Tag / blogs

by Aman Sharma

Living room according to vastu.

Living room is a place where you spend most of the family time together. Cherish memories with loved ones. This is the place where your guest are entertained once they enter your house. So it is very essential to make your living room according to vastu to have positive vibes in your house. Below are preferred location for a living room in the house.

 In a North facing site: The Living room can be in the North (brings health and wealth to the family), North-East.
In a West facing site: The Living room can be in the North-West (good location, but guests feel restless and leave early).
In a South facing site: One can have a South-East Living room but if there is no other choice, opt for the  South-West (guests feel at home and stay on for a long time). 
In an East facing site: The Living room can be in the East, otherwise in the North-East corner.

But for any of the reasons if your drawing room is not in the right direction you can still do some small things to keep positive energy around you in your happy place.

  • Colour of walls and décor must be positive.

Wall colours of the living must be light or pale like Light blue, green, peach etc. Avoid using black, brown or dark blue. Heavy furniture and décor more than required creates a hindrance in the way of having a positive vibe in the house, try to be a minimal or use things according to requirement only. Battlefield weapons, Animal skins, dry land painting or sad statues are not considered good, avoid them.

  • Place an aquarium

Fish aquarium not only gives you happiness but it is also believed that it protects your family from any upcoming dangers. Aquarium also keeps a steady flow of positive energy and money in the home. Aquarium can be place in east, north east or north.

  • For paintings

Paintings have become an essential part of décor. But paintings also are related with energy in the house. Putting a painting of horses running inwards on south wall is considered good. It results in making you a popular personality and gain fame. One thing to keep in mind while purchasing painting is that the face of horses must be happy, not in aggression. To have more positive energy you can hang the painting of sunrise on east wall.

  • Furniture

Heavy sofa and furniture should be placed on south and west side of the room, while small furniture items can be placed on east and north side. Wooden furniture is best for having positive energy around you. Broken furniture should not be placed in the room, it is believed that they bring sadness in the house and also results in the increase amount of bad/negative vibes.

  • Indoor planters

Plants are the best way to keep a positive atmosphere around you. Money plant or other indoor plants can be placed in east or north direction. They are believed to create a harmonious atmosphere, but only if they are chosen correctly for a specific location. Dry plants, thorny or bonsai are believed to have a negative impact in the house. Plants not only keep a good vibe but also a number of benefits to your health also.

  • What else to take care off –
  • Sofa should not be placed under the beam. Beam is considered as thing to separate and might result in the sourness of your relations. But for any reason if you can’t move you’re sitting anywhere than hang a flute or wind chimes.
  • The light in the room must not be too bright and hit directly into eyes of your guests or yourself.
  • Don’t build a toilet in drawing room or if you have one than don’t use it.
  • Electrical equipment must be placed in the south direction. While A.C. must be in west direction.

These were the few vastu tips that can be used in your drawing room to have a circulation of positive energy around you. Thank you for reading. You can ask your questions or leave a suggestion in the comment box below.

Escape window.  

by Aman Sharma

Uncoding the bathroom

Bathroom is simply defined as a room with a bathtub/shower and usually with a basin and a toilet seat, but bathroom is not just about this only anymore. In a poll of about 2500 people including men, women and youngsters they have accepted the fact on an average they spent 30 minutes of their day in the bathroom. So the bathroom has not just remained a place to go, freshen yourself and come out but now people sit there scrolling through the internet, going through the world on their phones and so much more. On a note it is accepted by about 70% of people that there ability of thinking increases in the bathrooms compared to normal work space. So it has become equally important to design them well too. In houses bathrooms now work as a style statement. In this article I will try to write down the basic principles used in designing a bathroom. Bathrooms should be a quiet and hygienic place and must be designed accordingly. If you are designing one for home than you should considering making a mood board for it. Usually a mood board is where you write the main element i.e. is bathroom in this case and around it you write all the things that come in your mind by thinking of that particular word, than select the words you are most attracted and paste their pictures on a sheet. In this way you will get a clear picture for what your thoughts are on how your bathroom should be.

