#GIRLWHO DECOR

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Bachelorette Casa – decoded

New to living by yourself in a new city and Pinterest and Instagram taking over your mind with over inspiration well I have been there too when I first moved to Mumbai … So here’s a small ‘s decode for you some tricks and tips to make your apartment living cosy, sustainable and aesthetic

Most of the time once you do shortlist the house and the move-in date comes closer you try and make the must-have and good to have lists for your new home at times its a diligent list and as a young damsel like me in 2013 it was more of a mental list.

Low budget, easy to transport and long-lasting were the only themes in my head at the time. LOW BUDGET being on a different higher pedestal altogether

Well at the time I was sharing my home and having a roommate was just fun. So together we decided on the stuff we needed in our first unfurnished apartment (that’s what we could afford)

Before this becomes my memoir of good old days let’s quickly jump to the things I learnt while creating a bachelorette casa

Understand your apartment – Furnished vs Unfurnished??

When making a decision regarding an apartment type ensure you have a settling comfort in using the provided household stuff and appliance that come with a furnished apratment, also ensure when finalising the apartment the condition of already provided things and last servicing date of the appliances especially if you see them being a little wonky.

I have always wanted to customise my apartment as per my style and getting an unfurnished or semi-furnished apartment was my idea of getting the right casa there are some interesting ways you can always look for renting few appliances even furniture and what comfort it gives is that you can get a proper functioning cleaned device or furniture and at least for me that was a sigh of relief, the other benefit is that you don’t have to invest big money upfront for something when you are not looking for a permanent setup. easy peezy RENT IT OUT…

Some great websites that helped me –

How to then go about decorating

I have always been on the move in my job so buying more permanent furniture, appliances or even big inventory in decorative items was a challenge. So I started small, looked at my requirements and then decided to rent it out luckily to my help came these amazing websites mentioned above and as an early adopter I became a subscriber. Finding just the right balance between need and budget is the key and patience to get just the right deal helped me crack the code to decorating my apartment

Connect with me to know more and hopefully I can help you with your querries

Check out some of my home pictures from the very first apartment to how I built it up slowly

For more decor ideas and tricks follow me on my Instagram. Hope you liked this post write to me your thoughts in the comment section below

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Bedsheets – A magical tale

How to choose bedsheets… Cotton? If so, which type of cotton? or should you buy Silk? Polyester? Flannel? Linen? A blend of various materials? Well let’s get to the bottom of it keep reading

Image of bedsheet,
How to select bedsheet, image of bedsheet — A story by girlwho

Many adjectives may come to your mind when you are on the pursuit to find the perfect bed sheet for your home. Adjectives like warmth, weight, high thread count, softness, feel, fitted sheet, etc. It can be confusing to choose from a wide variety of fabrics for your bedsheets.

A quality bed sheet will have a minimum of 200 thread count at least. Top notch bed sheets possess about 250-300 thread count. And the best sheets in the market have a thread count from 600 to upwards of 1500 thread count. Anything above 1500 thread count is not a good deal to buy.

Climate, humidity play a role in how your bed sheets feel. You need a space to dry them properly and also a dryer that will be a necessity in upcoming monsoon season

What to look for?

type of fabrics, how to choose fabric, fabric type,

First and the most important decision is material of the bedsheet. You can always select the one as per your requirement. Do keep in mind natural fibre are to be carefully cured not saying they are high maintenance just to be treated well for a soft comfortable sleep time.

With cottons and other natural fabrics you have to remember to wash them with lukewarm water and note first few washes yes there will be some residual color from the dye that will drain, totally normal. A quick hack for that is to add a tablespoon of salt when you are soaking the natural fabric sheets before you throw them in the washing machine or wash them by hand. Use mild soaps

The big question polyester vs. natural fabric’…

Cotton is the prime choice of fabric to make bed sheets that are not only soft, comfortable, durable but also hypoallergenic, and environment-friendly. However you can experiment based on your style and requirement. Generally speaking, long fibers make high-quality bed sheets that are not only smooth, but better is the quality and softness of the bed sheet. Normally, a bed sheet with a thread count higher than 200 is considered to be of good quality. So look for that when buying.

Challenge with Polyester ones is that they are not breathable and more prone to static and pilling. You can look for budget friendly options in another category called Mixed blend fabric these are a tricky ones as many times sellers do not clearly call out the percentage of polyester mixed with cotton, so keep an eye on that.

