Artistic Spectacle: Egyptian Temples

One of the most beautiful and impressive aspects of architecture of an Egyptian temple are the spectacular columns, resembling groves of stone trees. These columns, especially at Karnak and Luxor, dwarf human beings and bear inscriptions, carved relieves, and a weighty majesty unequaled anywhere else in the world. 

Columns held special significance for the Egyptians, representing as they did the expanses of nature. Columns alluded to the times when vast forests dotted the land, forests that disappeared as the climate changed and civilization took its toll upon the Egyptian environment. They also represented the Nile reed marshes. The columns were introduced in order to simulate nature, and to identify man again with the earth. The first tentative columns are still visible in the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, but they are engaged columns, attached to walls for support and unable to stand on their own. Imhotep designed rows of such pillars at the entrance to various buildings and incorporated them into corridors for Djoser's shrine (2600 B.C.E.).

In the Fourth Dynasty (2575-2465 B.C.E.) masons experimented with columns as a separate architectural entity. In one royal tomb built in GIZA in the reign of Khufu (2551-2465 B.C.E.) limestone columns were used effectively. In the tomb of Sahure (2458-2446 B.C.E.) of the Fifth Dynasty, the columns were made of granite, evincing a more assured style and level of skill. Wooden columns graced a site in the reign of Kakai (2446-2426 B.C.E.) in that same dynasty, and another king of the royal line, Nisuerre (2416-2392 B.C.E.), had limestone columns installed in his Abusir necropolis complex. 

At Beni Hasan in the Eleventh Dynasty (2134-2140 B.C.E.) local nomarchs, or provincial chiefs, built their own tombs with wooden columns. The same type of columns was installed in tombs in the Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1773 B.C.E.), but they were made of wood set into stone bases. With the coming of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.E.) the columns become part of the architectural splendor that marked the capital at Thebes and at the later capital of Per-Ramesses in the eastern Delta. Extensive colonnades stood on terraces, or in the recesses of temples, opening onto courts and shrines. Most people who have some interests in ancient Egyptians will identify immediately the shape of Lotus and Papyrus style columns, but actually no less the about 30 different column forms have been isolated from temples of the various periods!!

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Home décor: Embellishing the Interiors of Your Home

The art of decorating your home interiors is an expensive and a complicated, so to say. However, with a little thought and imagination you don't have to live with bare walls because you can't afford great works of art or even reproduction prints. You can create a number of stunning wall displays by simply using wall picture frames and your own photos to make your walls come alive. There are numerous ways that you can use your own photos as part of your home décor. Even the worst photographer amongst us has a few exquisite pictures we have managed to take of that colorful sunset, that cloudy sky, the gaily colored field of flowers or the squirrel sitting in the tree. Add to that family photos going back a generation or two and you have the makings for various wall art. All you have to do is choose the right photos, the right wall picture frames and put them together. Here are some great ideas on how to use hanging picture frames to enhance your homes décor.

Wall collages are a way to decorate using photos of that special camping trip, anniversary party or even different members of your family. Placed over the fireplace with wall candle holders on either side this type of frame adds a homey yet, sophisticated touch to your living or family room. You can also use these frames for giving a room a more whimsical touch by using photos of various birds, flowers or other items found in nature. A picture frame tree is a great way to display different generations of your family as part of your wall decorations. This wall picture frame actually looks like a tree and holds several picture frames. What could be better than using this frame to show off your own family tree. These frames look great on any wall from that empty hallway, to above the couch, to the entry way or the dining room. Bringing with it a feel of family and unity while adding a beautiful and sentimental touch to your homes décor.

Trapeze hanging picture frames look great hanging over the long bathroom vanity or that serving sideboard in your dining room. All you need to do is choose the right set of pictures to place inside these frames to create the kind of atmosphere and décor you want. When used in your child's room, pictures of their favorite pet will add a child like touch to their room's décor. While an older child may prefer pictures of flowers, angels or even their favorite sports hero. Triple wall hangings are three vertical frames and are great to use when you want to display photos on smaller wall areas. These hanging wall frames work well in small bathrooms where wall space is limited, in hallways and even in the kitchen. Using wall picture frames and your imagination is a great way of decorating the walls of your home without spending a fortune. It also allows you to use your own pictures to create interesting and wonderful creations of art for your home.

We accessorise in home decor for two main reasons. One is to complete a room that is just being set up, say, in a new home. The second is to update a room to change the look and feel, without having to purchase new furniture. In either instance, you are creating a home decor environment that looks cozy and inviting, comforts your instincts. Surround yourself with things you consider beautiful. In doing so, you will create an environment in your home decor that expresses your individual style.

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Color the Right Ambiance: Coloring Innovations for Your Home

Walls can indeed do a lot more than just hold up the ceiling. They are the largest expanses of decorative surfaces you have to work with, and they set the stage for the rest of furnishings. What you do with your walls can make up for construction shortcomings, so don’t treat them lightly. Do treat them warmly, coolly, quietly, lively, cleverly. whatever the mood you want to achieve and whatever the room problems you need to overcome, you’ll find a universe of possibilities in a can of paint.

