10 things your guests will notice first

We list the 10 things that your guests will notice in your home, and how they should be primed to appear to their advantage.

Entertaining guests at home is pure pleasure, made more pleasant by your beautiful home. But your home is so much more than just the four walls and a roof – it’s about how you decorate and maintain your house. An unpresentable home becomes a conversation starter for the wrong reasons!

So here’s presenting, in no particular order, the 10 things your guests will immediately notice about your home:

1. Your doormat. The doormat is often the first thing anybody sees, and it speaks volumes about what to expect inside the house. A tattered, dusty doormat implies that you are not interested in cleaning and caring for the house. Get a new rubber doormat with a quirky print on it, so that it immediately attracts attention. Be sure to vacuum it clean every week.
2. The nameplate. A nameplate bearing the names of the house’s owner(s) helps identify the house. But instead of a generic metal or plastic one, why not get an interesting nameplate in canvas, or one with an asymmetric shape? If you have a large entrance foyer, get an imposing nameplate mounted on a large metal or wooden board.
3. Your furniture. A home is made more inviting by its furniture. It is always a good idea to coordinate the furniture pieces, especially in the living room, so that they represent a unified whole. Every room in the house can have its own colour combination, and the furniture in it must reflect that combination.
4. The colour of the walls. The rule of thumb when choosing wall colours is this: The larger the room, the darker the colour, and vice versa. But it is not enough to pick out an unusual shade of colour for the walls – keeping them clean and free of dust is equally important. You may have displayed the best arrangement of photographs or a stunning oil painting, but if there’s grime on the walls, that’s all anybody will see!
5. Your furnishings. Furnishings are meant to make the home prettier, and you can have a lot of fun picking out the drapes, sofa cushions, designer bathmats, bed runners, tablecloths and other items that add creative touches to your home. Your guests will quickly notice if the furnishings are picked with care, so as to create an interesting contrast with the furniture and serve a functional purpose.
6. The crockery. Serving your guests tea or coffee in generic tea cups is a strict ‘No’, unless you are serving refreshments in the 1980s. You can pick beautiful steel and glass tumblers, or coffee mugs with matching coasters. These pieces are eye catching and good conversation starters.
7. Your coasters. Always have coasters handy when you serve tea, coffee or drinks – they will protect your tables from getting ‘rings’ of condensation later. But there’s no need for plain boring wooden ones – pick tough plastic, or ceramic or even rubber, with a gorgeous print.
8. Your artwork. Now that your guests are comfortably seated and having their refreshments, their eyes will fall on the art you have put up on the walls. If you’re an art connoisseur, you’re bound to have a stunning painting or two on display. Or you can get wall art online and display it in an interesting manner, so as to invite the guest for a closer look. A montage of family photos is also a good idea for wall art.
9. Your light fixtures and lamps. An evening party requires mood lighting, or at least enough visibility without becoming too obtrusive. Coloured lampshades can soften the glare of the lights, while stunning metal candle holders can diffuse light softly. Choosing the light fixtures depends entirely on what suits your living spaces, and the kind of effect you are aiming for.
10. The state of your floor. A plush home demands an excellent floor. If you haven’t got patterned tiles, you could consider throwing an elegant rug in the seating area, or carpet the bedroom floors. Your guests will be wary of a slippery floor, but a parquet or carpeted floor will make a big difference.

The Apple stores: Beyond magical

Apple’s staggering success in the retail store space is not a lucky fluke – it is down to understanding customer psychology, picking the right people and pushing products in an interactive manner.

When the Apple stores first opened their doors in the US over a decade ago, most critics were quick to predict an early demise of the idea. With the online boom in shopping taking shape, it was felt that people would not really take the trouble to go check out Apple products in a brick-and-mortar store.

But an Apple customer is not like other customers. Apple signifies high quality and superlative performance at a premium price. So an Apple customer is willing to invest both time and money in understanding the product they wish to buy. If this means a trip to the Apple store, so be it! 

