Modern Art Deco Apartment Interiors | MuseLAB

MuseLAB is an end-to-end design studio; offering a bespoke and leading-edge approach to design with a precise focus on unique and highly customized environments, interiors and furniture. Each space and or product embodies integrity and is created with the same care, skill and attention to detail. One such example is the Deco Ground project that is finely woven with the theme of the Art Deco style.

Art Deco style, short for Arts Décoratifs, is characterized by rich colors, bold geometry, and decadent detail work. Having reached the height of its popularity in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, the signature aesthetic still evokes glamour, luxury, and order with symmetrical designs in exuberant shapes.

Whether it’s the rich bold pattern and colour combinations of floor or the relaxed contemporary furniture styles, the aim of this 1250sft 3BHK apartment for a young couple at Worli appears to be opposites which attract with a sophisticated sensibility. With the change in time, there is a constant evolution in the concept of a home and in that context; the designs fostered by MuseLAB are purely remarkable.

One half of the couple, the wife has grown up in an art deco apartment with terrazzo tiles and this memory that remained strongly with her formed the basis of the design of this home. Having known the clients personally was an added advantage and so the architects were aware of their quirky (in a good way) personalities.

They then went to the drawing board and began deconstructing art deco to fit the needs of their contemporary lifestyles. Patterns and colour play an important role here and therefore the flooring was made the central element of the project. To evoke the same memories as the client’s childhood, cement tiles from Bharat Flooring were selected.

Contrasting geometrical patterns were chosen for the living room, a solid colour for the dining space, a heritage pattern for the master bedroom and a dot like playful pattern for the nursery and a free hand line pattern for the guest bedroom.

All these patterns were applied in colours such as silver grey, grey, blue lagoon and sprinkles of sunshine yellow. The rich bold pattern and colour combinations of the flooring were juxtaposed with relaxed contemporary furniture styles. The colour of the flooring alone does not complete the space, a careful understanding of the room’s fundamental components where each piece of furniture has some relationship to the other by colour, form or finish.

There is an intentional contrast between the colourful flooring and the monochromatic walls with hints of art deco elements as seen on the temple screen or the dining table lights. There is a balance between simplicity of form and the decorative elements.

The vibrant floor pattern and colours delineate the spaces by giving each room it’s own individual character. The floor patterns and the colours played a pivotal part in creating a sense of space within the house.

The main door of the house opens up to the living spaces and dining space. The living space is divided by a shear wall into two spaces; one for entertaining and one for relaxing.

The living space immediate to the left of the main door is marked by an entrance unit that is used for storage and doubles up as a screen as well. The dining space that is the center of the house is book ended by the kitchen on one side and the informal living space on the other.

The three bedrooms are located along a linear axis and they all open out into the dining and living space. The thresholds of the three bedrooms are marked by the door frames and flooring pattern transitions that seamlessly flow into one another.

The formal living space consists of a unit with a landing counter that is used while entertaining and a blue diwan like seating with a back rest with concealed storage below that runs along the length of the room. Across from the sofa are two arm chairs in dirty coral pink and powder blue coloured fabrics that were custom made.  The ceiling lights here have been kept basic and placed inside custom wire mesh made baskets with an exposed filament bulb.

The dining space with it’s almost solid blue floor and white composite top with the custom made upholstered dining chairs and fabricated pendant lights has been kept fundamental. The temple nook that is accessed from the dining area has been screened using a custom fabricated art deco inspired door.

The casual living room that is an extension of the dining space and separated by a shear wall from the living space is one of the most comforting spaces within the house. Here a happy yellow couch is accompanied by a set of teak wood framework and rope back upholstered couches. The center table clad in veneer made using bent ply is accompanied by a white composite top side table that compliments the dining table.  The ceiling lights have been kept exposed mounted on birch ply plates within custom fabricated fittings in dull gold.

The door to the right of the yellow couch leads us to the master bedroom. Here the room is designed in zones; an entrance wardrobe gallery with sliding shutters in teak veneer, a sleeping space and a screened dressing space that transitions to the master bath.

The master bath wall tiles are a mélange of contrasting custom printed tiles. Around the vanity mirror the tile print is floral and within the rest of the bathroom it is a strong geometrical pattern. The exposed bulbs on either side of the vanity mirror are mounted within a custom made fitting.

The nursery is a much tighter space therefore the bed with storage below and wardrobes have been planned to be placed across from each other along the length of the room. The furniture here was built in birch – ply for it to appear visually lighter.

The floor space has been kept as open as possible to create a play space for the child within the room itself. The bathroom here has been created using dirty pink, blue, yellow and white tiles places in bands across the floor and one end wall and the remaining three walls are clad in white tiles. A custom made elephant shaped mirror has been designed for the vanity.

The guest bedroom has been designed to be functional and relaxed with a box bed with storage and wardrobe that occupies an entire wall. The wardrobe shutters are finished in teak veneer and the handles are powder coated in powder blue and sunshine yellow to create a graphic that compliments the line patterned flooring of this space.

Like the master bathroom here too we have applied two contrasting tiles; one for the vanity wall and one for the rest of the bathroom.

The kitchen has been designed keeping the client’s lifestyle in mind with a white backsplash, old pink tiled flooring accompanied with pacific blue and oak laminate cabinets. The profile handles have been electroplated black.

The walls throughout the house have been painted white and capped off with a leather finish black granite skirting on the bottom and a black three-inch paint band on the top. The apartment has a lot of nuanced and indirect references to art deco.

Essentially every piece of furniture barring the accessories within the house were custom made and fabricated. In the living space from the unit to the blue diwan like seating and both the chairs were all custom made. The profile handles of the unit were electroplated. The sculptural rabbit lamp was sourced from Home Artisan. Wall mounted white ceramic birds have been sourced from bent chair along with the yellow pug with glares and the red pug. The fabrics have been sourced from Bharat Furnishings and the cushions on the blue diwan have been sourced from Good Earth.

In the casual living space the framed wall art prints have been sourced from Quirkbox and the yellow glass vase has been sourced from INV Home. The living room fabrics have been sourced from Bharat Furnishings and the cushions from Nicobar. From the yellow couch to the rope backed sofas, the coffee table and the side tables were all custom made to fit within the space. From the built-in wardrobes to the bed and bed side tables all the furniture was custom designed and made. In the master bedroom the linens are from Maspar and the bed cover is from Good Earth. The framed wall art print above the bed is from Crude Area. The curtains are from Bharat Furnishings.

The bed and wardrobe were custom designed to work with the layout. In the nursery the bedding is from Maspar and the cushions are from Natty. The elephant light in the corner is from Varnam. The Jumbo bubble gum print and the flight of elephant prints above the bed are from Crude Area. Lenny the Lion wall art made using birch-ply is a MuseMART product designed by MuseLAB. The curtains are from Bharat Furnishings.  The guest bedroom linens are from Maspar and the bed cover is from Freedom Tree. The bed and wardrobe all were built as per specific requirement.

home is functional, fuss free, comforting with quirky details and elements of surprise just like the homeowners who are extremely warm and hospitable.

FACT FILE:

Architectural firm : MuseLAB

Project Type : 3 bhk apartment

Area:  1250sft