Cotton fibre is derived naturally, polycotton fabric is a mix of cotton and polyester fibres. You will find several variants of polycotton depending on the cotton-polyester weightage. Cotton being a natural fabric is great for summers, is soft, and breathable. At the same time, cotton sheets are a bit on the higher end, and susceptible to wear, and tear, and wrinkling. Polycotton overcomes the challenges of cotton as it is less prone to wrinkles, is more durable, and cost-effective as well.

Patterns vs Prints

From florals to traditional paisley motifs to solid colours to abstract patterns, bedsheets are available in several prints, designs and colours you can base your selection in different categories, I am more of a paisley and abstract print buyer yes you can be both too, however my heart goes for hand block printed bed sheets they are adaptable with any type of decor theme.

Checkout some of my home pictures on how I selected bedsheets and used them in different ways

Girlwho always prefers to remix and reuse the bed sheets, you can see a bed sheet used as lounge cover, table cloth or even a shelf cover no judgement right it’s all part of my sustainable decor style

Image of bedsheet, girlwho decor, bedsheet details, type of fabric

Bed sheet, bedsheet, image of bedcover, duvet, music

Image of bed sheet, bedsheet, girlwho decor, bedsheet details, type of fabric

Image of bedsheet, uses of bedsheet, home decor, bedsheet

Girlwhosays, girlwho says, homedecor tips

Check out my list of #founditonamazon for amazing bedsheets

For more decor idea and trick follow me on my Instagram. Hope you liked this post write to me your thoughts in comment section below

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How to select Curtains – an adventure

what to choose before you make a decision!!!

Curtains vs. blinds….

A great deal of consideration goes before you choose the window treatment which fabric, which style or look for made to order or buy from retail.

Girlwho believes that selecting between curtains and blinds is key to the entire character of your room.

Many a times we select expensive home styling items to get the cosy vibe going for the room but forget to make the important decision of choosing what type of window treatment will go with it and that my friends leads to a dispiriting effect for your room. Here’s what I typically do when choosing curtains for my room I prefer to keep it simple, maintain privacy of the room but also keeping it filled with natural light. You can look at few trick that I have mentioned below to choose an apt curtain or blind for your home too.. Keep reading hope you like it

How to choose curtain vs blinds?

Look for inspiration in your surroundings and definitely multiple instagram pages to decide what theme you want in your room next up is the lighting see if your room get early morning bright light or afternoon sharp sunlight this can be a major bummer if you don’t evaluate it.

Always keep in mind the texture I have a collection of curtains vintage silk ones that are opaque paired with some made to order sheer curtains for day time. These curtains are easy to manage and can be dry cleaned/washed in washing machine at home that’s what I really like about them.

As I live in an apartment the sheers stay on through the day with small embroideries on it, this gives me enough natural sunlight and also keeps the inside of the house out of sight.

I love to use some curtain ties to create a more aesthetic look these are mostly reuse of some old hangings I bought and are not in use. Reuse Restyle and Refurbish is my mantra for home styling always helpful and sustainable. Keeps me in budget too.

If you are thinking of investing in blinds that’s great idea too, but when there is space restrictions and if you are looking for a more permanent solution blinds are a great choice the only challenge I feel with blinds is you have limited options to constantly change them. I over the years have collected 2 – 3 sets of curtains and that gives me a lot of options to mix and match sticking to my mantra of being sustainable.

Checkout some of my home pictures on how I styled my curtains.

Check out my list of #founditonamazon to get your room an easy makeover

For more decor idea and trick follow me on my Instagram. Hope you liked this post write to me your thoughts in comment section below

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Decorating corners

Whether it’s a gallery wall or an extra seating arrangement or arrangement of green plant decorating corners is one of the most popular home styling technique. Changing a corner decor suddenly amps up the vibe of your room.

I love decorating corners and creating that little cut out space within the room that is vibrant and aesthetic to look at and the easiest way to do so is by adding planters and lighting.

Choice of plants must be the ones that are hassle-free and require minimum attention will share the details of such plants in my next post same goes with lighting to choose the lamp or lighting arrangement that is very poppy sometimes subtle lights goes long way and for me once I started using floor lamps there was no going back.

Here see my list of quirky amazon finds click on the image to explore more on Amazon. These are hassle free products with minimum installation setup required so you can just go ahead explore the list.