Color and pattern are two of the most powerful forces in the visual world. Harness them and you can move walls, raise or lower ceilings, stretch floor space, and entirely reshape your home environment. To expand a room, you need to apply only one basic principle light colors and unbroken expanses of small patterns make space look larger; this is true because unless an object calls attention to itself, it recedes in your mind. when you are not conscious of a wall, space "feels “more expansive. 

Seeing is believing, if you make the most of that maximum, you can "remodel” many problem rooms without ever reaching for a hammer. Paint will do the work for you. Begin by sizing up your room’s space. If its dimensions are not pleasing, you can fool the eye into believing that they are closer to ideal. Reshape your room by emphasizing or eliminating contrast. Use bold, bright colors selectively to draw in a wall or lower a ceiling. Or avoid contrast and let walls and ceilings fade quietly into the background. 

Through paint you can dramatize a room's architectural features; you can emphasize oddities or camouflage them. If you want to accent he quirky charm of angles, woodwork, or windows, paint them with deliberate contrast. Or you can minimize architectural oddities by avoiding contrast completely by painting walls and ceilings in a same solid color, so that undesirable corners and angles blend into the walls. 

If you're a good cook, you already understand the importance of varying textures of the foods you prepare for a meal. The same holds true for your visual diet. Texture enriches any decor. Playing strong textures against subtle ones creates variety in rooms dominated by one color. Texture whether slick or dull, smooth or rough, gives a room surface appeal and decorative interest. Paint stays pliant long enough for you to work it into the desired pattern. Experiment with combing, stippling, or working with your finger tips.

If you are bored with the solid or textured look, you can add graphics in paint, tape or cutouts. You can use graphics to enliven dead wall space, to accent architectural details, or to divert attention from unwanted features. There is a lot more to learn about color than simply what colors go together or what stands out among the rest. In fact, there is an entire field of psychology dedicated to the study of colors and their effects on human beings. Different colors can put us in different moods or shape how we approach a particular place or item. Understanding how colors affect us can help make your home more inviting.

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It's all topsy-turvy!

Finally, India can boast of an upside down building of its own!

The Caracella Club, named after the first building created as a club by the Romans, has been inspired by the WonderWorks’ ‘inverted amusement parks’ in the USA. Perched to look like it’s about to tip over, it’s been built by the Meriton Group as a part of the Indirapuram development in the NCR region, as a centrepiece for the development. Though, it’s the first of its kind in India, the building is now on the short list of upside down buildings existing the world over. 

Japan’s Nagano Prefecture, aside from hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics, also has the pretty pink Sakasa Resoto to its credit. Looking like a house that stumbled across a tripwire in the dark and landed on its head, the entire structure is perched on its roof. From an upside down bicycle rack to (inside) to upside down buckets acting as lampshades and even slippers stuck to the ... umm ... floor, the restaurant owners have gone to great lengths to make sure their diners get an authentic upside-down experience.

Other equally bizarre looking structures on this list are Norman Johnson’s Upside-Down House called ‘Sunrise’ in Florida (well, nobody lives here, for sure!) The house that is a model home outside the Sunrise Golf Village is enough to give anybody vertigo. A very faithful reproduction of a 1960’s Florida home ... umm, sort of the house is entirely upside down. Even the furniture inside is mounted upside down and a whole car’s parked upside down in the carport! Look at the house for a little while and you’re sure to start feeling wrong-footed!

And of course, the list goes on with ‘The Device To Root Out Evil’ in Calgary, Alberta which is designed to look like a church that’s poised on the tip of its steeple and ‘The World Stands on Its Head’ in Germany (well...) as well as (this one probably wins the award) the upside down house in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you’re wondering why there are no caps there, it’s because the house simply is upside down! (Except, very considerately, its doghouse)Who knows why!

Then there is the very ornate House of Katmandu in (er...) Spain as well as another called ‘House- Attack’ (!) in Austria etc.

Who knows why the architects or, in some cases, home-owners decided to tip their worlds upside down, but whatever their motivation that’s definitely one short cut to the history books!

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GiraDora and how!

I know from personal experience that washing clothes without a machine is one of the most dreary, time consuming, exhausting and, often likely to be, thankless job ever! So when I read the news of this super cool eco-friendly washer and spin-dyer I just had to talk about it! Created by Alex Cabunoc and Ji A this rather brilliant invention called the GiraDora is powered by a foot pedal!

Priced at $40, the GiraDora looks like an old fashioned ice bucket or water camper or perhaps ice cream maker! All you have to do is fill it with soap and water put the lid on top and then sit on it. Yes, sit on it! And start pedalling! It’s portable so it can be kept anywhere and you can sit on it (I really can’t get over that) and just start pedalling. No more sore backs or cramping legs or wrist strain or anything else! Much like a washing machine the GiraDora can wash loads of clothes at a time. And the amazing little machine dries them too. Now anybody in a family can wash clothes as long as their feet reach the pedal. It saves time, energy, water and your muscles!

Not just that, the machine might well be a source of income through providing laundry services or giving the machine out on rent. It could definitely be a great boon for many, many families, particularly in developing countries and those living in far flung areas and  has been rightly recognised by both the Dell Social Innovation Challenge and the International Design Excellence Awards.

Currently being field tested in Peru there are plans to make the machine available in other parts of the world like South America and India too. 

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