Practical Vaastu tips for a happy home

Vaastu, which literally means 'house', is a science (shastra) of arranging the five elements - earth, water, fire, air and sky in complete harmony. The fundamental principle of Vaastu Shastra is to add value to a man's life. Behind every tenet of vaastu, there is a scientific reasoning that aims to provide an organized and convenient life to everyone. So, a few changes in your house can bring a lot of peace in your life.

In today’s apartments and rental culture changes related to architecture are not really possible.  Hence, we bring you a few practical changes that will bring balance into your home.

•  At the entrance if you have a bare wall, place a statue or a picture of Ganesha. Since a bare wall represents loneliness, it is an excellent way to hide it.
• Place scenery in the North East direction depicting a long road for good vision and planning.
• Place a family photograph in the south-west direction in a yellow or golden frame or a picture / painting of sunflower for a healthy family bond for healthy family relations.
• Place a picture or painting of a rising sun in the east direction for healthy social relations.
• Place the study table of your kids in the east direction for improvement in studies.
• Remove all the clutter, especially under your bed. It brings you down and keeps your mind subtly connected to the past, which impedes progress.
• The bedroom should not be left in the dark; it should be well lit. Refrain from using dark colors on the bedroom wall to bring harmony and calm.
• Place natural green plants or candles in the bathroom to remove negativity and bring brightness.
• Do not sleep in any direct arrangement with sharp corners. Sharp corners act like energy spears and create stress in the nervous system.
• Place a water fountain in the north-east direction of your house for harmony.

Using glass bottles for home decor

Today we bring you an interesting and inexpensive way to do up your home. Glass Bottles- very versatile and interesting piece of home décor that is cheap and reusable. Glass bottles come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, depending on the product they carry like mason jars, wine bottles etc. So, with a little creativity you can dress up these bottles to make them statement décor pieces.

Bottle Art

Paint old cold drink bottles with acrylic or even glass painting. You go wild with your choices, if you are really arty type then pick a style like warli or Madhubani and paint that way or for those who are artistically challenged there are always stencils. And if even that’s a problem, then just use the old toothbrush dipped in paint and spray it, there’s you abstract or modern art.

Fairy lights in your bottle

While fairy lights are pretty commonly used to do up homes, this is a novel idea. Cut the base of the bottle and insert or put in through the mouth of the bottle itself. You can even paint the bottle to make a more colorful setting; another idea is to paint half the bottle black and the put lights. It creates brilliant contrast and looks amazing.

Beaded with love

Use your old bead necklaces and anklets to dress up a wine bottle or even a mason jar. In case you don’t have any such necklaces, you can just buy colored bead and glue them to make interesting patterns.

Make a Terrarium

Use big sized mason jars to make beautiful terrariums, place some soil and put in some seeds for plants that don’t need too much water. Place the bottle on a window sill and just watch the magic. If you are really serious about a terrarium then you can research and find out how best to do them.

Decoupage Bottles

Decoupage, the art of sticking paper on a surface so that it looks like it’s printed is a fairly easy and inexpensive art. This is best suited for those jam and pickle bottles as they are very distinctive in shape and thus harder to convert into art. Pick up images from magazines or greeting cards or even newspaper print and glue it to the bottle with a mix of glue and water, keep applying this mixture a few times to give the effect of a printed bottle. 

Wealth creation through residential real estate investment

Investment in real estate needs the location to meet specific parameters to be considered effective. Mainly, the location should have good social infrastructure, availability of public transport and sufficient economic activity to sustain growth and development.

To mitigate the risk of investing in real estate, one should restrict investment in residential property in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. It is also advisable to invest in properties that fall in the Rs. 2500-5000/sq.ft. price range, because such investment provides safeguard against capital value erosion. In simple terms, the cost of construction and land makes this segment safe and almost guarantees an appreciation in value.