What sets Apple stores apart from others

Apple invests heavily in both product optimisation and staff training. That affable Apple store employee that sold you your last Apple product is not just a smiling salesperson who has all the answers – he is recruited after several rounds of tests and training cycles till the parent company is sure that he is able to take on the responsibilities of working at an Apple store. That means knowing exactly which products are available in the store inventory, how to handle a harried customer’s queries quickly and politely, how to let customers browse peacefully but keeping a watch on whether they need anything, etc. Most importantly, staff personnel are trained to not just sell Apple products, but be totally committed to the product. 

Another factor in favour of Apple stores is the excellent customer service one has come to expect from them. This comes from the detailed training programmes that Apple carries out for its personnel. Reportedly, staff are instructed on what to say to customers, and even what not to say. Thus, while the staff is not pushy, it is certainly curious about the customers’ needs and empathetic towards them. The personnel are trained to get an idea of what the customer needs and then to show them the most relevant products suitable to those needs.

Dealing with queries and upgrades

Customers who end up damaging their Apple products, or who are unable to download important upgrades, are a harried lot. But they are ably helped by trained Apple experts, who can solve the biggest crisis in mere minutes. Again, it’s all about offering reassurance and understanding the problem exactly. 

Apple applies its customer service philosophy to all its stores all over the world. So whether you are dealing with a premium Apple store in Amritsar or one in Detroit or Saudi Arabia, you can expect the same level of attention and assistance.

3 easy ways to make your home look posh

It takes just a little imagination and three great ideas to make your home go from drab to fab. Read on!

Who says you have to spend a fortune on home furnishings and fixtures to make your house look hip? Granted, you need to have a decently furnished home to begin with. But it is the little touches and novel furniture you include in your home that make it go from ‘Ho hum’ to ‘Wow!’

It takes just 3 ideas to make your home look posher than it does –

1. A gorgeous writing desk with a designer lamp. It is time for you to go back to having a study or writing desk, just like in your school days. But this time, get a large wooden writing desk with a couple of drawers, and adorn it with a designer table lamp that sits on one side of it. Locate the desk in a prominent corner of the living room or bedroom, if you don’t wish to put it in the study. You can sit and work there on your days off from the office, or light up the designer table lamp in the night as the only light source as you watch a movie.
2. A floral centrepiece. Victorian homes always had a large floral arrangement in the centre of the room – the flowers were cut from the garden and they decorated glass vases in the home. There’s no reason why your beautiful home cannot have a fresh floral arrangement every day, just like a beautiful Victorian house. Just make sure that the size of the flower vase is commensurate with the size of the room and the location of the vase. You can look up several flower vases online for inspiration on vase designs. You can even experiment with different vase designs and shapes – have a series of them adorning the room, in different colours and shapes to lend an air of quirk to the room.
3. A large books unit. Nothing spells classy (and intellectual) like a large books unit filled with your favourite novels, autobiographies, sports journals, imported magazines and other literary items. It can become a conversation starter and draw your guests like a magnet. You can make a reading nook of your own, comprising your books unit, an easy reading chair and a table lamp at hand so that you can read a thrilling book late into the night. You can even add a small music system to the arrangement, so that you can listen to soothing ghazals or soft rock music while you read and unwind.

Which of the above ideas do you like the best – all of them, we bet!

5 items to complete your ensemble

We recommend the 5 must-haves in your daily wardrobe, to complete your look.

Dressing up feels like such hard work, doesn’t it? Apart from wearing age- and shape-appropriate clothing, one must also accessorise properly to look their best. You can go really wrong with accessories, but not if you have these 5 items on yourself every day:

1. A scarf or stole. A scarf draped around the neck, or a stole left loose around the shoulders can complement your outfit. Besides, there are several ways to drape the scarf around your neck, and you can even knot a stole just under your collarbone to add an elegant twist to your ensemble. Try solid colours like indigo and magenta to offset a plain grey or black outfit.
2. Laptop bag. Everybody carries a laptop to and from the office, but it’s high time you ditched that ungainly backpack to hold your laptop. Not only does it make you look frumpy, the backpack limits your clothing choices as well. There are some really classy options in designer laptop bags that are available in a variety of materials, patterns and colours. Both men and women can look out for laptop bags online, and make a statement with the newest designs.
3. A stylish wallet. Your wallet holds your cards, cash and other odds and ends, and it is one of the most-used items in your ensemble. It is also one of the most visible accessories – and yet, very few of us pay attention to how frayed our wallets and purses look after a while. Get a really fashionable wallet online, and whip it out in style to admiring glances. Your fashion wallet can say a lot of things about you, so keep it trendy!
4. Black leather shoes. Your clothes are perfect, hair coiffed to brilliance, the perfume just right and your skin glowing with health. Now take a quick peek at your feet – are your shoes doing your look justice? We agree that it can get really tough getting shoes to match every outfit, so let’s simplify matters – get a couple of pairs of black leather brogues or high heeled pumps, and be done with it. They match with every outfit and are the safest choice.
5. A metal watch. Your look would not be complete without a stunning watch adorning your wrist. You might be left confused with the type of watch to pick – metal finish, coloured dials, chronographs, canvas straps, coloured rubber straps…so just pick a metal finish watch in black or silver and simplify matters. Like black leather shoes, a metallic watch in black or silver matches practically every outfit and occasion.

10 things you didn’t know about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

If you are the proud owner of an iPhone 7 or the iPhone 7 Plus, you must already know all about how it works and what’s so great about it. But if you’re still wondering whether to get the phone, here’s a guide to help you make your decision:

1. It looks like earlier iPhones. In terms of looks, Apple tinkered around only with colour (you get a glossy jet black, and now a matte black). The rest of the phone’s structure looks almost the same as the iPhone 6 – you would really have to go over the phone really carefully to find any notable differences. This is good news for old iPhone users.
2. Not just waterproof, also dust proof. The biggest benefit of owning the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is that you could drop the phones in water and not have anything happen to it. While other expensive Android brands have also tried out waterproof variations, none come as close to the iPhone 7’s performance. Apple has introduced really strong seals inside the phone, so that the inner machinery is protected. This tight seal also keeps dust out.
3. No jack, but a superfast adapter. Legions of iPhone users squawked at the absence of the iPhone jack, but Apple stuck to the design anyway. However, it has provided users of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with a lightning fast adapter. You can also use Bluetooth buds instead of the adapter, or AirPods (but these look like bunny ears and are not very popular).
4. 256GB of internal space! The earlier iPhone had up to 16 GB of internal space, but now the base level storage has been upgraded to 32GB. Other variations are 128 GB and a really high 256 GB – this last is even higher than Apple’s MacBooks!
5. The most powerful processor in the world. Apple has incorporated its most powerful processor in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. But the A10 processor is possibly the world’s most powerful, across devices – its dual performance cores are over 40% faster than those in the iPhone 6s Plus. Plus, it is power-efficient as well.
6. The finest camera till date. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus’s optical image stabilisation feature gives the best photographs and videos, with its wider f/1.8 aperture, TrueTone, four LEDs to make darker pictures more visible, and anti-flicker to take great pictures in artificial light.
7. Great zoom, too. The iPhone 7 Plus has an extra 56mm telephoto lens, larger than the 28mm lens. The improved zoom offers more depth of coverage, and this extra lens gives greater anti-shake. You can also get up to 10x zoom with the same clarity.
8. Longer battery life. Apple has always been nebulous about its exact battery specifications, so we’re guessing when we say that the battery in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus lasts about two hours longer than the iPhone 6s Plus. We estimate that it’s above 3500mAh – but we’re just guessing!
9. Super sensitive Home button. There was talk of Apple ditching the Home button altogether, but that hasn’t happened so far. In fact, the Home button in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is a seriously cool piece of hardware, that is highly responsive to pressure and it adjusts its feedback accordingly. It also customises notifications and apps.
10. More depth of colour. Both phones’ screens have been upgraded to give a better display, more saturation and vivid colours.

May we urge you to buy your iPhone 7 from an authorised Apple store in your region? They are sure to have genuine Apple products at the price you desire. And if you want to understand your phone’s working, or require a software upgrade or even repairs, be sure to go to an authorised iPhone service center only.