Illustration of a mood board

Before designing of the bathroom it is mainly divided into four parts to get most of the bathroom that are-

  • Dry area- that is your Wash basin area
  • Semi wet area- that is the WC/Toilet seat area
  • Wet area- that is the bath area
  • Slopes- Bathroom’s floor is made in a way that it is a little slant so that if water get collected so it automatically slides down to the drainage point.

This are the basic principles that are used in structuring of a bathroom. Below is a small brief about this areas.

1-Dry area or the ‘Basin’ area- This area is considered as the soul of your bathroom area. The first part of the area that catches the attention of the person. Wash basin must be placed just at the entrance of the bathroom. This is the area which can be and is mostly designed to the fullest. This area can be filled with a lot of design elements, big looking mirrors, cove lights and so much more. This area has to be kept dry. Although you have wash basin here where you will wash your hands and face a lot of times in a day. So the area should be designed in such a manner that water don’t spill everywhere. The height must be at correct level (standard at 36” from floor level) so it provides you ease of use. Wall mounted basins are new in trend but still counter top basins are preferred more till date. A small mat or rug can be place on the floor near the basin area. Though people decorate it very much by filling it up with different products but to get best of it try to keep the minimal stuff on the counter, keep liquid soaps in a bottle hanged on the wall. Use vanity under the basins to store more of the stuff as they will also work a design statement for your bathrooms as well as a storage option too. Below are some the bathroom basin area designs. Don’t fill up too much here as it will make it look tidy and later will create various issues like cleaning and maintaining it.

2- Semi wet area- The WC/ Toilet seat area is known as the semi wet area of the bathroom. This area must be hidden or designed in such a way that it is not visible directly when you enter the bathroom. The position of the wc should also be maintained so you don’t feel tidy or uncomfortable while using it. In smaller bathrooms wall mounted wc can be used to save more space.

3- Wet area- The bathing area is known as the wet area. It is advised to create its floor a little slant than the normal floor level so that the water don’t get collected there. If possible try to divide the wet and semi wet area, particularly it is done by giving glass shower enclosures. Shower enclosures are trending these days but demand a proportionate of space also which is mostly not available in regular bathroom sizes. So to overcome this either you can create a partition wall between the two or keep the wet area floor a little lower than the rest of the floor of bathroom. Another thing to keep in mind is that the wet area and semi wet area must be constructed near to each other than being in the opposing directions. Below are two ways to separate the wet and dry areas.

4- Slope- As described above, the bathroom floor is constructed in such a way that it is a little slanted towards the wet area so that water can easily travel out through the drain point.

These were the four main basic principles on which a bathroom design is based upon. These things are essential for a bathroom to function to its full efficiency. Once the plan is made according this, than you can move to next step that is designing of the bathroom. Planning with this rule will automatically result in better outcome of the design no matter what you choose to apply there.

While designing the bathroom watch out for these things also-

  • Proper ventilation of air and the placement of the exhaust to clear out humidity in there.
  • Minimum space required in bath and wc area so that you can move your elbow and legs freely without hitting anything.
  • Use matt or rustic flooring in the bathroom to avoid slipping.
  • To avoid termite or water damage on wall apply tiles till the ceiling. One it will protect your vanity and other items from problem and it will also work as a style element for the walls.

by Aman Sharma

Healthy dressings for Salad

Salad plays an important role in increasing the taste of the Indian food. Tangy and delicious food is accompanied by salad including tomatoes, cucumber, onions, Carrot, Reddish, vegetables and much more. Let it be the lemon juice or the sweet or tangy curd poured on it, doubles the flavor of the food. So, this we talked about the Normal or the Indian dressing, but to give it a twist I am going to mix the Desi Salad with Videsi (Foreign) dressing to give it a fusion. I assure you it will be much tastier and healthier than you have ever eaten before.

1- Italian dressing

Ingredients required- Olive oil (1/3 cup)

                                      Lemon juice (1/3 cup)

                                     Garlic powder (1 small tbsp.)