Some other points to be kept in mind are

• You need to understand the property cycle to determine the best point of entry.
•          Leasehold titles issued by the Government must be understood.
• The quality of the development is significant, because depressed markets often result in shoddy design and construction quality.
• All the development plans and statutory approvals for a project should be available. If approvals are not yet in place, the investor should monitor them closely during the investment cycle
•  Due diligence by a well known, independent legal firm is an essential. Relying solely on due diligence by home loan firms is not advisable as they are also driven by targets.
• The size and dimensions of the plot and the apartment need to be understood; small plots or apartments may cost less, but they are also often difficult to resell.
• The delivery timelines and possession must be explicitly clear. Penalties in case of delay should also be understood clearly, as legal battles are not everyone’s cup of tea.
• The track record and credibility of the builder has to be carefully and diligently researched. Since even the best ones have failed to deliver under the current market conditions.

            For more details about the project, You can call us at 925-0005-154

Feng Shui for the garden

Good Feng Shui in your garden attracts nourishing energy to your home, while delighting your senses. When it comes to great feng shui design, size isn’t the main factor. While it is amazing to have a big, lush garden, you can create a good feng shui design even with a small space.

First and foremost, you need to understand the five elements of feng shui theory and then work towards strengthening each area.

For instance the Northeast area of your garden is connected to personal growth and self cultivation and the element is earth, an excellent idea would be to have a Japanese Zen garden with beautiful rock formations.

If you plan to add a water feature to your garden, then the Southeast, East and North areas signifying money, health and career respectively are the best choices.

Try and create gentle, curving pathways in your garden as this allows the energy to flow smoothly. Since nature doesn’t have straight lines, its best to follow that approach.

A wonderful addition to your garden would wind chimes, as their gentle sounds create healing energy. While each element of the wind chime design is important, mostly the deciding factors are the sound and look.

Working with feng shui colors is great way to emphasize the feng shui rhythms in your garden. In feng shui, color is used according to the five elements theory, and you can bring healing harmony and joy to your garden by choosing colors that emphasize specific energies. So you can opt for purple or red flowers in the South or yellow in Southwest of your garden.

Another element that enhances both the beauty and energy of your garden is the décor elements. You can add decorative elements like a metal sculpture of a turtle on the North side for protection or an outdoor fountain with floating golden hued bells at the Southeast for money and abundance. 

How to create your own terrace vegetable garden

Have you wanted a terrace veggie garden of your own? Its in fact a great idea to grow ones own spices and herbs, so that you have fresh, organic produce at hand. But if you are amongst the huge number who doesn’t know how to go about setting up this garden, read on...

Select the right space
have a good look at your terrace. Determine how the Sun plays in the entire day, and then select a space that is shady but still gets sunlight at least five to 6 hours in a day. Just keep in mind that in case you are planting herbs the sunlight falling them is not harsh enough to destroy them as they are quite delicate.

Prepare the soil

Get some soil and natural manure from any nursery, and mix it well. You can keep it organic by adding cow dung or goat dung manure to the mix. Leave this mix aside for a few days. Meanwhile, when you peel veggies, etc, do not throw away the skin. Instead, create your own compost with these vegetable skins and waste veggies in another pot in the terrace, and add them to this mix. After about a week, this mix is ready for plantation. Get the seeds of whatever you want to grow (tomatoes, chilies, coriander, basil and herbs are good choices). Sprinkle a few seeds over the mix, slightly dab them in with your hand, and leave it be for a couple of days. Watch them grow.

Pick the right veggies

In the begging you can opt for just one or two vegetables, and then go in for more veggies as you gain more experience. Tomatoes, chilies and spinach are easy to grow, so start with them. Sometimes you might need to net out the seeds and the saplings as they grow, to keep pesky sparrows and other birds from feasting on them.

Watering is the key factor

Water the plants regularly, as and when needed. Excess water often causes damage and decay to plant roots, and it also washes away the nutrients of the soil. Also, post every heavy rainfall, remember to add manure to the soil.

The weathered shabby chic look for your home

The 'weathered look' is in this season. Check out any new restaurant or a club and you'll see the grungy, garage look or the so called ‘warehouse’ look that has suddenly become stylish.

The places are generally loaded with loaded with metal and wood furniture, stone flooring and brick walls. There will be the unfinished look in terms of half done paint job, pipes overhanging and a general rusty feeling of a closed factory that's become the new cool hangout for youngsters. The interior design experts of the world are calling this rise of the shabby chic.

