It’s a nice enough home. A 100 years old and declared a heritage home by those who are meant to be bestowing such honours. My parents have struggled to ensure that it stays cosy yet maintains it’s charm and doesn’t slide into decline. The silver is polished and shines. The crystal sparkles. The old chandeliers light up without a flicker. Rows and rows of books on art and architecture line the walls. The upholstery is spotless. Little knick knacks from travels over the years dot the peg tables. Not just their own travels but also those of family members who are now just a fading memory. Fresh flowers dress up little consoles and the grand piano. Art on the walls, a well stocked bar. Everything says this is the home of an older couple with well, some taste.
Until you see this little corner. A shrine to Shrek and McDonald’s Happy Meals. And then you realise it’s also the home of grandparents.
The grand old dining room with the massive dining table is filled with the peals of childish laughter. Sepia toned ancestors look down benignly on yet another generation playing hide and seek behind the antique dresser.
My great-grandparents
The Mad Momma 
Beautiful!!!!!! The living room (first pic) looks very victorian. 🙂
A sneek peek into your Gurgaon house on the cards ?? 🙂
A friend wants to do a house tour. I’ve given her all the pics and now it’s her call 🙂
When ?????? Havent you been saying this since the begining of this year..Photos pleasssssse.
It really kicks that “make it beautiful’ syndrome in me to keep up my house decor.so pleasse
arre baba.. I’ll harass her for you guys if you want. It’s just that it was her idea and I refuse to take it away from her. 🙂 let me go trouble her.
Why don’t you give us her blog address. We will start bugging her.
Oh my!! What a beautiful home!!! your parents have a very good taste, it shows the way they have decored their home, it looks cozy yet classy!
Thank you.. and never mind the typos. I just corrected one in the post myself.
Sorry, in my excitement, didn’t really spell check my comments :).
Lovely! And a place for shrek and gingey too…very very cool!
ahem. I’d rather they exited, but my parents will kill me. That space is for the kids to do as they like. The second picture is the bar where the kids usually set up a shop and sell us remote controls and ashtrays.
Good taste runs in the family, doesn’t it? Gorgeous:)
Such a lovely home MM!! No wonder your house looks ass beautiful, as you would have inherited Gpa’s & Nani’s love for cozy home!
Dad will be sure to say its his taste and not mom’s :p
spelling mistakes & Me sigh…! Such a lovely home MM!! No wonder your house looks as beautiful, as you would have inherited Gpa’s & Nani’s love for cozy home!
I want to curl up in that green couch opposite to the big white windows when the cool winds breeze through them..
It’s the OA’s favourite place. I keep reminding him that we have a good enough four poster but he loves sleeping in the sun.
Oh that is one helluva beautiful house you got there. I can see where you got your interior decorating skills from. Loved the Happy Meals wala corner.
Thank you for sharing MM.
Xo
Nutty
You’re welcome nutty my love.
Home it is… And that’s what I meant in the last text I sent you when we met.
Your home brings back beautiful memories of school, of playfulness, of fun and of friendship. However, I barely remember spending time in this room for I’d spent maximum time either in the classroom-turned-dance-floor or in your room where all of us would gather every once in a while
🙂 I’d give anything for one more dance party. I’ve brought back a whole lot of pics this time. Steel yourself for a bunch of funny ones going up on FB. And no, this room wasn’t the living room when we were kids na? It used to be my mom’s office area ..remember?
Oh MM – you have the dreamiest life! I can’t imagine how it feels to have a home like this to go to…it feels like it is out of the movies…with so much history to it…people can be wealthy and have big mansions but not everything will have stories and memories to it like this one…I loved it.
You do have the dreamiest life!!!
No no… don’t fall into that trap. I share what I want. This blog is for my kids and I’ve stopped writing about the ugliest stuff because I don’t need them seeing my darkest hours.
Keep on writing about those dark things also.. just dont publish… kids should know the bad things also.. after all it is inheritance 🙂
Yes, they will know. But the reason I don’t write is that now the blog is slowly being read by more people who know me personally. I don’t like the thought of anyone pitying me or them. We don’t need pity.
Than do not publish.. when they are old enough.. share with them or just give it to them as a different personal blog.. ( call it the dark side or something)… that way.. when they want a mood uplift.. they can read this one… and when they want a reality check.. they can read the private one
what I have done so far is.. even though the kids are young.. I/we have tried not to hide things from them;.. sure somethings will be revealed as and and when it is appropriate….
but i know from where you are coming from.
you are good at writing.. so why not document it just for them..?
