Sunday Pic

Have a Nice and Warm Sunday

My Apartment Pics

As promised, I am attaching some pics of my Sunny & Airy UWS brownstone apartment. I am going to miss this place.

Enjoy!

View of my living Room.

I love the Bay windows. We have huge south facing windows that let in lots and lots of light.

Living Room: Sofa

I shop a lot from West Elm, CB2, & Pottery Barn. The sofa, glass coffee table and the geometrical neutral rug were purchased from West elm. The Dining bar table in the previous pic is from CB2.

I selected Neutral colors for the furniture and walls. I was not allowed to paint the walls.

I brought in the bright colors (blue and orange) by using decorative pillows. I made these pillow covers from my old saris. I chose the blue and orange accent colors from my painting (shown below).

Painting:

We picked it up from a street fair in the Upper West Side, last summer. We both loved the bold colors.

Some Artifacts & Accessories from around the World.

First and Second: Evil Eye Mini Carpet Wall hanging From Turkey

Third: Cute key holder from Sienna, Italy.

Some More: From my Kitchen Area:

First: Ganesha, "The Indian god for removing obstacles". Nine difference spices are used to create this magnificent art work!

Second: A small display area in my Kitchen. (A square clock is super imposed on top of an Octagonal shaped container that holds various Indian condiments such as Pepper corns & Lentils.

Metallic figurines:

These figurines are made from metals such as silver, copper etc.

The peacock incense holder is my fav.

Serenity Now !

Small water fountain on top of an Asian inspired Table. A peaceful and serene corner decor!

Street View:

These brownstones are beautiful.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is Fresh, Spring is Clean, Spring is Exuberant, Spring is Energizing and Spring is one of the best seasons of all.

Since I will moving out by the end of this month, I have already started looking for inspiration pics. I want to bring in the freshness and liveliness of Spring into my apartment. So, I am thinking about this color combo for my bedroom:

White, Green, and some pink accents along with Neutrals (hues of Brown and Gray)

Here are some of my inspiration pics:

Spring blossoms at Central Park

From Living Etc: Nature inspired bedroom

Living Etc: Indian vibe.

The above two pics are from the Royal Interior Design website

Nuevo estilo

Any comments or suggestions?

Real Estate Prices Finally Dropping in Manhattan??

I just read an article, "Making a Comeback" in NY times. The article talks about how finally the real estate prices have fallen down in the NYC area.

I remember we were looking for a place to buy sometime back in 2007 when the real-estate prices went through the roof. The studios were going for 500K. It was a joke. Seriously, these studios were not even big. They were approximately 400-450 square feet in total. We even decided to buy a really teeny studio apartment in Greenwich Village. Luckily, we didn't have enough money for the 10% down-payment. First the condo board agreed to take 5% down, and later rejected our application, asking us to put 10% down. I even had a loan approved, covering 95% of the Property price.

God was kind to us. If we would have bought that condo, We probably had to go through foreclosure. Sometimes not having a lot of money could be a blessing.

Here are some studios that are going for less or around 250k now. (Yes 250K, I get a feeling in 2 years time, the prices might plummet even further)

$265,000 155 East 49th Street.

Not bad. The kitchen occupies the entire wall on the left. If you are big on cooking, You would definitely need some serious air purifiers and don't forget the candles. Even the non fragrant candles can take away the smells from cooking.

$249,000 235 West 102nd Street

I like the setup of this studio. Looks very spacious although it is small. Not too sunny. That is a drawback.

305 East 83rd Street, left, is on the market for $269,000. 160 East 91st Street, right, is for sale for $199,000.

What do you guys think? What are your predictions of the Real-Estate Prices in Manhattan?

Oh, forgot to mention, I will be moving out of my really sweet and beautiful one bedroom apartment in UWS to Queens due to financial problems. I am going to miss my apartment so much. I will be posting some pics of my apartment soon. It is sunny, centrally located next to the central park, and it is a well maintained brownstone apartment.

I am so sad to leave this place, but hey life takes you on different paths, and you just have to come up with the best solution that would work for you.

If you guys (shout out to all my fellow New-Yorkers) are looking for an apt. in the city, lemme know. I am hosting an open-house starting tomorrow. Available May 1st.

Pierre Bonnard

I haven't been blogging for quite sometime now. There has been so much drama going on in my life. Oh well, life still goes on.

I went to the MET yesterday and visited the exhibition on the Late Interiors of Pierre Bonnard. The exhibition focussed entirely on the late interiors. What I loved the most was the way Pierre brought in life in these paintings. Most paintings were playful and brought in joy while quite a few conveyed a deep emotional sentiment.

Although cameras were not allowed in this section, I managed to take some shots. Here are some of his work:

Flowers on the Mantelpiece at Le Cannet, 1927

Work Table, 1926/1937

If you look closely, you can see a dog and a cat on top of the sofa behind the work table.

The dog looks well rested. Pretty nice life! Don't you think so?

Basket of Fruit: Oranges and Persimmons, ca. 1940

I love the complementary colors used in this painting. Very bright and cheerful.

Table in Front of the Window,

I wish I could be right there. Love the scenic view from the window.

In the Bathroom,

The muted blue and pink works so well together. A very calm and relaxing place indeed.

Have a good weekend everyone. So long.