Following in the footsteps of the commercial are homeowners who are bringing this grunge look into their homes. The idea is to reduce and re-use, and make the living space look 'cool'. Imagine factory lighting, old ship's lanterns, station clocks... steel chairs gone a bit rusty and worn out. The idea is not to hide the building materials but to show them in all their glory. So, you have exposed pipes, bare ceiling with visible iron rods, wooden tables and metal chairs, brick finishing, tin roofs, metal furniture, steel glasses etc...

Industrial design is generally in neutral tones and showcases utilitarian objects. If turning your entire home seems a bit too much, then try to turn around a corner of your house with this vintage look. The most surprising part of this décor is that while you may think that ‘warehouse look’ will be cold and utilitarian, but it's actually quite the opposite - warm and vivacious.

So how do you go about getting this look at home ...

Try old metal pots inside rooms, these instantly spell the warehouse vibe to a corner or room at your home.

Get a vintage ceramic or metal pitcher for your bar. Add a metal jug or a decorative vase and put some flowers.

A few rustic metal stools, with a weathered look can appear quite stylish. Also old worn out trunks or dressers work really well, you can even use you basic wooden centre table and sandpaper it to get the weathered look

Feng Shui for Bathroom

Traditionally in Feng Shui bathrooms are considered negative places. Part of the reason is that bathrooms generally tended to be out houses not like the beautiful spa like bathrooms common today. Other reason is that energy gets drained from pipes and drains, since Feng Shui is basically study of flow of energy, this is a negative thing. However, nowadays bathrooms are as much a style statement as a living room, and everyone tries to keep them beautiful and functional.

So here we bring you some tips for the bathroom.

Plug the Drains and Keep the Toilet Lid Closed

Plug all the drains of the shower and keep the toilet lid closed to stop the energy from draining away. You can try plastic drain covers. We understand that when you have children it is easier said than done, but everyone can be trained!

Add the Earth Element

Bathrooms have an excessive of the water element, one of the five elements of Feng Shui. To counter balance this you need to bring in the earth element, this can be done by painting the walls in shades of gold, yellows and taupe.

Hang a Crystal from the Ceiling

Crystals are considered the Feng Shui aspirin and are used whenever there is something that could potentially be out of balance in the home. Hanging a Feng Shui crystal about 9′ from the center of the ceiling will keep the chi flowing upwards rather than sucking it down into the drains.

Clear Clutter and Organize

This is perpetual theme in Feng Shui, whichever room it maybe, clear it out clutter and get it organized to promote better movement of energy. Once it is organized you can add attractive and functional things like pretty soap dispensers, tooth brush holders etc.

Freshen It Up!

Buy good quality plush towel sets and matching rugs to create an aesthetic and balanced looks for this important space.

Ultimate hacks to sort your kitchen

Kitchens are one of the most important places in a home, all conversations at home generally tend to happen around dinner, and kitchen is pivotal to that. For a kitchen to be a place of warmth and comfort, it needs to be clutter free, open and spacious. However in our overcrowded urban cities this seems to be difficult. So, here we bring you some useful hacks to make your kitchen more sorted.

Put those shower caps to a creative use

Cover leftovers (in the dish) with a fresh shower cap to protect your food from bugs and other unwanted particles. Also, these caps are reusable and easier to use than aluminum foils or cling sheets.

Label your containers

While this might seems tedious and irrelevant, but, believe me, it is far easier to get things done if everything is properly labeled. Also, you will not be bugged by your family in case one of them is cooking in your absence. You can even make a décor statement, by creating funky chalkboard labels etc.

Prevent clogs in kitchen sink

To prevent clogs from forming in your kitchen sink, make sure to periodically pour boiling water down the drain. This will ensure that the oils in food products run down the drain.

Make your kitchen odor free

A foul-smelling kitchen can make you lose your appetite. Vanilla extract can help you keep the foul odor in your kitchen at bay. Put two caps of vanilla extract into an oven proof dish and then place it in your oven for an hour at 300 degrees. The smell will spread and fade away the foul odors.