With grief, there is no forgetting. I have no doubt I will remember every ugly thing and tell them someday. As for good at writing.. as I often say, I’m okay 😉
Lovely – the house and the post!
Totally J – thats me 🙂
You had me at the lovely wooden fireplace! Hope it’s still functional… I can so picture you reading a book and drinking a cup of hot chai by it on a cold cold day… Sigh!
It is. Years ago I posted a pic of myself lying in front of it in winter – I had a huge belly with the Bean inside it.
Yes 🙂 i remember that. As usual the faces were blurred out. If i am not mistaken OA was by your side ?? 😉
😀 absolutely right. That’s the one. In winter we all live around the fireplace. Am sure we’ll put out roots one of these winters.
Oh MY!!!What a lovely lovely house!!!!
Beautiful house!
Hi MM,
what a house!! it is simply beautiful…every time I clean my house, I think of your parents and the comment you said “house proud”!! it gives me the inspiration to maintain it well…but please post pictures of other rooms too…
You do? I did? When? Either way…. 🙂
The last but one post in wordpress “Wait till you have grandchildren…”
🙂 Ah yes. Well I am supposed to be the spitting image of her although there is a whole faction who will swear I look like my paternal aunt.
Beyoootiful! I wanted to send you post pictures of the house, but now I would just be embarrassing myself. 🙂 Love the windows in the living room. Clearly, the decorating gene runs in the family.
Sharrup – you owe me, after the amount of time we spent on it. Send them pronto. On the double!
Yes, Mam!
wow… what a beautiful house (whatever glimpses we got of it). Now I know where you got your love and taste for home decoration from.
I don’t know about taste. But I can tell you that I do get my love of it from them!
How come you are on a vacation now? First to Goa and then to your hometown. What about the kids and their school? Are they on vacation yaa phir on a cool bunking spree!!!!
Schools in the north only open after the first week of july 🙂
your parents have a lovely home. classic looking but somehow inviting as well. i can imagine a grand dinner party with sophisticated guests. but also kids rolling on the carpet.
it reminds me of the some of the homes i’ve lived in. my dad is in the railways and some of the bungalows we’ve lived in were built in the 1800s. the aura about these places is so amazing and so impossible to replicate in the pigeon-holes we live in now. sigh.
I guess having space is nice, but frankly I love the challenge of a small space.
Now I know where you get your good taste and attention to detail in keeping a lovely home (from what I can see ;))!
Its good to know you’re back.
Yes it does look very much like a well kept but cozy home.
And I can see where you get your good taste from.
And I just discovered I can access this blog of yours from work:)
what a beautiful, resful and loving home…
Picture of the piano, please? Would love to see it!
Havent you seen it on FB? Shall try and dig up one.
God, I love your parents home. just the windows and the high ceiling is enough for me – lovely lovely. And I love the shrine !!! Too cute .
Wow! Kudos to your parents for keeping it so presentable!
The windows, fireplace, high curved ceilings and the hanging fans. So gorgeous! I so want to live in a house like this. I can totally picture a four poster bed somewhere inside the house. 🙂
There is and its in my room! The posters were taken off. It even had a little staircase sort of thing to get on
Oh, MM..
*SIGH*
It’s a lovely home! I visited it in my dream:)
Hi MM,
It is such a beautiful house… loved it.. but I think what makes it extra-special is that little grandparents nook 🙂
Btw, I spot a typo… I guess you meant to say peals of laughter and not peels… 🙂
You’re right and I corrected it.
If you put in the effort, and dress just right, you could absolutely be that stern lady in the picture. (i.e., your great grandmother)
I have her nose. We all do 😀
What a stunning home, MM! 🙂 Did you grow up here? Lucky you… growing up in a beautiful, well-loved home with loving parents. What more could any kid want? 🙂 Especially loved the little shrine dedicated to all the Happy Meal toys! 🙂
Yes I did. I loved it. I’ve put up pics so often that I am surprised to see so many comments. Were they all on the old blog then? I suppose so… *looks confused*
Lovely lovely lovely house. But how do they manage to maintain it? And get reliable househelp? Kudos to them! I think you should do a post on household tips coz I am forever looking for effective ways to polish stains off wood, clean the kitchen tiles, keep the brass shiny…never find good methods *sigh*
BTW take a look at this-
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/top-25-ebooks-for-summertime-reading/
Thought you might be interested in this list. Read any of them yet?
