What is Vaastu? Is house facing the south direction a problem? What importance should be given to this science for choosing a house? Such questions have increased eventually as the vaastu is getting popular day-by-day in India as well as abroad. Well, Indore is not behind when it comes to deciding such factors. Umang Barjatiya, architect and Vaastu expert, settled in Banglore says “vaastu is the science of building, the science of energies, the science of creating a balance. It's a holistic science, which finally keeps humans healthy. Since it deals with healing, it definitely plays a very crucial role in a human's life. But old interpretations and wrong co-relations have led to a lot of superstitions. For eg the direction a house faces is not the only binding factor. The use of Vaastu can counter a house facing wrong direction. There are different elements involved, so one phenomenon can't be the same for everyone.”
He further explains that the direction a door faces, the position of the kitchen, the location of the bedroom, everything has to be considered. Old beliefs like never having the main entrance facing south are all true, but half-truth, because if certain things are placed wrongly you can always balance them with Vaastu.
According to Ashok Raj Ashok, an architect, Vaastu can now be redefined as the science of treating negative energies and making them positive, without even breaking a single brick! Thus, a certain house or site which appears to be jinxed, can with a few corrections be made perfect with Vaastu.
Home is where Heart is:
Intrinsic interiors
Shahrukh's new movie “Om Shanti Om' always sounds like "Home Shanti Home" to me. The reason being- your heart is where your home is and your art is also where your home is. "Home" the word in itself is sufficient to bring that cozy feeling to your mind and that sense of warmth to your heart. We always thrive to make our home a better place to live and spend our lives happily as never before, and for this is required a perfect blend of furniture, furnishings and artifacts. Today if you go and check the furniture outlets in Indore, you'll come to know that they are no less than what you would find in any Metro. But do they get potential customers for their stuff; is the Indori Janta aware of what's in and what's not? This is what Avinash Sharma, GM, Stellar Furniture had to say, “Consumer behavior has changed with times and if you see these days everyone wants to go for the latest and the best, as over period of time the prices of furniture even imported furniture has decreased. This is besides the fact that the prices of raw material as well as manpower have increased like never before. But what has made good furniture affordable for even service class people is that they have that disposable income with them, and the hard cash in pockets. Another reason is that prices should be competitive, as people have too many choices to go for. Exposure to Metros and even to abroad has also led to that aspiration to get the latest and best in town forces the seller to get what can be called a perfect blend of style and durability.”
Talking about the changes in material he says, “a few years back PLPB (Pre Laminated Particle Board) was used but now MDF (Medium Density Fibre) has been introduced. This new technology material for furniture is durable, season and termite proof, which adds to its popularity. Similarly for the upholstery people preferred Lycra, but now the trend has changed to Fabric. Now we have demand for cotton and mixed fabrics for upholsteries as they have good breathing properties. Moreover one gets to choose from printed, textured and plain material which is not there in Lycra.”
Well, this was all about the latest trends in stylish furniture, but there are other furniture styles that you can choose from. One of them is the wrought iron furniture. So, if you are bored of the typical heavy, bulky looking furniture, want to redesign your interiors, here's a quick piece of advice - do it in wrought iron! It's affordable, its imaginatively designed and it tastefully brings together the best of ethnic and western interior trends of designing. These are spacious and require the least maintenance of all. The metal accessories are also available in a wide variety to choose from, the range for which starts from as low as Rs.100 and goes as high as Rs 10,000 - depending on your choice and pocket size. According to Garima Thakkar, an interior designer, “the Inside Outside shows has given an insight to the interior world. It's a good exposure for both the designers as well as the clients. Metal furniture and specially artifacts are quite in these days as they look great in small spaces and go well with other kinds of furniture also. In simple words, they can be mixed and matched easily and tastefully.”
Available in the market today are foldable metal furniture with beautiful hinges and joints that look great. Most of us have seen those all time favorite Nataraj statues and tall candle stands, but now the latest stuff has even more designer pieces like beautifully lighting lamps, human figure statues and designer clocks to choose from. To sum it up, the metal magic is catching up with the interior conscious Indori janta.
Now that you have chosen the furniture style, how about dressing the room up with furnishings? From carpets to curtains and bed covers to cushions - everything should be done tastefully if you really want your home to be the best! Furnishing shops in Indore today offer a wide variety of materials to do you house. These shops not only have the variety but they also suggest good styles to go on curtains and all. Furnishings stores like Tana-Bana, Gemini, Beleza etc are well known names today in Indore. These showrooms provide a proper catalogue of designs and patterns to choose from. They also have model hangers and windows to give you the exact look of what the curtains will look like finally before you buy. This is called a change!!!!
A pc of advice again - take out those old zardosi dupattas and granny's saris and try experimenting with them for curtains and cushions, believe me Old is still Gold!!! Put some sequence and mirror to decorate and gota for the piping, and believe me you will be surprised to see the elegance that comes to your room!
Any structure with four walls and a ceiling can be called a house, but to make a home you need love, attachment and pure feelings as is said, “Houses you can make many but home just one, for you have heart just one.” So do it tastefully with all your heart and you will always have that home!