Create Partitions in your kitchen drawers

Sort out your big kitchen drawers by partitioning them. Just measure out cardboard strips horizontally or lengthwise to fit snugly along the wall of the drawers, creating partitions to sort your dishes. You don’t need to buy cardboard, you can just use old cartons or books covers etc.

WTC Noida- an opportunity to associate with a global brand

Headquartered in New York, World Trade Center is a global network of office complexes that that has linked around 330 cities in 100 countries across the world. Managed and regulated by renowned World Trade Center Association or WTCA, the organization was established with the aim of establishing a communication network between regional and international organizations. The foundation has now entered Greater Noida. Greater Noida has been on the radar for realty developers because of its pleasant surroundings, connectivity and well developed infrastructure. A lot of big IT firms as well automobile and others have established their offices in Greater Noida.

Greater Noida has become a hub for commercial and residentialdevelopment. There are a number of reasons for this, first and foremost being excellent infrastructure, with a number of well planned, wide roads, hospitals, educational institutions, and commercial sectors. Secondly, it provides great connectivity to Noida, South Delhi etc. Thirdly, it is a great investment opportunity, with increasing demand for both rental and commercial spaces here; the return of investments is bound to grow by leaps and bounds.

WTC is designed as a contemporary business center that has many facilities on offer to help businesses grow and expand. Apart from outstanding design and strong structure, this new age business center Hi-tech communication features including WI-FI internet service, intercom, video conferencing and audio-visual aid making it a world class business center. Additionally, the complex offers a wide range of high-end facilities, like wide parking area, 24X7 water supply, complete power backup, recreational center, quality maintenance, medical desk, conference room etc. all of which are necessary elements in the daily functioning and expansion of a business. Also, with WTC you are assured of higher rents, faster sales, longer leases and higher occupancy, making them not only the most preferred business hubs, but a lucrative investment destination as well.

For more details about the project, You can call us at 925-0005-154

Ivy Estate- Where Every Moment is Enjoyable

Ivy Estate, an integrated township project by Kolte Patil is one of the rare projects where community living is reality instead of a glossy magazine picture. Located at one of the hottest locations in Pune-Wagholi, Ivy Estate Pune brings to you the feeling of living in a cohesive unit. 

In earlier times, all of us remember visiting our neighbors regularly and spending time with them. Whether it was a big festival or a cricket match, the entire community enjoyed it as one big family, where the elders would meet and greet and bring scrumptious food and the younger ones would have a blast. As time has passed, most of us don’t even know the names of our neighbors, let alone meet or spend time with them. With increase in technology and urbanization we have forgotten what living in a community means.

However, at Ivy Estate, this is precisely what is going to impress and involve you. The overwhelming sense of living in a large family, with over 1600 families living here, you are sure to find people of your sort. With a bunch of community activities like skating, martial arts and learning football, dance, music designed specially to involve children, Ivy Estate has ensured that kids also understand what a healthy and active lifestyle is. And assured of their safety and security, the mothers are also enjoying their time meeting and talking.

The number of recreational facilities at the Ivy Estate in wagholi  will ensure that you get to spend a lot of time with your family. Whether it is enjoying some quality time at the pool, playing indoor & outdoor sports with your kids, and or spending time with your elders meditating and practicing yoga, this place has something for everyone. At Ivy Estate, every minute of free time will be transformed into moments of fun, creating memories just like a well-connected community does.

For more details about the project, You can call us at 925-0005-154

Ways to jazz up that apartment balcony

Balconies are all that seem to be left to us in the urban concrete jungles that are our cities; very few have the luxury of gardens and courtyards. These small hanging spaces seem to be our only refuge as a window to the world, from where we gaze out to catch views of the city, or see the rare star in the skies.

Considering how important balconies have become, we came up with few creative ideas to jazz up this tiny space. Read on to know more.

Wall Gardens or vertical gardens- We covered vertical gardens in one of our previous posts as a new emerging trend for nature lovers where is space is crunch. While vertical gardens are somewhat expensive they do add depth to your drab little space. You just need to figure out plants according to the sunlight that you receive and an irrigation system.

