A vibrant family of 4 that described themselves as contrasting personalities, wanted a casa that reflected on each one’s persona. That gave birth to ‘House of Contrasts’ where each door induces a new sensation. As Bare-ism’s usual practice, we tried to bring their identities to life in their personal spaces while mellowing down the living room so much that it contrasts with everyone’s personalities and fosters a sense of belonging for all.
The highlight and most appreciated part of this project was the living room, which immediately had a calming effect on any person entering this space. While all the individuals of the family of 4 were so dynamic, we envisioned a bare cave that felt home to them. A space very raw and tranquil, mimicking a natural setting, very free-flowing and yet organised at the same time.
This Home For A Family Of 4 Brings Together Their Contrasting Personalities | Bare-ism
We call it a cave because the idea was to make it look monolith. As if someone carved it out. Here, everything was raw due to use of lime plaster, not just the walls but also the storage units next to the temple, making it almost non-existential mass. The textured white fabric selection for sofa, was also a conscious choice, to let this large mass simply blend with its context instead of standing out as a piece of furniture. Chairs where the only objects given a pop of colour to create a focal point in an otherwise muted scene.
The cave, that this living room is, had to have an opening i.e. a view of the outside. The design meant the dining back wall to be that view. Hence, it selected a tropical forest-like wallpaper that places this cave in a natural setting. When the sun goes down, and the dining wallpaper is lit, it truly becomes the focal point from anywhere in the living room.
TV unit was a long continuous ledge with passage on side and entrance foyer on another. And both appear to be an extension of the living room language. To break the length of this TV ledge, we inserted a black circular planter which became the focal point of this wall. The artwork on passage wall was also handmade with love and finished in the wall texture to accentuate the monolith feel.
To further romanticize the idea of a cave, the designers also created accent furniture pieces. These were the centre table set, in irregular forms. They intentionally designed the carpet to mimic unusual terrain with pockets of vegetation mass. Latika beautifully brought this idea to life. They also replicated these contour lines from the carpet onto the ceiling. They help one find visual harmony among the elements.
Dining table was also a beloved piece of furniture in this room. The team cast both the top and base in cement terrazzo and assembled them on site. The triangular form of seating arrangement ensures good exchange of vision among all the occupants of the table. Thus, instigating a good conversation. The wooden leg resonates with the visual language of other furniture pieces in the room. It does not isolate the dining table.
A living room that large but no balcony disheartened our family of 4. Since the building is a glass structure completely most of the times have completely drawn curtains is also not possible. So why not create the balcony feel like we did for master only this time, with the intention to bring in nature. Hence, the designers arranged the sofa to create a 5’ usable space behind it. They added a screen that created a physical barrier but kept the space visually open. They decorated it with beautiful tall plants that brought freshness to the space. Eventually giving a sense of balcony.
The only brief given for the kitchen was using a reddish shade for Vaastu reasons. For the given choice of colour given by the client, we suggested creating a retro restaurant themed kitchen. The vibrance of retro restaurant references shown to client scared them at first but we eventually agreed upon creating a subtle version of the same.
So eventually, the designers chose a less vibrant tone of brick red and paired it with patterned tiles as the backsplash. They derived all the other colour tones from the pattern tile, thus forming the mood board. To break the colour repetition, we also infused pre-finished veneers on less active part of the kitchen. Fillet curves still dictated the overall design language as seen across the whole house.
The designers altered the initial kitchen layout to break open the servant room and make the kitchen larger. They divided the kitchen into two parts—active and passive—to optimize functionality. As the name suggests, active part had accommodated food preparation area and HOB, sink, fridge and all the other utilities while the passive part had allied functions such as granary storage, hidden washing machine and dry cabinet, serving counter etc.
Our power couple client, in their 50’s, was keen on having young and vibrant space ‘because obviously that will help with mid-life crisis’. Just kidding! Because they believed to be young at heart. This was a dream home for our clients family of 4 who came to this city with nothing but aspirations and with all the hard work and perseverance and numerous home shifts, they were finally building their permanent retirement home. They particularly wanted a fun vibrant space as to not feel like they’re getting closer to their retirement and relive youthful days.
Hence, the designers created the room with arches, spheres, and playful elements one would enjoy. They used a vibrant colour palette and quirky décor to create a zing in the space, adorning the headboard wall with luxurious SS arches, wallpaper, and rich fabric boards, while custom-making irregular lights to match the headboard’s free-flowing design language and designing asymmetric, quirky side tables that add fun, modern elements to the room.
Our cutest client in this family of 4 was a 90 year granny who shared some memories of her blue bedroom from her early days. Her request was clear and simple but the twist was this room also had to be a convertible guest bedroom. We enthusiastically took it up as a fun challenge and made a cocktail of timeless details and modern objects.
For example, we coupled the blue palette of the room with colonial moulding details on walls and wardrobes and also introduced modern elements such as lights, décor, accent tables. This fusion room became a beautiful contrast of old and new, fresh and aged, and could quickly adapt to any style with a few décor changes.
Our youngest client of this family of 4 was a nerdy manga lover boy, recently graduated as computer science engineer, and a sincere patron for Japanese manga. He described his love for Japanese culture, the mountains, the cherry blossom festival and all the characters and animes that taught him about it. He wanted to live his manga life in reality and we helped him do just that!
The mountains were incorporated as a piece of art which we handmade with love. The material palette was evidently inspired by the Japandi living which boasted raw wood, aged veneers, natural rattan, textured fabrics, lime plastered walls etc. We also got cherry blossom wallpaper custom made for him.
The highlight of this room for him is his book shelf where he could boast his books, collections, posters, artworks etc. The only colour pop used in this room was a shade from the mountain’s artwork behind his headboard. This shade became a pop of colour that quietly balanced all the walls without taking away the focus of the main artwork.
Fact File
Designed by: Bare-ism
Project Type: Residential Interior Design
Project Name: House of Contrasts
Location: Dadar, Mumbai
Duration of the project: 7 Months
Project Size: 1800 Sq.ft
Project Cost: 90 Lakhs
Principal Architects: Saloni Chheda & Deepshikha Apte
Photograph Courtesy: Yadnyesh Joshi
Firm’s Instagram Link: Bare-ism
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