All you need is a stylish accessory

The swish set needs a lot of personal accessories to make a statement. Read on to know about the 3 most important ones.

A stylish person understands the importance of deft little touches to their wardrobe and their items of daily use, to truly stand out from the crowd. Where another person might slip into a shift dress and pumps, a stylish person will add a colourful scarf around the neck and a chunky ring. Or a man might add a pair of green canvas shoes to an otherwise formal ensemble to really stand out.

The point is, being stylish takes some work and an eye for what looks good and what doesn’t. So while how to pare down your wardrobe or add new accessories is a discussion for another day, allow us to list three items that are must-haves for you:

1. Watch. An elegant watch makes a bold statement about you. Gone are the days when people wore generic steel watches or the white dial-black leather strap ones. Today, there is a mind-boggling variety in both women’s and men’s watches, right from colour to girth, and from dial design to strap material. The truly stylish will have a range of watches to pick from, based on the occasion, outfit of the day and the venue where they are headed. A watch is a gorgeous accessory and the perfect complement to that LBD or that sharp suit you just bought.
2. iPhone case. iPhones are seriously precious little things, and you experience great distress when anything even hints at going wrong with it. The iPhone is absolute perfection in every line and every marker of its performance, so it needs a lovely iPhone case to beautify it further. Luckily, you can choose from a range of tremendously stunning iPhone cases that grab the attention even a few metres away, and which become conversation starters. Plus, the iPhone case protects the phone from physical injury, apart from looking absolutely gorgeous.
3. Passport holder. A frequent traveller needs a bag that’s always packed, a comfortable pair of shoes, travellers’ cheques and a passport that is always an arm’s length away. Add to the list a personalised or quirkily crafted passport holder. A passport holder has become something of a trend over the last year, with more men and women opting to buy them for themselves and their loved ones. You can have your name engraved on it, or pick a funky design that personifies you. Buy the best passport holder online to make your journeys even more fun and stylish.

3 things you must have in place before buying a new home

We list the three important factors to consider before selecting your dream home.

Buying a house, whether for the first time or the third, is always an emotional decision. One buys a house not just as a permanent shelter over one’s head, but as a space to grow with their loved ones. The decision cannot be made lightly, and many factors such as your finances, personal tastes and the kind of house you envision, come into play.

But the three most basic factors to consider when buying your dream house are:

1. The right location. Your home must be located conveniently from the main modes of public transport, entertainment spots (cinema halls, shopping malls, cafes and restaurants), schools and hospitals, etc. A friendly neighbourhood with green spaces and gardens for you and your loved ones to unwind in, are a must. Your proximity to all these spots matters, especially when you need to quickly nip out to buy groceries or have a late dinner at the restaurant on your way back home from work. Even your travel time is considerably cut when everything you need is close by.
2. The right residential building project. Often, buyers are taken in by glitzy buildings and tall promises by real estate developers. Though the market is sluggish at the moment, the real estate sector offers tremendous scope for potential developers, because every person requires a home in a growing population like ours. There is always a need for housing, but not all developers are worth investing in. Thus, selecting the right developer is important. For instance, if you are looking for a good residential project in Thane, you could check out Puranik Builders’ range of projects in that suburb. Opting for a reputed developer firm such as Puranik Builders ensures that buyers get what they pay for, and that all necessary permissions and documentation are in place.
3. The home that best fits your immediate requirements. This is a tricky one, and it needs close assessment. A newly married couple may be content to live in a one-bedroom unit, but if they are planning to expand their family, they may soon need a two-bedroom unit. Similarly, a retired couple needs a space that they can maintain properly and which is not too large. Meanwhile, a family that frequently has relatives and friends over to stay needs a larger space. Selecting the house is also dependent on such factors as the house’s future value, current market rate and amenities provided.

Thus, taking the three factors mentioned above into consideration before moving ahead with the house purchase, will help steer your decision in the right direction.

Escrow accounts: The basics

We present an overview of escrow accounts and the list of documents needed to open them.

