Zahra | Home Decor•StoryTeller

Zahra Taha |📍Toronto is one of the top Art / Design influencer in Canada with 20476 audience and 1.89% engagement rate on Instagram. Check out the full profile and start to collaborate.

Audience

20.5k

Engagement Rate

1.89%

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If you are thinking of decorating your home it’s best to mix pe Read More

If you meet a girl after a decade all desi aunties are bursting t Read More

Lighting is the number one aspect of any spatial experience. Any Read More

Applying a wall mural for the kids bedroom was the best Covid act Read More

My Valentine “date”.

14th February is the drabbest possible day of my life. The first one after engagement set me up for the rest of the Valentines that were to come.

It was close to midnight 13th Feb, I was eagerly sitting on the edge of my bed, phone in hand and eyes full of anticipation. I was going to be surprised today in the most awesome way!

The clock struck twelve. It was finally 14th. An hour passed and another. I don’t remember when I finally fell asleep. Being the extra optimist, next morning I jumped out of bed and raced to the door, something was definitely waiting for me. Well, one big NOTHING.

By 5 in the evening, I was in the saddest, gloomiest mood. I had unleashed all possible teenage self pity on myself. My to be husband finally called at 7.

Him: Hello, what’s up.
Me: Nothing!
Him: What did I do now?
Me: “You dont love me!”
Him: “What Love?”
Me: “The one that makes the world go around?”
Him: “It’s certainly taking me for ride.”
Me: “It’s the 14th of Feb, it’s the day to make me feel loved!”
Him: “What? Why? Loved feel karane se Pehle date kon dekhta hai???”

*Bad mood alert*.

Him: “Chalo dinner pe chalte hai”
Me: “NO”.

Anyway we went for a dinner. I was shocked at how he laughed at all the ballons and decor at the restaurant.

That was just the beginning, year after year, Valentine’s passed without much ado. I started ignoring it too. Somedays I use to wistfully look at pictures on Facebook or hear stories from friends.

But no crying over spilt milk. I had chosen to marry someone jo date dekh k I love you nahi bolta.

One day, I was at home cooking. Particularly distraught with the kids. Having a down day. The cleaner hadn’t come. Husband was late and I was in a bad mood. When the doorbell rang. In came my man with a big bouquet of flowers and a Swarovski bag. I kept looking at him.

“This is for you”.

The door bell rang again. He had ordered Lebanese food. I felt extremely pampered and loved and decided to look at the date.

Guess what day it was?
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It was the 10th of September.

“Why today?” I asked him.

He laughed and replied,

“Because I love you bolne se pehle date kon dekhta hai!“

My Valentine “date”. 14th February is the drabbest possible Read More

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I hate bloggers.
Social media is so fake because of them.
Ah! Bloggers. Tired housewives with lives full of boredom.
Whiny ladies unloading their drama to get a pat on their back.
Worse.

Have you heard of these lines? Have you said them? I have heard them being told to me, random lady, “bloggers are so “too much” you know. They are always on Instagram. And no privacy, plus this rant about support me, I mean please why should I, I will not get the free stuff, oh btw.. I’m not talking about you, haha, nooo, you are “normal”.
LOL most certainly, I am not. And most certainly, you are talking about my community and about me.

“Everything she owns is gifted! I have heard these bloggers call for PR packages, IMAGINE.”

Had I been on the other side of the spectrum, I would have been one of you. Like one day I watched this Punjabi movie with my husband to laugh about it. Or BIG BOSS. What a sinful pleasure. Also, I do agree that 90% of people who Instagram, frankly, should not. We are either too boring, too mundane, too repetitive, or just lack the power to write or express. But sadly, everyone in the end is a “blogger” whatever the quality of your blog.