Dude, I’d love to – but why are ebooks so expensive?!
damn you girl, this is just awesome, i loves it.
yayaee! your HOME!
n the home has such a royal look!
Your home is so beautiful with all that light coming in from those gorgeous windows! Looks like something out of a decorating magazine but much more warmer and cozier 🙂
What a gorgeous house..I am still drooling. Can you do a house tour sometime? please, pretty please!
A house tour of their house? Oh.. I suppose I could. But I don’t know when. Won’t be going home again for a while now.
Absolutely gorgeous, the house and the post 🙂 Totally love the furniture, the colors, the decor and the big windows!
It takes someone with taste to make a home out of a house. While it is incredibly tidy, it has such a cozy, homey and lived in look that makes it welcoming. It’s beautiful and gives me so many ideas for my own home (although I’ll hold back until my toddler grows out of throwing and “dumping” things all over the place 🙂 )
Sigh. Does that ever happen? I’m home after a couple of days and the OA has made a BIG mess.
hehehe… the male syndrome. Try telling the OA the home is in a mess and I am sure he will have no clue what you are talking about.
Atleast that is what happens at my place. The moment I step in after being out of the house for sometime, I will be walking around picking up stuff lying all around the place. And when I tell anything to my husband prompt comes the reply “But i cleaned it this morning since I knew you were coming. Where is the mess?” **may be I imagined it or may be you are blind**
😉
Completely agree.. I take an extra day off when I visit the boy friend simply to clean up the house which he had “cleaned up” the day before.. and has no idea why I go around changing stuff that are already “arranged”
You make him sound like a big lolloping unhousetrained but loved puppy 😀 😀 “Made a big mess” – LOL (sorry) 😀
Somedays when he makes his sad puppy dog face he really does remind me of one 😀
beautiful house, nice window treatments. discovered your blog fairly recently (yes I live in a well). this is a nice beginning, will go catch up with the archives now.
LOL! hardly. It’s only a teeny little blog 🙂
What a beautiful home, i cannot believe its 100 years old!!! Those windows are to die for!!
Arent they? this used to be the arched open verandah that has been enclosed for security reasons. The original house looked very different…. a wide verandah running right around and we’d wait for the monsoons, let the rain fill up, make paper boats and run around the house following their path.
That sounds like the most awesome fun!!!!!
Aha. That bit reminded me of my grandad’s home in Madras where I (mostly) grew up – nice BIG veranda running around two sides, sheltered so that even if it was raining I could sit out there and play games or watch the rain or – important job, this – escort the millipedes off MY playspace 😀
I can only imagine how much fun that must have been 🙂 I used to live in an old house while growing up and it was the most fun!! the open spaces, the tiny corners, lots of people coming and going, ahh you made me nostalgic 🙂
Wow arched open verandah !!! I love it so much.. brings me memories of Anna university and times spent preparing for exams in the verandahs..
lovely home…it reminds me of a long ago friend’s place in Bombay.
Lovely house MM!
Beautiful house. Lucky you to grow up in this house. I think where we grow up, the memories make that special for us but if its a heritage home, then it must be extra special.
Lovely house, very homely yet classy
What a lovely house!
Love the windows.. and the sofas look so inviting.. would love to curl up on them with a book 😀
The first pic took my breath away. It looks like it carries a long history. I like places with history attached to them. And it’s so beautifully renovated, the arched windows are what I noticed first and then the lovely furnitures to suit the age of the house. But it must take a lot of maintenance no?
Yep – there is always dusting and polishing going on. Else it will just slide into shabbiness.
So lovely….and I must say it looks very familiar too…hmm, must ask mom/dad if indeed I have been to your house at some point of time in the past….btw, forgot to tell you earlier, our mothers met at a wedding in vns, uncle B’s nephew’s….mom was as excited as me!! 🙂
good to see you back MM.
cheers
h
They did? How come no one ever tells me anything!?
Beautiful, beautiful house. No wonder you are so house proud yourself.
beautiful house! would love to see it one day……
*Sigh* Such a lovely .. lovely home. I’ve lived in flats almost my whole life and still do. And hate it with a vengeance 🙂 .
I agree with others, when you go back home next, get us a virtual house tour…..please 🙂