All the things in our house are precious to us and if you ask me, I can tell you the exact time we bought it, how many months we saved for it, how we planned for it. I know people who buy everything as soon as they get married. But somehow it just doesn’t feel right. After all what is marriage without experiencing the joy ( or misery) of sleeping on the floor, eating from one plate, saving for that particular chair that you saw and cribbing over being broke?
We started our married life with just a single cot mattress and a TV. An odd combination, you say. The TV was a gift. The mattress came from my bachelor days. We were both broke. The BH had just joined a new office and all our savings had been spent on our wedding. The first thing that we bought was a fridge, as I “assumed” that now that I had got married I would immediately metamorphose into a bharatiya nari and start cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and the umpteen snacks in between. If I was going to cook so much, obviously there were going to be leftovers and therefore we needed a fridge most importantly. No small fridges for me, than you very much. It has to be a huge fridge with space enough to store food for a small army. Talk about foresight. Hahaha, I had grossly underestimated my mom’s cooking skills. The fridge for the most part of the 2 years has been lonely with just a packet of milk, bread and butter as company. Till Mowgli came along we have been weekend cookers( excuse the pun!) mainly living off take-aways, cornflakes ( that’s the BH-poor guy, he has been forced to have cornflakes, good ol’ bread and the like for breakfast while I go gorge on yummy idlis, dosas, parathas at office). Now that I’m staying at home our fridge is slowly being put to optimum use. The snacks have yet to come, but at least lunch and dinner are getting done now!
With the BH grumbling every morning that I push him out to the floor every night, the next item to come along was a double cot mattress (P.S. we have a king size bed now and still the BH grumbles every night that we push him to a corner and he hardly has any place to sleep!!! Doesn’t it look like he has a “space” problem? :-)) . The single mattress was relegated to the drawing room and made into an impromptu seating arrangement with cushions and bolsters. Meals were had on the floor. We watched TV lying on the floor. Those were idyllic days; the BH watched all the series of Godfather and Die Hard in marathon sessions while I slept/read the whole day. Evenings were spent with friends roaming around or the guys would make chicken/beef/pork at home. We never felt the need for more furniture.
A friend who was going for a long term onsite lend us his antique semi automatic washing machine. Till then the BH and I used to wash the clothes together. Even after getting the washing machine he would help me in putting out the clothes for drying, pouring water into the machine, cleaning up the bathroom after the washing had finished. Now we have a fully automatic one and the BH “talks” about helping me with the washing!!!!
Repeated nagging from my mom forced us to finally think of buying some more furniture. We wanted an ethnic look but didn’t have the budget for it. As a temporary arrangement, we settled for good old cane furniture for the drawing room and a four seater dining table. More than enough for us.
We started our married life with just a single cot mattress and a TV. An odd combination, you say. The TV was a gift. The mattress came from my bachelor days. We were both broke. The BH had just joined a new office and all our savings had been spent on our wedding. The first thing that we bought was a fridge, as I “assumed” that now that I had got married I would immediately metamorphose into a bharatiya nari and start cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and the umpteen snacks in between. If I was going to cook so much, obviously there were going to be leftovers and therefore we needed a fridge most importantly. No small fridges for me, than you very much. It has to be a huge fridge with space enough to store food for a small army. Talk about foresight. Hahaha, I had grossly underestimated my mom’s cooking skills. The fridge for the most part of the 2 years has been lonely with just a packet of milk, bread and butter as company. Till Mowgli came along we have been weekend cookers( excuse the pun!) mainly living off take-aways, cornflakes ( that’s the BH-poor guy, he has been forced to have cornflakes, good ol’ bread and the like for breakfast while I go gorge on yummy idlis, dosas, parathas at office). Now that I’m staying at home our fridge is slowly being put to optimum use. The snacks have yet to come, but at least lunch and dinner are getting done now!
With the BH grumbling every morning that I push him out to the floor every night, the next item to come along was a double cot mattress (P.S. we have a king size bed now and still the BH grumbles every night that we push him to a corner and he hardly has any place to sleep!!! Doesn’t it look like he has a “space” problem? :-)) . The single mattress was relegated to the drawing room and made into an impromptu seating arrangement with cushions and bolsters. Meals were had on the floor. We watched TV lying on the floor. Those were idyllic days; the BH watched all the series of Godfather and Die Hard in marathon sessions while I slept/read the whole day. Evenings were spent with friends roaming around or the guys would make chicken/beef/pork at home. We never felt the need for more furniture.