Smart furniture work- If you have a little bit of space, then invest in good quality furniture that is light, portable and weather resistant. If you are using the balcony for lazing around then it is great idea to get ottomans or bean bags. You can even get a hammock or cane swing to add an element of fun.

Investing on basics- If you are intent on using this space then it makes sense to invest in basics like getting glass railings instead of metal or marble ones, as they add a touch of elegance while being low maintenance. Colors mirroring natures like greens, yellows and oranges look great in balcony.

Trendy décor- To make any space sing you need a few key décor items that bring the space alive. These need not necessarily be expensive; you just need a bit of aesthetic sense. Major décor elements that make a difference are lighting and upholstery, get interesting lighting fixtures like fairy lights, lanterns and small led candles to add beauty and festivity. Get rugs and cushions in sturdy fabrics and bright colors which won’t get spoiled due to the weather. 

Premium homes at Lodha Palava Golflinks

Lodha Palava City GolfLinks is the brand new tower residential tower in the well known Palava City residential complex by the very well-known Lodha Group. The group established in 1980 has achieved the distinction of being one of the most renowned real estate developers in India. Due their constant emphasis on innovation, engineering and customer centricity the group has won the trust of its customers. The premium project is located at Dombivli, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the city. Spread across an area of 50 acres the project has 196 units of 2BHK, 3BHK and 4BHK apartments and villas in totality and is surrounded by beautiful settings that are sure to captivate and charm residents and give them an absolute sense of peace. Designed to offer its resident the most premium of living spaces, the homes at Palava Golflinks are very carefully planned.

Located at a very strategic area of Dombivli East Lodha Palava Golflinks enjoys the exclusivity of being the only residences on a golf course in MMR. The location of the project allows it to have brilliant connectivity to various parts of the city. The project is in close proximity to Thane as well as major corporate hubs like DAKC, Siemens, MIDC and Capgemini.

The biggest attraction of this project lies in the fact that resident enjoy the view of beautiful, undulating greens of a Gold course. As it is generally understood in real estate market a Golf course property is considered premium and is valued anywhere between 25 to 80% higher than other properties. This means that while residents enjoy the lives of luxury, they are also gaining a lot on their investment. As this is a permanent feature, the beauty and value will only increase with time.

For more details about the project, You can call us at 925-0005-154

Lodha Palava Exotica- Welcome to a happy, modern life

Lodha Group has come up with new towers in their residential project Palava City, named exotica the project is a residential tower comprising of 2BHK apartments. The project located at one of the upcoming locations of Mumbai- Dombivli, is expected to give residents the access to a efficient and contemporary lifestyle as Lodha Palava is touted to be the first real smart City in India fulfilling dreams of people by giving them a comfortable life.

Dombivili east is an emerging neighborhood in Mumbai and is gaining popularity in terms of the number of residential developments taking place here. Dombivli is a relatively affordable locality. In Mumbai this is a very important factor as people are realizing that buying property has become a distant dream due to the skyrocketing prices. Dombivli is close to the developing industrial belt, which in future is going to generate huge number of jobs and consequently going to drive the demand for quality housing.  Another important factor forDombivli’s popularity is that it has a well developed social infrastructure with a wide variety of schools, hospitals, and malls etc making things of necessity easily accessible to individuals.

Lodha Palava Exotica comprises of 2 BHK apartments that are spacious and well designed, all apartments are well ventilated allowing air flow and sunlight into the homes. The complex has wide variety of facilities like a Swimming pool, well-equipped gymnasium, multipurpose hall, library and landscaped garden with children’s play area, library, cafeteria and even a temple. All these features have been included in the project to give the residents a comfortable and happy lifestyle with lots of avenues for recreation.

Lodha Developers are a well know and reputed developers, recognized as a pioneering and technologically advanced company, over the last 3 decades they have been one of the leaders in the real estate industry in India. The company has maintained its focus on developing first-class residential, commercial, retail, integrated townships, gated communities and redevelopment projects chiefly in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) & Pune, Hyderabad & Bangalore.

For more details about the project, You can call us at 925-0005-154