Set against the verdant backdrop of Malabar Hills and overlooking the Hanging Gardens, this residence forms the lower half of a duplex. The designers conceived it as a self-contained apartment for a young family of five. This floor houses four bedrooms, a small sit-out, a utility area, and staff quarters. They planned it with precision to balance utility, storage, and an unabashed love of colour.

Set Amidst The Malabar Hills, This Apartment Overlooks The Hanging Gardens | Rutam Intarch

The Brief

The client, a couple with three children, had a clear brief. Each family member was to have a bedroom of their own, distinctly colour-coded to reflect their personality. Their design approach for this home in the Malabar Hills leaned toward the maximalist. This reflected both in palette and in storage needs.

Every wall and corner needed to work hard, with “storage” as the underlying mantra. For the design team, the challenge lay in creating spaces that appeared expansive and light. Despite the abundance of cabinetry, the goal was to refine the client’s vivid colour preferences into balanced, livable interiors.

Design Process

The design process became a collaborative negotiation between the client’s fearless embrace of colour and the designer’s instinct for restraint. Instead of relying on accent walls, the designers diffused the colours throughout the rooms through furniture, wardrobes, textiles, and subtle finishes, ensuring visual balance.

What could have been overwhelming became, instead, harmonised compositions: a child’s request for “orange and blue” translated into softened shades spread across millwork, flooring, and upholstery, creating a room that feels as relevant for a teenager as it will for a young adult.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom presents the boldest challenge, centred on a deep blue-green tone that skirts between teal and aquamarine. While the client was determined to anchor the space with this saturated hue, the design team tempered it through careful layering of textures and lighter accents, resulting in a room that feels both dramatic and calming. Elsewhere, fluted detailing, being their favourite, was incorporated into wardrobes and joinery, though executed with restraint to maintain clean lines and contemporary proportions.

The Layout

Spatially, the planning was tight. The original apartment included a maid’s room, small bath, and utility areas, all of which had to be reconfigured to carve out the four bedrooms and a sit-out. The result is an “inch-to-inch” plan where every element, from door sizes to storage walls, was reconsidered to extract maximum usability.

Childrens Room

At the entry, concealed wardrobes integrate storage seamlessly, disguising utilities behind a flush wall surface. The sit-out, though compact, became a vibrant nook clad in the children’s chosen palette of lemon yellow, green, and navy, anchored by custom in-house furniture and a playful mirror that bounces light through the space.

Materials

Materiality reinforces the balance between luxury and modern utility. A lot of grey marble was sourced, running continuously through common areas to unify the spaces. Hardware and lighting in matte black provide a cohesive thread across the residence. Bathrooms were treated as experiments in colour, eschewing marble in favour of contemporary Indian tiles in vivid yet refined hues, making each bathroom feel unique while maintaining the overall sensibility.

Design Intent

Despite the family’s love for layering detail, the design language resists excessive ornamentation. Walls are kept largely plain, with richness introduced through veneers, PU finishes, and carefully curated furnishings. The clients sourced select Italian pieces for the living room, but most furniture was custom-built in India, tailored to the precise requirements of each space.

Conclusion

This project reflects a deliberate balancing act: between maximalist impulses and modern restraint, between storage-heavy demands and airy openness, between children’s vibrant imaginations and a timeless aesthetic that will age gracefully with them. In the end, this home in the Malabar Hills is not simply a collage of colour-coded rooms, but a thoughtful, cohesive environment that captures the family’s energy while framing it in enduring contemporary design.

Fact File

Designed by: Rutam Intarch

Project Type: Residential Interior Design

Project Name: Orbit

Location: Malabar Hill, Mumbai

Year Built: October 2024

Built Up Area: 1700 Sq.ft

Principal Designer: Sheffalie Jhaveri

Photograph Courtesy: Pulkit Seghal

Stylist: Nidhi

Products / Materials / Vendors: Tapestry from – Fabrics and cottons & satins / Knobs and Handle – Mantara / Lights -Jadelights, Emanate, Kumarlamps / Sanitary ware –KOHLER, VBCL, GESSI / Furniture’s – Rutam.IntArch, theclosetcompany / Tiles – Cambay Tiles / Marble- QualityMARBLE, KKMarble

Firm’s Website Link: Rutam Intarch

Firm’s Instagram Link: Rutam Intarch

For Similar Projects >> A Cozy and Minimal apartment with Sound Color Balance