Summer Tips For Interior Design

We are in the midst of a fired up summer at Cochin, Kerala, During this time not only is the mercury rising but so is your electricity bills.

The most basic thing you can do to as a Keralite, is to keep your house cooler without air conditioning is to keep as much sunlight out as possible and let cooler air in at night. During the day, keep windows, drapes, blinds, or shades closed, especially on the southern and western sides of your home. If you have a porch, you can put up large plastic or bamboo shades to cut down on sunlight.Here are some tips to keep your infrastructure cooler during summer: 

- Give your air-conditioner a rest for some hours during the day. And while you do this, open all the windows in your home. Let the occasional breeze grace your home, instead of keeping your home completely closed all day.

- Ensure that you have light-coloured curtains, drapes, blinds at home. Light-coloured fabrics reflect away the harsh sunlight and heat unlike dark-coloured ones which absorb heat.

Ventilation and apt drapes adds the bliss

 -Moving air is cooler air. At night, place fans in windows to bring more cool air in. Ceiling fans can also make a big difference. In terms of cooling, even a one-mile-per-hour breeze will make you feel three to four degrees cooler Ceiling fans have two settings, one to pull air up (for winter use), and the other to push air down. Make sure your ceiling fan is blowing down.

- Keep potted plants in your house. Not only will they disperse oxygen in the atmosphere during the day, giving you clean air but they also make a pretty sight with their greenery, making Kerala greener.

 

Greener, ecofriendly living enviornment

- Replace your ordinary lights and bulbs with fluorescent ones. They cost more than the average lights and bulbs. However, they provide a lighting effect that is much cooler and consumes less electricity, and provides a pleasant workable environment, feel free to try out LED lightings which is cochin’s new trend in interior lighting.

-Keeping your electronics on a power strip provides a quick way to "power-down" before leaving for the day.

- As Keralites,we do cook daily, Ideally, one should avoid cooking during the hottest part of the day, i.e. afternoons. But if you have to, use a fan to direct the heat out of the house via windows. 

- It's a good idea to paint the ceiling or the roof of your house white in colour, as the colour helps in keeping the home cooler.

Classy white cieling adds the right ambience.

Designing your home and office to be more energy friendly as well as Eco-friendly by making use of simple ideas like mentioned,can make a big difference in both the living environment as well as energy bills. 

Greening your landscapes in 2014

Whether you are concerned about protecting the environment or if you simply want to give your lawn or backyard an eco-friendly makeover, it's good to consider the idea of green landscaping. For most of us, it might not be a concern when we talk about the alarming depletion of green cover, but often than not it's a fact that we all love some aesthetics and greenery around.

It has become more than a fad for most people in Kerala, who are already greenovating their abodes. Tapping the resources one can easily find in your surroundings, green landscaping is a great choice to escape the expense of the modern day building articles.

By giving an aesthetic view outside your windows, green landscapes nuture your soul with the comfort of a cool and spruced up yard.  Surrounding yourself with the natural beauty of lawns and trees in your garden, you can savour the look of a brilliant outdoor.

Here is some of what you can do to turn your yard into an artistic, eco-friendly green space.

• Lawn - keep it neat.

A well manicured lawn enhances the aesthetic appeal adding a comforting and reassuring feel to what's outside your house.

•    Add flowers and shrubbery.

If flowers excite you, there's nothing as good as having a colourful garden use up your space.

• Install a rain garden.

Make good use of the runoff from your home's roof. It not only guarantees the look of an attractive garden, but also supports as a natural habitat for birds and butterflies. Now, wake up to the song of the birds.

• Flavour your garden with interesting elements around.

The water feature and the greenery of your garden will only look better if you choose to spice it up with a pergola, walkway or may be a fence. 

• The sound of water.

What is more soothing than the sound of flowing water in your yard?  The water fountains are more than an enhancement to the greenery around. It outpours a lot of affection in you by taking you a step closer to nature.

You can try it out yourself or you can opt for the service of Carion Bilta, the leading architecture and landscape designing company in Kerala.

It's true that we fail to give as much attention to what surrounds our homes as to what is inside. Well, just to let you know, creating a beautiful stone paver pathway or a more colourful garden outside is as overwhelming as decluttering your wardrobe; or even more than that. Green roofs, green walls, permeable pavements are all hitting the trend this 2014. It's time to switch to colour, simplicity and sustainability.

Decorate Your Home On A Budget This Christmas!

There are just a few more days till Christmas, and no doubt the right way to kickstart the festive spirit is by decorating your home. It’s not always necessary to empty your pockets to decorate your home, especially with the many DIY options that you can try out. It not only helps you to save money but also adds a personal  touch and well-tailored look for your interiors.

Lining Up Christmas Cards

You can collect all your old Christmas cards and line them up like a streamer on the walls or even above the door steps. You can even use them on your Christmas tree but make sure that it doesn’t look overcrowded.

Salt Dough Decorations

If you have some moulds at your home, you can make some dough decorations out of them. All you need to do is to mix some dough and salt and roll it flat. Cut out your preferred shapes and don’t forget to make a small hole on top of every shape. You can bake these shapes in a microwave oven for a few minutes and when they are hardened, you can decorate your Christmas tree with them.

Handmade Stickers

If you have a printer at home, you can take printouts of Christmas trees, reindeer or Santa Claus. By using a two-sided sticking tape, you can convert the cutouts into a sticker.

Decorating With Pinecones

Collect some pinecones from your neighborhood and make a mixture of glue, gum and glitter, and paint the cones with it. You can use the small pine cones for decorating the Christmas tree. The big ones can be kept inside a glass bowl. It is a wonderful DIY idea not only for Christmas but it’s a good home decor idea as well.

Handmade Wreaths

Instead of spending money on a Christmas wreath, you can make it yourself. Take a ringed object, like the rings you use in a game of ring toss, and stick some colorful decorative items on it. Apart from that, you can even make a Christmas wreath by sticking some green tinsels to the ring. Use your creativity to make it unique.

It’s good not to get stuck with traditional colors like red, green, white. Instead of that, you can experiment with more funky colors. Make sure to involve your kids also in decorating your home, and give them an opportunity to exhibit their skills. There is also a joy of togetherness when the whole family works together.


Christmas Tip: Use the money which you save on decorations for a worthy cause. Do something meaningful this year for Christmas; take your kids to an old age home or an orphanage and give them your savings. Let them realize that the real joy of Christmas is the joy of giving.