Studio Dhi

Recently I came across this minimalistic lamp on Engrave, which is something new and fresh. And I found myself browsing through similar gorgeous lamps made by the same home décor brand, called Studio Dhi.  Kavya Sundaram, an architect by profession whose passion is interiors, is the brainchild behind this brand and Mithun Stephen is the co-founder who takes care of marketing and technical sphere. If you have an old wall unit or a coffee table that needs some kind of upliftment, Studio Dhi is the right place to be.

Have a look at the lamps that she has designed and let’s get to know more about Studio Dhi from Kavya herself and about the décor services that she offers… 

 

 

 

 

Tell us a bit about yourself and your inspiration to start Studio Dhi

 

I am Kavya Sundaram an Architect by profession and a designer by passion. I hold a degree in Architecture and am passionate about interior design. I am the founder of this concept design studio and Mithun Stephen is the co-founder, who’s behind the technical knowhow and marketing.

We all know that there are talented architects and interior designers to design innovative spaces, but there is hardly any expertise in the home decor area. Home Decor plays a role equally important as the building envelop. “The space you inhabit is an extension of yourself” it defines your character, mood, work everything. This is how Studio Dhi’s intervention began. Also during our on field research with the home décor items, to our surprise we discovered that the kind of décor and furnishings existed 10 years back are still continuing. Everyone has their own dream space to create but with the existing products in the market, they are forced to choose the products which are at the least close to their expectation, which results in having a regular space like any other… But Studio Dhi focuses on creating a new grammar to your space!

 

What does “Dhi” signify?

 

“Dhi” is a Sanskrit word which has many meanings like being meaningful, understanding, reflection, design, intelligence, opinion, meditation and lot more. Everything we wanted to say about our brand, fitted in just these three letters.

How unique is Studio Dhi?

Every product at Studio Dhi is made entirely by hand from heart taking inspiration from around. The idea behind this brand is to create a complete environment, both interiors and exteriors by simple and innovative designs. We dream of bringing luxurious, hand‐crafted décor accessories to living spaces across the world. Presenting you is a platform to celebrate art and culture through great products.       

 

What is your vision for Studio Dhi?

 

In today’s lifestyle, we see décor and furniture as two separate elements. These two elements together complete a space. Future of home décor is about slowly transforming these two elements as one, where your furniture doubles as a décor. We are currently working towards that.

 

 

Any home décor tips for my readers?

 

Most of my clients have one question in common i.e ‘How do I make a space look appealing?’ Well here are some tips

 

·         Try to follow balance, proportion and harmony.

·         Choose Quality over quantity

·         Add some Details — small touches of designs on elements in the room.

·         Choose Neutral, calming tones with earth tones.

·         Last but not the least Light plays a huge part.

 

We always follow our decorating mantra "less is more."

 

Thanks Kavya for sharing your inspiration and experience with us and for the lovely home décor tips.

 

You can follow them on

 

website: http://www.studiodhi.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioDhi/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiodhi/

 

 

Images via Studio Dhi

 

 

 

 

 

Home Tour: Residence of Disha from Design, Decor & Disha

I met Disha, a super talented lady, through her blog and I was just blown away by her gorgeous home and her passion for home decor, her art, her enthusiasm for DIY and her style. Today Disha gives us a glimpse of how her home exudes ethnicity, colours, textures and happiness with her amazing talent. She has created a beautiful cozy and inviting home, with a beautiful mix of old & new, vibrant colours and different textures. Her passion is chronicled in her blog, Design Decor& Disha, and it is a one stop for inspirational ideas for home decor and art & DIY ideas.

Are you ready to see her beautiful home?? Well Disha has graciously opened up her home to take us through her lovely space... over to you Disha.

Thank you, Rachel, for inviting me here on your lovely blog. I am honoured.

I wear many hats, I am a work at home mother, freelance writer, blogger and sometimes I enjoy being an artist, crafter and gardener too. (Let me share a secret here, I slip into various roles easily as situation demands. For an instance, I play electrician, plumber, cleaner, domestic help, driver, technician and what not when the need arises).

I am a decor enthusiast and love everything that is aesthetically pleasing if it isn't then I turn it into an eye pleasing stuff. Okay! A lot of bragging has been done now let me show you how these roles that I play every day give me the opportunity to do what I love most. Let's take a tour of my home with me as I wear one hat at a time. My home, a place that has been evolving with my decor aesthetics each passing day. I love warm hues and hence you will get to see lots of warm colours in my home.

As a blogger and freelance writer, I get lots of opportunities to play around with my imaginations while doing product photo shoot and styling.

