When you think of Indian bridal and wedding couture you immediately think of one person – Sabyasachi Mukerjee. Looking at his designer clothes you would know his style. His Home speak volume of his style as well..
So, when I saw this post on Arch Digest, Mukherjee's Kolkata house tour I was all over it. Of course these wonderful vignettes, but the energy you can feel in this space is just amazing!
This terrace top garden .. I can die for!
A dressing table from 1960 with potted plants.
Objects, curios and memorabilia in one corner of Mukherjee's terrace garden.
A mixture of furniture from Russe Exchange, Kolkata and Mukherjee's parental home.
Art from the Sabyasachi Art Foundation and works by Dhruvi Acharya in the dining room.
Kitchen with open and distressed cabinets.
Writing desks and dining tables set with crockery from Kalighat.
Old books, perfume bottles and plants adorn the house everywhere.
A corner of living room with old rugs, antique textiles and old world charm barrel lamp.
A masculine bedroom with minimalist arrangements and ajrakh bed linen.
Here are some assorted container garden ideas... Get inspired and get to potting !
Using galvanized containers
Take advantage of seasonal sales at your local nursery, and stock up on popular plants. Keep them in their nursery pots, and display them in galvanized buckets on the porch until you are ready to plant them in your garden. Recreate this look with gerbera daisies, salvias, shasta daisies, daylilies, and sweet potato vines.
Grow bulbs in Containers
This is a great way to get lots of punch from just a few dozen bulbs. You can move containers to wherever you need color on a particular day, be it your front door, porch, steps, or patio. As soon as the bulbs finish blooming, plant them in the garden.
Snapdragons, Penny Violas, Tulips, Parsley and Ivy
Add height to your containers with showy snapdragons. They pair well with a mixture of Penny violas, tulips, parsley, and ivy.
Collard Greens
Easy and Versatile Collards can be grace to you porches with their showy leaves. A cousin to Kale and Cabbage, there nutritious leafy greens thrive in the cooler weather of fall and early spring.
Evergreen and Annuals
Pair colorful annuals with an evergreen for an established planting that can still change from season to season.
Mixed SucculentsUse plantings to enliven your outdoor table. This shallow bowl of mixed succulents makes a great centerpiece.
Tiny Succulents
Use containers to fill bare spots in your garden. This concrete planter, tucked into a planting of dianthus, is filled with tiny textured succulents.
Mandevilla
Mandevillas in containers twine through this railing on a rooftop deck. Reveling in hot weather,
mandevilla can grow more than 10 feet a year.
WoW Violas and Pancies
Repeat your plants in containers and flowerbeds. Pots of violas climb these front steps, seeming to spill out into the flowerbeds for a lush, fluid look.
Raised UrnsElevate your containers for impact. These raised urns are filled with pink verbenas and white bacopas.
Mint
Keep more invasive herbs, like mints, contained in pots in your kitchen garden to keep them from growing unmanageable.
Basket Impact.
Hang your baskets in unexpected places. A hook installed in a tree branch holds this basket featuring
a sensational combination for the shade.
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Potted Topiaries
Combine several English ivy topiaries and a clipped lemon cypress to accent a garden table.
Mix spirals, globes, columns, and lollipop shapes of varying heights. Unify the look with terra-cotta pots.
happy potting!
Images Source: Most are my pictures and belong to Rangkatha. Other's not tagged as mine are collected from different sources.
Relationship I had with my paternal grandparents growing up wasn't physically a close one for most of the time. Since my father was serving country, was in Indian Air force, we were frequently traveling all over country most of our early childhood. But every summer we make it a point to go back home where my both sets of grandparents and most of our extended family is from. We would split our summers between both sets of grandparents and families.
My Paternal granddad had passed away when I was about 4 or 5 years old and I do not remember anything much about him. Relationship I built with him is through the stories I had heard about him. My Paternal grand mom.. I would see her once every year during summer, until she moved in with us when my dad was posted closer to home. She lived with us for short period of time until she passed away. I remember her as a independent strong willed women. One who would take pride in what she does and would not depend on anyone for anything.
Since both my grandparents left us very early in our lives.. and most of my dad's sibling moved away to bigger cities, slowly our relationship with their village kind of distanced off physically.. But inside me I still love my grandparents ancestral home and make it a point to visit every time I visit India. Though that house now belongs to my uncle(Dad's brother) and their sons( my cousin brothers). I have my heart attached to this place and I cherished this opportunity to take my kids to visit this place, so they feel connected, learn and cherish their roots.
It was H-O-T and muggy day..
We were soaking wet in our own sweat within minutes we got out in open..
My kids would complain, I thought so.....
Long drive .. in this kind of weather.. I was not so sure how they were going to react.
But they made me so proud, as they enjoyed every second we spent there... and looked beyond weather and comfort aspect !
Kids were told that first stop will be to meet their Great-grand Parents and pay respects...
My mom helping kids pay respects in traditional way!
Moments seem as ordinary as they look ..
But what they mean are priceless...
Taking us back to our roots!
My Dad showing the farms he used to own at one point of time.
Though by profession he retired as Squadron Leader from Indian Airforce,
he takes pride in being raised as a son of a farmer and maintained these farms for years!
Kids are already loving it and absorbing it all....
My last visit here was around 12 years back..
So I was little anxious, was not sure what to expect.
Is it because I was probably thinking things might have changed around here..
Change is good.. But change which is geared towards changing your past memories.. might be heartbreaking!
Heart was pounding high as we were closing in towards village ..
AND...
Finally reached our ancestral home..
It was so heartwarming to see that not much has changed..
and here I go.. I fell in love with this home all over again!
Those walls and those doors
Those windows and those shingles..
And those clay walls which still standing high for around 200 year!
I fell in love with this home all over again...
Should I click.. or
should I admire..
Should I recap my memories.. or
should I capture this moment for future..
There sure was confusion in my mind and tears in eyes..
as my heart and soul fell in love with this home all over again....
Sitting here with my Dad and kids, which used to our outdoor play room where we cousins have spent hours playing board games every summer I visited as a child!
and this open well....
There are other relatives from my dad's side who still call this village their home. We made a surprise visit to one of our Uncle's place.
Some of the captures below show gesture of their love and affection.
My Uncle with me and my mom!
My Aunt hunting for some garden treasures to please my daughter!
My Aunt graciously let me shoot her, along with her kitchen!
Love her open kitchen
Garlic Pods hung in open so they dry!
Rangoli powder holder..
Some other members of their loving family!
Cutest of all!
My grandparent's ancestral house which is around 200 years old, still is part of our family. Belongs to my uncle and his sons. Like all of us they have moved away to larger cities.. Only visit here occasionally. When we visited, house was locked and we couldn't go in. But hopefully next time I can go inside and when I do, I promise to continue this post taking you on the tour of inside of our ancestral home.
Images Source: All Images are taken by me, capture my family and are from home(s) belonging to my family. These pictures are property of Rangkatha. Please, do not use them. ~Prasanna
