

Inspiration - Glass painting

Long ago when I started my career as a secretary, I had worked, for about six months, for a company which made beautiful stained glass and glass etchings … I would while away my lunch time by simply drooling over  hundreds of catalogues they had on display … the studio where I worked was filled with samples of stained glass and etchings … however I had never seen how they were actually made … I still love glass paintings but regret that I never learnt how to do it …

Some years later my sister-in-law joined a short duration course on glass painting … I was happy as I thought that I could learn from her … however she soon discontinued as she was getting married … when she left she gave me her left over paints, brush and liner… most of the paints had dried up … except for blue, green and red…

I was overjoyed with her offering … I could try painting on glass … but as I was a beginner it was also very intimidating …

I tried painting on one panel of the window in our bedroom … it looked okay … however as the glass was already on the window it was a little difficult to maneuver the brush … another problem was as the glass was serrated, the paint being runny did not stick properly … however I still forged ahead … and with my husband’s encouragement … I finished painting all the three panels …

The windows looks better when the rays of the sun fall on it …

Decorous Corner - Medicine corner

How much do we use the medicines at home? ... Do we keep a lot of tablet foils, syrup bottles, etc., at home? ... Most people do not really use their medicine cabinet too much ...  and so they are mostly empty or filled with rubbish stuff like used toothbrushes, used toothpaste, or creams, lotions, etc.,...


If you're like me for whom a medicine cabinet can wind up becoming a junk cabinet then you can try this project ... I decided to keep the few essential medicines that I have in an open shelf ... away from the reach of very small children ...

My husband received a very pretty 'pop-out' greeting card from his employees ... and I did not want to throw it away... so this is what I did ...

I pasted the card at the back of the open shelf and placed my box of medicines on the shelf ... I painted tiny dancing warli figures on the box and arranged the medicines in it ... the box has three partitions ... I filled one partition with the cough syrups and nasal drops ... another one with medicinal creams ... and the last one with antiseptics, bandages and band-aids ...

Now my medicine cabinet looks so appealing....

Decorous Corner - Tiny drawers

If you've ever visited restaurants in India ... you would be familiar with the mouth fresheners or the aid for digestion that is served at the end of a heavy meal ...

Mostly they are sweetened fennel seeds which are called 'saunf' in India ... there are also multi-coloured sugar coated jeera sweets called "palli muttai" ... sweetened dried ginger ... shavings of betel nut ... roasted sesame seeds ... the list is endless ...

On one of my shopping jaunts I spotted this beautiful tiny drawer set ... they were so colourful and cute ... that I had to simply own one ...

As soon as I got home I could not wait to set it up ... I filled up the drawers with toothpicks and all sorts of mouth fresheners ... and kept the set on a small stand on the wall ...

It comes to the table after a heavy meal ... and gets passed around the table ... people can help themselves to the lovely goodies ... Doesn't it look perfect?