 

A dormant artist in me often wakes up and creates something and then I have to find a place to display it. Here are some of my artworks that I display proudly in my home.

This is Madhubani painting that I asked my sister to draw and then I filled the colours with homemade natural dyes.

Below are the Lippan work (mud mirror work) wooden panels that have got several thousand views on my YouTube channel. 

Stale coffee in my kitchen cabinet was put to good use and result was this Buddha painting.

Now let me wear a crafter's hat. I am an avid crafter and I love to reuse, recycle and upcycle. In my home, you will see a lot of recycled and upcycle stuff.

This is my foyer wall that had painted when I moved into my apartment five years ago. The sunburst mirror you see here is an example of best out of waste (made from broomsticks)

A dry branch that I found in my balcony garden is now blooming and looking perfect in my living room.

I make newspaper coasters and paint them in striking colours and patterns. One such coaster set in the image below was done in Suzani pattern.

 

A glass bottle I painted a long ago.

 

Now meet a gardener Disha :) I love gardening and find it therapeutic. Whenever I am stressed either I paint or I love to spend time with my plants. 

I keep changing my garden decor the same way I keep changing my home decor. I love creating Zen spots and there is one in my balcony garden too. I take pride in saying that all my planters are hand painted.

 

I totally enjoyed being here on 'Tickled by Inspirations' with you all. Thanks once again Rachel for having me here :)

I hope you enjoyed this wonderful home tour treat... I loved it and i don’t mind just browsing through it again and again... Thanks so much Disha for opening up your beautiful home to me and my readers. I wish you all the best and hope to meet you in person soon!!

Click here to browse through her blog, here to follow her on Instagram and here to get updates through her Facebook page. Enjoy your Thursday!!

Images are copyright Disha

Cinnamon Rolls: Recipe for the month

I wanted to “bake” something special for my husband …. Something other than cake! So yesterday I took the plunge to baking cinnamon rolls…. I have always been intimidated baking any form of bread. There is so much of science involved in baking these rolls… right measurement… right temperature… technique.  But I finally faced my fears and baked these gorgeous rolls… they are undeniably delicious!! It’s perfect to make for a brunch or even gift someone. But I have to say it’s time consuming and daunting at first but totally worth the effort!  And as I set these gorgeous rolls in the oven, my home was filled with this amazing aroma!

So past couple of days I have been pinning on Pinterest like a mad woman looking for an easy beginner’s recipe and I finally stumbled upon one that seemed easy to follow. And am glad it came out well and it was delicious and moreover my husband raved about it by just eating it all!!!! So if you are trying for the first time, this is the recipe to follow.

 

 Serves: 6-7

(Recipe is adapted from here)

Ingredients

·         Milk - ¼ cup

·         Water - ¼ cup

·         Butter - 1 tbsp (14 gms)

·         Salt - ¼ tsp

·         Plain Flour - 1½ cups (you may need 2 tblsp more if the dough is sticky)

·         Yeast - 1⅛ tsp

·         Sugar -  2 tblsp

·         Egg - 1, lightly beaten

Filling

·         Butter - 1½ tbsp, melted

·         Cinnamon Powder - ½ tbsp

·         Brown Sugar - 3-4 tbsp (preferably dark)

Frosting

·         Icing sugar - ½ cup

·         Melted Butter - ¾ - 1 tbsp

·         Vanilla essence - ⅛ tsp

·         Milk/ Cream - ¾ - 1tbsp

 

 

 

Method

 

·         Preheat the oven @ 180 C for 10 mins, before baking.

·         Combine salt, flour, yeast and sugar. Heat milk, water & butter till the butter melts. Add dry ingredients and beaten egg to the wet ingredients. Mix together to make dough. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it for a few minutes, till you get smooth dough (without stickiness, add more flour if its too sticky). Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover it with a cling film. Let it rest till the dough doubles (about 2 hrs).

·         Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Punch down the risen dough & roll it out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Smear the dough with melted butter. Sprinkle brown sugar & cinnamon mix evenly over the dough. Roll the dough up into a log starting at the long side towards you. Press together the edges to seal it. Depending on the size you want (mini or medium size rolls), cut the dough using a serrated knife. Place the rolls cut side down into a greased baking pan. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 30-45 minutes. I kept in the preheated oven to rise since the weather here is not so warm now.

·         Bake the rolls in the preheated oven for around 20-25 mins until golden. Meanwhile combine all the ingredients under the frosting till its thick icing and set it aside.

 

·         Allow the baked rolls to cool for 10 mins & spread the frosting over the baked rolls and enjoy.

