The Hindu Business Line : Welcome home

A home is no longer four walls to retreat to at the end of the day. Design and accessories are turning concrete structures into comfortable and swanky living spaces.

Plush, spare, functional, comfortable, arty, ethnic. Which of these best describes your home? If you are one of those who thinks a house is more than a few rooms to eat and sleep in, welcome to the world of interiors.

Considering more and more people today live in apartments rather than houses, the emphasis is on space-saving ideas. When your kitchen is the size of a matchbox, and your bedroom just a little bigger (and don't even mention the bathrooms), making it look spacious and accommodating everything you need calls for some innovative thinking. This need has also spawned an entire category of home accessories that flood lifestyle and gift stores across the country.

What earlier were cheap plastic thingummies or stuff that only select stores stocked, or something that your aunt brought you from the US, have metamorphosed into pretty bath sets, sleek shower caddies and trendy cutlery and crockery organisers.

"Kitchens and bathrooms have become glamorous, they've come into their own," says Kusum Chadha, a Chennai-based interior designer who owns the firm Space Designs. There is so much material available these two portions of the house, the variety and choice is mind-boggling. No wonder there are so many vendors for Italian/modular kitchens nowadays — these specialise in compact units where everything is in reach and so for store-rooms might not be necessary.

Antony Verghese, Directorof the Chennai-based Cookscape, a firm that specialises in such kitchens, says they are becoming popular because of their international standards and adaptability to Indian needs. "A kitchen is an extension of a household's personality and nowadays, 7-10 per cent of the cost of the house is incurred on it."

Interestingly, in his experience, it's not been the lady of the house but the man who's keener on this look that is all the rage now. And in spite of their assembly line looks, they can be fairly customised, he says.

Considering that kitchens are available from Rs 55,000 onwards, to take Cookscape as an example, he believes it is a good deal for not only the upper-middle class but also for those a rung or two below. It is mostly the double-income households that go in for such kitchens.

Most modern Indians being wannabes, the fashion today is minimalistic, reflecting the trend across the world, say most architects and interior designers. However, some do feel that as in every other aspect Indians seem to be aping the West blindly. "We could use indigenous materials to give our house an Indian flavour but since we are opening up to the West, we tend to be influenced by that," feels a designer who has been in the field for over 20 years. "You can't just stick a figurine here and there and say it's ethnic and Indian," he says with a touch of sarcasm.

The priority is on making a place look roomy and everything follows from that. This designer encourages his clients to stick to clean, simple lines and not clutter up their place with too much. "Having too many objects is distracting — they keep impinging on you all the time and make for stress. In the long run, less is more," he remarks.

This doesn't mean that opulence isn't in. Or can't be displayed. Use marble and gold fittings if you want to, but don't pile them up, is the advice. Intricately carved furniture is fine but won't cleaning and dusting it be a bother? Have plush, upholstered sofas in velvet or leather, but if you live in a hot and dusty place like Chennai, they work well only if the environs are air-conditioned, which is in itself not a good practice. "It is easy to listen to a client and please her with whatever she wants but the designer also has a duty to tell her what's good, what's not and what's crass. Good design and good living doesn't need too much money," says this designer.

Space Design's Chadha finds that in India, the preference is for a mixture of wrought iron and straight lines as well as antique furniture or furniture made to look so. Specialising in space-savers, she finds that it is very challenging to fit everything into a place and make it look spiffy. More offices than homes use the services of interior designers as it is imperative for them to get the most out of their space but "one should give thought to the house too," she adds.

The revivalism of vastu and Feng Shui poses a challenge to modern-day living and building. On the one hand, you have experts on these subjects proliferating by the day.

On the other, you have non-believer architects saying it's unnecessary in this day and age and impossible to incorporate into buildings, especially apartments. But most interior decorators use it because their clients want them to. "We have to go with it," says Sureka, who is back after training in the UK and planning to start practising in Chennai. "We have to work with the architect," she adds.

Chadha says Vastu worked earlier when there was a lot of space even in cities. "I am not sure but I think I've felt better ever since I remodelled my house to some extent in accordance with vastu. For those who believe in it firmly, it will work. They have to be comfortable, for after all it's their space," she says.

The other designer quoted in this article says that unfortunately, most people look to Vastu and Feng Shui for monetary well-being and not for health and happy relationships!

Ultimately, your home should be an extension of you and your family. It should be pleasant, liveable and neat.

All of you should be comfortable spending time there. What is the point if yours is straight out of Better Homes and Gardens but leaves you feeling cold?

You and your home, pardon the pun, should get along like a house on fire.

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