For more home styling ideas visit my Instagram page

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Terracotta – a love

Terracotta pottery is made by baking terracotta clay. In fact, the word “terracotta” comes from the Italian words for “baked earth.” Makes sense, right? You may also hear “terracotta“ used to describe color. The terracotta color is a natural brown-orange. I fell in love with this versatile decorative item really early in life learnt it from my Mom, how she would use them to bring in the earthy vibe at home and I think that has till date stayed with me and reflects in my style too

I remember we use to have these 3 matkis/pots that mom painted in auspicious red and yellow and decorated with glass cuttings they were adorable.

So when I moved into my appartment life this was a must have so we recreated the most versatile piece of decorative for my appartment only this time she painted them golden and with the amazing warli motif on it.

Are you fascinated by the Terracotta decor items? Check out my list of Terracotta decor items #founditonamazon

For more decor idea and trick follow me on my Instagram

Hope you liked this post write to me your thoughts in comment section below

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A peak inside my home

Mumbai, a city of dreams and I am dreamer. Yes, you have heard this before but it is something that everyone here truly believes in. As a novice writer and home styling hobbyist, I have fallen in love with the vibe of this city. Thrill of finding a cozy appartment suiting your needs and then turning it into your home is a journey that I am here to share with you

An apartment feels like home only when you create a cohesive look that represents your style. It is important to love your space, find your corner, and cozy up to just think about your dreams, your plans, and spend time with yourself. This little corner a mix of color and greens is my favorite at Home.

Check out my latest post don’t forget to share your comments and feedback of what you think

Budget Decor

Styling accommodations – A journey of its own

Soon after moving out of my vibrant Mumbai apartment, I have now moved into a beautiful cozy seems ancient but an accommodation…

Keep reading

by #Girlwho

Budget Decor

Bachelorette Casa – decoded

Bachelorette Casa – Decoded a memoir of setting a singles apartment. A damsel trying to fall in love with her new city…

Keep reading

by #Girlwho

Bedsheets

Bedsheets – A magical tale

How to choose Cotton? If so, which type of cotton? Silk? Polyester? Flannel? Linen? A blend of various materials? Well let’s get…

Keep reading

by #Girlwho

Styling accommodations – A journey of its own

Soon after moving out of my vibrant Mumbai apartment, I moved into a beautiful cosy seems ancient but an accommodation which will be closest to my heart for the rest of my life.

Nestled in the green lands of West Bengal, this little abode of ours is a warehouse which is tastefully modified to suit the needs of a home, our predecessors who lived here have tried to bring their design aesthetic into this accommodation basis their needs at the moment

Sometimes you could see the jigsaw puzzle when nails on this one wall here are symmetrically placed as if it was a photo wall which would have once adorn these walls of mi casa

So when I reached here and put on my home-stylist hat I just wanted to reuse the surroundings, the nails already in place the furniture we got and style it in my way with very minimum disruptions and requirement of moving things around too much

The Process

Because of heavy monsoons in this area the paint job and old cement had given up on staying together as a team and that was the first of and soon to be a long-ish list of repair works that came our way as we moved ahead. Naïve two did not know much about it but we went ahead learning and managing it day by day …

What did come in handy during the quarantine period was for any new entrant in this facility we were to stay under quarantine for 21 days and that gave us a lot of home time yes just like “me time” I have home time – a dedicated time for just doing the home thing we will talk about it more someday, however that helped us to plan our home edits then came in handy my trusted Amazon App, that had great discounts on home improvement accessories and raw stuff for many DIYs.

Unpacking the boxes and slowly making spaces and nooks to adjust home items and appliances were the next on my list I really wanted to first start with my kitchen and in parallel setup bedroom considering this was a two rooms of an old shed kind of place the structure and wiring was pretty archiac and complex so to ensure all appliances find power sources without actually being disorganised and spreadout this needed a lot of patience and human hours once we were done with placements then it was just minor tweakings and little shiftings that were needed to get them all in place

Upholstery is always a game changer when you are setting up a room so form me it was a simple neutral colors that could go with each other making sure the room looked spacious and sort of earthen to match the outdoors a lot of DIYs and table cover laters i was able to acheive the look both of us wanted

Husband at the end of all edits wanted me to update my resume and add skill like Plumber, Electrician, Carpenter, Painter, Landscaper… and yes I enjoyed every bit decorating this home from scratch moving in from Mumbai to this place was already a difficult shift but slowly things settled and so did I got use to the idea of doing things with very little professional helps

Well that also reminds of this beautiful track that kept playing in my brain so here’s a tiny playlist on Youtube of random beautiful songs of my journey

Here are some pictures of my journey