Picture perfect — daylight streams in through the windows making the room look fresh and inviting
|
The Bob Marley painting and the moss-covered pebbles on the coffee-table make for a bohemian look
|
A balcony was taken in to make room for a cozy coffee corner
|
On the step up, the low wooden shelf by the divan houses the media centre
|
Three white chairs, the back-rests of which are painted with ferns and flowers (not seen), are a stark opposite to the dark benches around the dining table
|
A leafy sconce provides an enchanted feel at the bar when it is lit
|
The pig-shaped stool, gifted by a friend, is quite happy with its home in the dining area
|
The main door carved to look like swirls in the sand
|
A distressed wrought-iron element at the entrance
|
A metal spiral votive-holder
|
Memories of the family caught in pictures and displayed on a ladder-like showcase in the master bedroom
|
The trail of ants marching to the window in the kids’ room are actually the knobs on the wardrobe
|
Starfish cling to the walls of the living room
|
The leafy sconce which is Shabnam’s favourite light fixture in the house illuminates the bar
|
A huge work of art in red hangs above the low bed, providing a focal point in the room
|
Quaint lighting bathes the room in a golden hue at night
|
The warm orange of the walls and the woody finish of the cabinetry speak of a country kitchen in Tuscany
|
A bathroom with an underwater theme. What more can a kid ask for?
|
The bubble curtains are a huge help while the kids go splish-splash
|
Painted with flowers, plants and animals, this is any kid’s dream room
|
Interior designer Shabnam Gupta
|
|
Practical Whimsy
September 2007
Text: Noora D’Mello
Photographs: Rajeshwar Mande
Starfish and space-efficiency; lotuses, layers and levels; pig-shaped stools and portraits — interior designer Shabnam Gupta’s sea-facing home in suburban Mumbai is a haven of down-to-earth design and playful accessorization.
IT’S LIKE BEING TRANSPORTED TO another world. One step into the beautiful home of Shabnam Gupta and you will know exactly what I mean. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was in a beach house in Goa, sipping leisurely on naariyal pani. The pristine white walls are embedded with starfish. A frog lazes idly on its lily pad. The moss covered pebbles on the coffee-table, the view of the sea through the living room windows, even the texture beneath my feet, tells me I’m standing on a silver-sanded beach. I can’t wait to find out how it all came to be.
“We started on a clean canvas, but had no fixed idea in mind. It evolved over time,” says Shabnam. ‘Every space demands its own design. Just like every canvas demands its own work of art,’ were the thoughts with which the transformation began. The third floor flat had been rented out for the last ten years and bore the brunt of neglect. Everything had to be torn down and built again to efficiently utilize the space. “The balcony was enclosed in the living room. The bench in the dining area is where a parapet used to be. Since we didn’t need a third bedroom, it was converted into a utility room and the housekeeper’s quarters. The kitchen was enlarged by incorporating a passage that used to branch off from the main door into it,” elaborates Shabnam.
Once past the main door (which has been carved to look like sand eddies), the white walls of the living room are the first thing that get your attention. Covered in uneven POP, their white plastic paint-finish is reminiscent of white washed walls in Goa. “The general theme of the house is white,” offers Shabnam. The blasted black granite tiles are what tricked me into mistaking the grains underfoot for a sandy paradise.
Light filters in through huge windows filling the space with crispness. “Blackout roller blinds are the only window treatments used, as the light that comes into the space is its best feature,” explains Shabnam. A painting of Bob Marley is hooked onto the wall above the couch. The wood coffee-table, artistically painted with a gold pattern, hides remotes for the music system and projector, which occupy a wooden step just in front of the couch. The projector screen is subtly suspended in the space above a low shelf in the lounging area. A study occupies the niche beside the windowed alcove where a wood bench with plush cushions looks out onto a calming view of the sea. “Sitting on the couch gazing at the sea reminds me of some of my best vacations as a child,” I tell Shabnam. “My home is child-proof too!” exclaims Shabnam. Her son and his friends spend their play-time jumping from couch to bench to table to floor. “I just get things touched up once in a while.”