The business world is a complex entity, made up of both straightforward transactions and highly complicated ones. The underlying theme of business, that of accruing revenues for both short term and long term purposes, remains unchanged whatever the nature of the company’s work or its scale of operations. This theme is worked upon in different ways, from the mortgage of assets to raising cash, to the simultaneous dealing with two or more entities at the same time.

This last is often seen even in dealings between individuals, when two or more parties are engaged in reaching a financial settlement over an asset, product or service. The payment terms may be set out prominently in such cases, however the actual channels of receipt of revenue can pose a problem. How can monies change hands when there are multiple parties involved? Escrow accounts are set up for such eventualities.

What are escrow accounts?

Take the example of two or more parties involved in the sale (on one side) and the purchase (on the other side) of a piece of real estate. The land is an owned one and there may be two partners who are sellers while the third is the buyer. The transaction cannot take place in one day, and the payments for the same are set up in stages.

Ordinarily, the payments would be sent directly from the buyer to the seller, but in this case, a third account is set up that holds these monies till the transaction is complete. This account is known as the escrow account in India, and it is a bank account that all parties mutually agree to open. The bank manages the funds therein on behalf of all parties concerned. Normally, the bank will also impose certain restrictions on the use of the account. 

The escrow account is opened for operation over a period of months or years, and only when the seller is convinced that the buyer has the capability to stand up to their end of the transaction till the end. It can be used for everything from real estate dealings, to holding payments for shipments and goods. 

How to open an escrow account

Reputed banks in India open escrow accounts for their esteemed customers and offer this account as part of their range of services for wholesale banking. Broadly, the following documents are required to open an escrow account in India:

• Request letter from all parties to open the account with the bank
• Signed copy of MoU entered into between all parties
• List of items under the transaction. These can include items for export and import, or sale details of assets at market value, etc.
• In case of account being created between a domestic party and a foreign one, an NOC from the central banking authority of the foreign country. 
• The companies’ documents proving place of operations, assets, annual income, IT returns, etc.
• Application form from the bank

Why go to China for a great wall?

The wall art you pick personifies you and by extension, your home. Here’s a handy guide to what’s new in the world of wall art.

The chicest homes are those that add deft touches to the décor such that each room and each element in it makes sense in conjunction with each other. A lot of this has to do with visual symmetry – and most of the flourishes you can adopt come from wall art.

Here’s taking a look at five of the hottest wall art trends you could consider for your home:

1. Geometric shapes. There’s something young and quirky about geometry, isn’t there? Imagine a framed wall art piece featuring nothing else but concentric circles, or a line of squares. Apart from lending quirk to the wall, the piece becomes a conversation starter (‘Oh, that’s…interesting,’ ‘Yes, we love having random triangles on the wall…’) and a focal point for the room. We suggest leaving the rest of the wall bare if you have a big bold geometric print up there – the print can get overpowered by competing patterns in the vicinity.
2. Bohemian designs. You might want a more free-flowing wall art to reflect the boundlessness of your own personality. Have you considered buying an unframed canvas with floral patterns, or wavy coloured lines or even the picture of a cute little girl clutching an even littler puppy? Bohemian chic was a major talking point last year, and we anticipate that the trend will continue this year.
3. Wallpapers. Before you cringe and say, ‘People are still doing wallpapers?’ you might consider that when we say wallpapers, we don’t mean the shiny ones with the cloying patterns on them. You can get wallpapers in a matte finish and you can also have them customised. Just imagine an awesome bedroom with all the walls papered to show floor to ceiling bookshelves. Or one wall that is a montage of your favourite family photographs.  
4. Paintings against black walls. Most people wouldn’t paint their walls black, but then most people wouldn’t know the stark beauty that black walls provide. A matte black wall becomes the perfect backdrop for a brooding painting or even a cheerful photo frame. It lends an air of sophistication and mystery to the room, though you might consider painting just one wall black instead of all of them. 
5. Stripes. Striped walls were a major trend about two years ago, but the style has now evolved to bold blockish stripes inside large framed wall art. You can break the pattern with a photo frame or a wall clock – this accentuates the stripes even more. Try this: create a pattern with stripes and intersperse with photo frames. This can become an interesting element in the living room. Plus, you can buy both the framed wall art and photo frames online at great prices.