·         Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool 10 minutes. Spread frosting over baked rolls and enjoy.

 



My Roses (I receive these traditionally every year on Valentines... )

 

Have you ever seen anyone refuse a cinnamon roll???

 

All Images are clicked by me

 

 

 

 

Friday Lunch

Hanging out with a bunch of non-judgmental friends makes life so blissful…. No comparisons, no jealousy, no barriers or pretence of any kind…. Just happy with themselves… and more importantly you are on the same page with them! All this makes life less complicated! And I have to say they bring out the best in me…there are very few who has that effect on me!! So a big muaah to this bunch!! We decided to make use of the fabulous weather here and hit different restaurants, cafes and taste different cuisines or just have coffee or tea somewhere just to unwind.

Last Friday’s impromptu lunch at Mani’s Cafe was good, not too heavy … it’s a small cozy place just to relax and unwind, minimalistic décor, good service .… and not a crowded place. We had the hot and sour soup, Penne Carbonara that has turkey bacon and extra creamy Alfredo sauce (I will definitely go again to have this), Grilled Chicken Pesto and chicken sandwich with mozzarella, wasabi & mayo. And I give a thumbs-up for all the dishes and their portions are huge! Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of our main food as I was so famished. They have a great breakfast menu as well but not extensive!! Indulging in dessert after lunch is a ritual for me, at least on Fridays… But we skipped dessert at Mani’s and decided to stroll along the beach nearby and head to Slider Station to devour Oreo crusted fondant and their Lotus Biscoff Pancakes with home made vanilla pod ice-cream drizzled with caramel and paired it with coffee!!! I went to heaven and landed right back… it was the best! So head there if you feel like indulging in some dessert… totally worth it!

All pictures are clicked by me



 

House of the Month: Residence of Pinky from Canada

Home tours are always my favorite post. It always gives me inspiration and a different perspective on the inhabitant’s creative journey. Today’s home tour is all the way from Canada and is the home of Ajay Shah, Pinky Shah and their two teenagers. Pinky is the blogger of Pinkz Passion. Pinkz Passion is a must read… it’s filled with beautiful pictures, her travels and décor ideas. And it’s her inherent passion for creativity that drove her to blogging. Pinky has put her heart and soul into this lovely house. It’s cocooned with beautiful Indian handicrafts, art and other treasures. My personal favorite are the beautiful vignettes she created on her table and counter tops. Let’s take a peek into this gorgeous home and read on as Pinky takes us for her home tour.

" Our home is an explosion of our wit and confidence, a charming amalgam of our personal treasures and deeply rooted love for all things Indian. Our enticingly displayed heirloom pieces or unexpectedly mixed travel oddities sum up the core of our style and our own personality. A motley collection of antique and unique Ganesha curated over 18 years adds the grace note in our home."

 

"Our entrance echoes a powerful punch of our young teenager daughter’s Ganesha paintings where every guest is captive here to stop and appreciate her implausible work."

 

"Each and every room has gone under an exhaustive designed process to succeed the preferred exactness. "

 

 

  "Keeping our religious necessities in mind, office/den room has been transformed into Pooja Room."

"Our practically formal and strictly for entertaining Living Room reiterates the Indian touch throughout the room. "

"Being the dressiest room with the entire razzle dazzle, it fits the bill for exhibiting our collection of Ganesha. Our visually weighty collection certainly merits my husband’s tasteful and keen eye as most of the pieces came home from his distant business travel. The peacock blue melody in the room blends well with the goldy details. "

  "Ever changing unique and casual clustering of our collection often lands on my coffee table."

"All the ho hum of routine life is spared specially our family room, where major element of comfort favors the room. Be it reading a book, sipping our morning chai with each other's company or curling up simply on the couch to see the ducks swimming away in the pond of our ravine view through giant bank of windows." 

"Family portraits clicked in our own ravine backyard has pride of place in our family room. Colors and patterns often sizzle up in this room by layering our mod to old treasures. "

"Our kitchen is designed to age well, which accommodates all major necessity of our compulsive hosting mode where you can often catch me blasting loud on phone while cooking ;)  

The compulsion to belt out décor saga of our home made me start my blog Pinkz Passion. It mostly depicts a powerful presentation of my own design inspiration of our home and anything charming about Indian and global décor trends."

 

 

 

Thanks Pinky for sharing your beautiful home with us!! Please check out her latest blog post for some valentine inspirations. She has created a beautiful valentine tablescape to spread the love.

 

Please click here to read her gorgeous blog.

 

 

All Images are from Pinky