                                     Thyme (1/2 small tbsp.)

                                    Oregano (1/2 small tbsp.)

                                 Basil (Tulsi) leaves (1 small tbsp.)

                                 Honey (1 small tbsp.)

                                    Salt (a small pinch)

Recipe- Put all the ingredients in a bowl and blend it with a blender. If thyme not available you can also use coriander leaves. If you are using dry oregano, dry thyme and dry basil leaves, than you can also mix it in a bowl manually. Once it is ready, you can use it on any salad. You can keep it in refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. The oil present in it may freeze when placed in refrigerator for longer periods of time. So before consuming, take it out of the fridge for a couple of minutes and then give it a mix before intake.

2- Lemon vinaigrette dressing

Ingredients required- Lemon juice (1/3 cup)

                                       Mustard (1 big tbsp.)

                                       Sugar (1 small tbsp.)

                                       Garlic (thin chopped)

                                        Olive oil (1/3 cup)

                                        Mint leaves (1/3 cup, finally chopped)

                                        Salt (1/8 small tbsp.)

                                         Black pepper (according to taste)

Recipe- Put lemon juice, Mustard, sugar and garlic in a jar and blend it perfectly. Blend it while adding olive oil at short intervals. After it add mint leaves, salt and black pepper and your dressing is ready to be served on the salad.

3- Spicy dressing

 Ingredients required- Lemon juice (1/3 cup)

                                         Mustard powder (1/2 cup)

                                        Fresh tomato puree (1/4 cup)

                                       Red chili powder (1/4 small tbsp.)

                                       Tabasco sauce (1/2 small tbsp.)

                                      Salt (1/4 small tbsp.)

                                        Jaggery (Gud) a small piece wet in hot water

Recipe- Put all the ingredients in a jar together and stir it perfectly. If Tabasco sauce is not available you can use any red, green or any other spicy sauce. Your dressing is ready and it can put in the fridge for 2-3 days.

4- Hot and Sour dressing-

Ingredients- Garlic (1 finally chopped)

                      Sugar (2 small tbsp.)

                      Red chili powder (1 small tbsp.)

                      Soya sauce (2 tbsp.)

                      Lemon juice (1 big tbsp.)

                      Oil- (2 small tbsp.)

Recipe- Heat up the oil in a pan on medium flame. Put garlic in it and Stir it gently until golden brown. Put all the ingredients and garlic in a bowl and mix it well. It is ready to be served on the salad.

5- Coconut dressing-

Ingredients- Mayonnaise (1/2 cup)

                       Full fat Coconut milk (1/2 cup)

                      Onion powder (1 small tbsp.)

                       Garlic powder (1 small tbsp.)

                       Fennel (Sauf) Powder (1 small tbsp.)

                   Coriander leaves (1 big tbsp.)

                  Green onion (1 big tbsp.  Finally chopped)

                  Salt (according to taste)

                    Black pepper (1/4 small tbsp.)

                  Apple vinegar (1 small tbsp.)

Recipe- Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir it until it becomes properly smooth. After this store it in a refrigerator for 30 minutes for cooling process. Serve this cool dressing on your salad.

6- Lime and Chilly dressing-

Ingredients- Lemon juice and yeast (1 cup)

                       Olive oil (3 big tbsp.)

                       Red chili without seeds (1 nos.)

Recipe- Put lemon juice, lemon yeast, olive oil and finally cut red chili in a bowl and mix it well. Ready to serve, that simple and easy. You can store this for up to a week in the refrigerator.

7- Low fat Ranch dressing-   

Ingredients- Buttermilk (1 cup)

                           Cheese (¼ cup)

                           Onion powder (2-3 big tbsp.)

                           Lemon juice (1 small tbsp.)

                           Black pepper (as per requirement)

                           Salt (according to taste)

Recipe- Put all the ingredients in bowl and mix it well. Buttermilk should be thick. You can also put onion slice on the top of it. Ready to serve.