A friend who was going for a long term onsite lend us his antique semi automatic washing machine. Till then the BH and I used to wash the clothes together. Even after getting the washing machine he would help me in putting out the clothes for drying, pouring water into the machine, cleaning up the bathroom after the washing had finished. Now we have a fully automatic one and the BH “talks” about helping me with the washing!!!!
Repeated nagging from my mom forced us to finally think of buying some more furniture. We wanted an ethnic look but didn’t have the budget for it. As a temporary arrangement, we settled for good old cane furniture for the drawing room and a four seater dining table. More than enough for us.
[We cruised along with these for more than a year. ]
A year into our marriage we bought a house. The woodwork and everything sucked into our savings leaving us with absolutely nothing in the bank to do the furnishings. As usual these got delegated to a later day when we have the money. (This seems to be a steady refrain with us; I think “when we have the money then we will do this and that and that.”) Everybody from home planned to come for the house-warming thus making a cot essential. My grand parents were coming; obviously you couldn’t expect them to sleep on the floor. We fought over cots, visited different shops and finally fell in love with the furniture at Maya Organic. Simple yet elegant rubber wood furniture stained to match the décor of your home. We saw two cots that we loved, had the budget only for one. Bought that and went back to that shop 6 months later to buy the other one (by then they had hiked the price by 4k!!!).
[The bed that i fell in love with. Low level-king size]
Both of us being book lovers next in line was a book shelf. There was a small nook upstairs which was perfect. Wanting something different we raided the internet for designs. Both of us picked one and fought over them. In the end, the BH combined two of the designs we both liked into something like this. For me this is the best part of our home. I can spend hours looking at the books and feeling so happy with myself and the world.
Both of us being book lovers next in line was a book shelf. There was a small nook upstairs which was perfect. Wanting something different we raided the internet for designs. Both of us picked one and fought over them. In the end, the BH combined two of the designs we both liked into something like this. For me this is the best part of our home. I can spend hours looking at the books and feeling so happy with myself and the world.
[Six seater dark wood dining table]
Wooden chairs. Searched everywhere for them and finally got it at an exhibition.
Our balcony ( a work in progress). The big whale and the tortoise guarding the small fishes in the urli.
We are no where finished. What is remaining? The drawing room furniture needs to be upgraded. Mowgli’s room has to be furnished. Our study still remains a dream. Currently making do with the old dining table functioning as a stand for the desktop and laptop. The upper floor needs to be converted into a living room which is a major work. Parapet gardens to be made for the balconies. There is a lot more work. With me not working full time, there is a strain on resources as we are right now concentrating on pre-paying the housing loan rather than spending on home improvements.
Sometimes the BH feels a little depressed when he visits friends and sees their designer homes. At times like that this is what I say to him; “After all ‘Home’ wasn’t built in a day!”
But seriously, a home is only as good as the people in it. The realization that so many friends/relatives feel so comfortable dropping in and staying with us says millions about our home. That it indeed is a place of warmth, love and happiness filled with happy memories not just for us but for many others too. And in the end that is all that matters.
Our balcony ( a work in progress). The big whale and the tortoise guarding the small fishes in the urli.
We are no where finished. What is remaining? The drawing room furniture needs to be upgraded. Mowgli’s room has to be furnished. Our study still remains a dream. Currently making do with the old dining table functioning as a stand for the desktop and laptop. The upper floor needs to be converted into a living room which is a major work. Parapet gardens to be made for the balconies. There is a lot more work. With me not working full time, there is a strain on resources as we are right now concentrating on pre-paying the housing loan rather than spending on home improvements.
Sometimes the BH feels a little depressed when he visits friends and sees their designer homes. At times like that this is what I say to him; “After all ‘Home’ wasn’t built in a day!”
But seriously, a home is only as good as the people in it. The realization that so many friends/relatives feel so comfortable dropping in and staying with us says millions about our home. That it indeed is a place of warmth, love and happiness filled with happy memories not just for us but for many others too. And in the end that is all that matters.
Our Home
Our Aashiyana.
3 comments:
I love your decor.
In Bangalore?
Loved your book shelf. Could you please tell me the place from where you bought it?
we actually got it done by a carpenter. provided him with the design ourselves. its just basic plywood with veneer stuck on it.
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