Stylish Spaces

One of the sights that has always managed to take my breath away on tours of grand old buildings on holidays is the detailed workmanship on the ceilings - be it painted, guilded, trompe l'oeiled, stuccoed, Venetian plastered, wood carved or plain old rustic beamed. Craning my neck up to look at the amazing, beautiful ceilings is like looking at the stars on a cloudless night, each gaze falls on something new, something I haven't noticed before - and I have always felt that it is such a shame we have moved away from that in design. Ceiling is never the emphasis now, decorating our homes we hardly give a passing thought to ceilings expect to check the height if hanging a chandelier. But there is so much more to ceilings, our elders knew better, and nature knows better too- it's  canvass has ever changing ceiling with clouds flitting across, the sun shining through, bathing the clouds in all hues and shades of amber, the stars twinkling at night and the moon, changing from a ...

Working in a secondary school, I can't help but come across a lot of young people who most days lack the will to do anything - more so in particular if it has anything to do with learning - and just to be clear I work in a school that has been inspected and judged to be "above average" in all aspects of teaching and learning - which often gets me pondering if this is how young people are in a very good school, where teachers go all out to present information in an interesting and meaningful context, what about all those who attend the not so good schools, where learning opportunities are not so varied? The problem I find with younger generation is not that they are lacking any brain cells, oh no, in many ways, like use of technology, the younger generation is much more smarter (or coming up with new and ingenious excuses of not doing their work and missing deadlines!) - the problem lies in younger generation having no sense of personal responsibility. They are self-appe...

They say wisdom comes with age, it is a product of multitude years of experiences good or bad, moments awkward and pleasurable, happy or sad - all make us wiser and more attuned to life's ups and downs. But somehow, I feel wisdom has passed me by, unfortunately getting older hasn't. I still find myself in awkward situations so insanely déjà vu-ish that I end up kicking myself mentally all the while blabbering to salvage the moment. On a work-related appraisal recently, as I sat across form my two line managers, who on any ordinary day would be fairly jovial and friendly -both looked somber, even slightly menacing. That itself  should have been warning enough for any person to know what was coming their way and prepare themselves likewise, but no, not me. I suffered from no such wonderful insights. I ended up opening my mouth and digging a hole so deep for myself that there was no coming up for air after that  - I sat there like an idiot, mentally kicking myself  and thi...

When it comes to design, it's almost as if time has slowed down, stopped and gone around a bend back to the old days, when life was simpler, sunsets were a thing of wonder and sweet contemplation after a hard days work, quality meant bespoke handmade furniture, lovingly crafted and polished for days on end from wood sourced far and wide, pieces that became heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation - age, knocks and marks only enhancing its beauty and timelessness. Yes, there are plenty of new designs in the market, young designers are forever coming up with their idea of design that incorporates the gadgets and gizmos of technology. Innovation is still rampant but people are turning to older, retro designs and paying more to have those grace their personal spaces. And it's not just furniture, older styles of clothes, vintage cars have all seen a revival and continue to grow at an increasing rate more so than new. Perhaps old never was really old, it lived on in pe...

In my opinion, dreams are best relegated to.... staying dreams.  Every time my dream or wish has come true (and to be honest those times have been few and very far between), every time the thing I have coveted and worked towards has actually transpired - I have felt surprisingly flat, fizzed out, even low. I have realized the chase is what makes my dreams exciting - its the thrill of something just out of reach that gives my dreams its rosy glow - not the dream itself and this very realization has subconsciously made me a bit of an expert at ducking and dunking and just falling short of getting my wish - its almost as if I have mastered the skillful art of Tom-and -Jerry-style-maneuvers to keep chasing and chasing with no end in sight. I seriously subconsciously sabotage my own success. Sounds silly doesn't it - but that's the only reason I can think of that explains all the times I have fallen short of just being that person or j...

We are living in dangerous times, where people are losing touch with what is real and true and each is content to live in their own percieved world of reality - this idea of false reality is even more excrabated by all the misleading 'reality shows' we see on TV which to be honest have nothing to do with real life at all. People these days are happy to see things like they want to see them with little thought on how they actually are. It all stems from the human race being fixated by their own needs and wants too much. They see friendships, grievences, their highs and their lows through thick lenses of self -delusion, what they percieve is sometimes far from what is true and real. But how do you define real? What is truth? A truth I guess is like a law of nature, a principle that holds true every single time. Its unshakable, universal,  reliable and guarenteed to give the same results every single time. Without going into the specifics of different religions, what do th...

Most people I come across in my everyday life are apt in the art of small talk - the non-essential soon to be forgotten banter that is so essential for feeling physically connected in todays cyber  world where the social hub is increasing the internet. Most conversations I have don't stand the test of time -   Soon viped away or at best sent to the deepest recesses of memory - but once in a while you come across a person who leaves a more lasting impact - its not so much what they say - its how they say it. You are either taken in by their positivity and conviction or repulsed by their down-trodden view and pessimism. They are either positively attuned to life and its situations or view every thing through the grey googles of doom and disaster - in any case, they give out a vibe so strong that is hard to ignore or not react to.  I came across someone like that at my son's parent teacher consultation - a teacher so pessimistic about the futu...