I think that if you're designing a home in the US and want it to look American, it will be well worth your while to have an American designer working on the project. But if you're designing something in India and want it to look Indian, then I would select an Indian designer. The average design fees per hour in the US, according to a lecture I attended recently, are $80 to $120 per hour. You may get a better rate by asking for a package price, also according to that recent lecture. Design styles in the two countries are vastly different, though both beautiful.

I too am thinking of using Indian-inspired decorations and colours. The house I have bought is boring and needs a funky touch! It needs some joy and a lack of seriousness!! To the furniture I already own I am adding a few op-shop buys which I can afford to paint without feeling I am destroying their integrity! I am also enjoying sourcing second-hand bits which I can spray-paint and decorate. I am going to add a few trims from shaped and cut-out plyboard to create false arches over some windows and doors. Also I have some gold/brass-coloured beading from a framing business to add a little glitz to odd mirrors I have picked up. I'm going through my stash of fabrics, collected over a life-time of sewing and hoarding! to create some throws and curtains that will hopefully give an authentic Indian flavour to the windows, beds and couches without costing me a fortune.

If I understand the seasons in India correctly, you have already been through the rainy season. Don't wait until the next rainy season to get the problem with your drainage fixed. Now will probably be the ideal time to get it fixed. Please get someone who will tell you what to do and then have the work done. The paint on that wall in your beautiful home will keep coming off!

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!