At night, the place takes on a different persona. “Most of the lighting in the hall is hidden in valances in the ceiling and under the wooden step. We normally employ candle lighting or soft lighting if we need to liven up the space”, remarks Shabnam. Once these go on, the house appears bathed in gold. The domed ceiling in the alcove plays host to a chandelier, which, Shabnam says, “Throws a wicked glow all over the room. It looks absolutely bewitching!”
“I didn’t want the same old upholstered chairs,” explains Shabnam as she leads us to the dining area. The white single chairs she now has, have back-rests painted with ferns and flowers, and are reminiscent of something out of an English cottage. These bear a stark contrast to the dark wood benches that flank the table. A wooden pig gifted to them by a friend serves as a low seat. “The lighting is the main feature of this area,” Shabnam tells us. Suspended from the ceiling low over the table, electric wires stripped to expose their thin copper core, have been strung close together to form the shade. To some this light fixture may even look like a giant broom!
Against the wall on the other side, what I thought was just a dining hutch of some sort, turns out to be a well-stocked bar. Its onyx top opens into an ice bucket for elixirs that require cooling. A leafy sconce when lit contributes to the enchantment at the bar. “It’s my favourite light fixture in the house,” reveals Shabnam. On to the only room in the house, with coloured walls — the kitchen. The warm orange walls and the wood-finished cabinetry remind me of a country kitchen in Tuscany. The ergonomic utility area and the housekeeper’s quarters maximize space usage.
One step into the kids’ room, and you know that these are parents who mean business. No drab colours or impersonal furniture here. The walls are painted with trees, flowers, bushes et al. Trails of ants marching to the window are actually door-knobs on the wardrobe. The study area has tiny spaceship knobs on the drawers... to match the spaceship lamp, of course. At night, two lamps with a spider web pattern throw an eerie glow all over the room. What more could little boys ask for? How about an underwater bathroom? The mirror is in the shape of a tubular float. Underwater creatures are painted on the murky IPS walls. Curtains with bubbles printed on them ensure that the suds don’t slosh onto the dry area. When asked if she has trouble getting her kids out of the bath, Shabnam quips, “Oh! I’d probably go in and play with them too!”
The master bedroom does not lack the care and attention to detail the other rooms display. The white theme continues, though two of the walls have a brick-finish. A huge work of art in red over the low bed serves as a focal point. A wooden step, like the one in the hall, leads up to wall-to-wall windows, similar to the ones in other section of the house. “The bathroom is the one place that was left entirely up to me,” says Shabnam. The bottom-half of each of the jaisalmer tiles in the bathroom was ribbed painstakingly, one at a time. The smooth top-half of the tile was etched with a lotus pattern, copied from a mughal miniature seen in a magazine. Coral and shells adorn the bathroom and the light emanating from the huge glass-bulb-like light fixtures gives it an angelic glow. “It’s my unwinding space,” offers Shabnam. It’s easy to imagine stepping into the roomy shower stall and letting your troubles wash away.
The overwhelming sense of hearth and home that radiates from Shabnam, is hard to miss. Love for her family, art and life itself is evident in her voice and work. So, in this quaint white washed home by the sea, the realization dawns that a home is not mere brick, paint and accessories but a family’s hopes, loves and dreams.
Concept & Materials ( Practical Whimsy)
Concept
Mediterranean look, which evolved as the design progressed.
Materials
Walls: Uneven POP on the walls in the hall and painted over with white plastic paint. Two uneven and two bricked walls in the master bedroom, all painted white. Jaislamer tiles in the master bath, half-ribbed and half-blasted, trees, flowers and bushes painted in the kids’ room, with an underwater theme in their bath
Ceiling: White washed, with valances to hide lighting
Flooring: Export-quality blasted black granite
Accessories: Art on all the walls in the house. A wrought-iron wall-hanging distressed in white, at the entrance. Spiral votive-holder on the far wall by the dining table. A pig-shaped stool, marble ducks and family photographs on a ladder-like shelf.
Hard furnishings: Plush couch and single-seater in the hall. Wood bench and single-seater in the alcove. Wooden steps- up in the hall and bedroom
Soft furnishings: Cushions in brown, green and blue. A shaggy throw in the lounge area, and blackout roller blinds
|
|
Colours and materials come together to create a harmonious frame in the dining section
| |
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)