But I know the flipside of this coin too. All a blogger goes through:
The hardwork.
The sweat.
The anxiety.
The raw nature of putting yourself out on a pedestal to be judged and weighed and critized and loved.
To be loved one day and dumped another.
To be exhausted.
To feel the burnout. The writer’s block.
But then there were so many days I was done with it all and I got a boost because a blogger somewhere asked me to believe in myself.
Dressed up. Because she dressed up.
Cooked. Because she did.
Played with my kids. Watched a show. Read a book.
Pursued a career, decorated my home. Picked myself up. Laughed on her jokes, cried because she did.

We all do things for our own reasons, but if it inspires someone to live better, we deserve a chance to be heard.

In true blogger style:
My glasses are from @bamblueglasses , makes me feel super stylish while I work on some extremely serious stuff. Swipe for more pictures.

What’s the one line you have heard as a blogger? What’s the one thing you would like to say to bloggers

I hate bloggers. Social media is so fake because of them. Ah! Blo Read More

While we talk about sharing the responsibilities at home, some good men feel at a complete loss when they can’t explain how it’s not their patriarchy but their extreme lack of domestic skills which stops them from cooking. No worries. I have you covered.

Some men can’t cook, like some women can’t. Some can’t dust and clean as well. Here is a list of some great things you can still do to play an equal role in the household.

1. Clean up. Pick up small things and put them in place.

2. Put the kids in pajamas while your wife cleans up post dinner.

3. Heat a pot of water for tea.

4. Always put laundry in the laundry basket.

5. Wipe the table post dinner.

6. Fold clothes.

7. Read to the kids.

8. Pack lunch boxes in the morning.

9. Make the bed.

10. Dress the kids before a party.

11. Pick flowers on your way back home.

12. Heat food in the microwave.

13. Cut fruit.

14. Iron clothes.

15. Smile.

Hope this helps the trying-to-be-but-I-don’t-know-how feminists.

What would you add to the list? Share it with the men who need it ?
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#womenempowerment #womensday #womanmagazine #womenmarch #auratmarch #feminism #equalrights #desifashion #indianfashion #pakistanifashion #pakistanibloggers #mississaugamoms #desicanadian #pakistanstreetstyle

While we talk about sharing the responsibilities at home, some go Read More

Back in the early nineties, we lived in a beautiful house in north nazimabad, a suburb in Karachi. My dadajee had bought the plot long ago as a side thought and it’s what saved the family when they had to sell off their ancestral property at Pakistan Chowk. Before moving to Pakistan, my dada’s family owned a land called Jabalpur back in India, and the partition made him give it all up and was compensated with a property at Pakistan Chowk. He had a furniture rental business and all the furniture in government offices till 1965 was not bought but rented out from Liaquat Trading Agency, my dada’s company. Even today, my Abu says, some offices have furniture with LTA written over it. I have not seen any of it. Not Jabalpur, not the mansion at Pakistan Chowk, the hundreds of servants, the sack full of money but these stories are what makes me. And they were narrated to me so vividly by my parents and grandparents that it’s a strong part of who I am. We all have such stories. Deeply layered of days when the golden sun shown brightly over lands that we owned.

We had these chairs back in our north nazimabad home, they could be traced back to LTA. So if you ask me why I like things rustic, I would say, I’m always looking for a story that matches mine. We all do that. Try to find a strong lineage to who we are to endorse that our presence is more than just us.

Also, boho is back in fashion and these chairs are trending. And so if the sun is not shining on you today, know that your time will come and someone will seek you out to complete their story, and complete yours in the process.

Tell me something about your grand father, I want the family stories ?
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#pakistanibloggers #mybohoabode #homedecor #bamboo #rusticdecor #vintagechairs #vintagefurniture #farmhousedecor #eclecticinteriors #patiodesign #konmari #hyggehome #storiestotell #outdoorliving #thriftedstyle #homedecorideas #torontolife #apartmenttherapy #bohochair #bohohome #hunkerhome #jungalowstyle #housetour #finditstyleit #homerenovation #cottagestyle #oldhouselove

Back in the early nineties, we lived in a beautiful house in nort Read More