A chic apartment in Mumbai

It takes a lot to be bold with your own home, especially with colours that you choose. I have seen gorgeous homes that tread carefully on beige, white, pastels, and homes that have gone a tad bolder and painted perhaps, one wall of their living room, a red or orange. And that's as far that one usually goes. But a quirky green ceiling in your dining room, a spectacular shade of aqua in your bedroom, a brick feel in your study -how many do that?

Mathanki did and she goes far beyond set norms. The young art director's recently done up swanky new home, is a riot of colours. Set in Mumbai, her home is exuberant, cosy and chic. Look for yourselves, the magic she has woven, and read in her own words all that inspired her to put together this delightfully atypical home.


Stylkist: Your biggest influences while designing the house

Mathanki: I guess it would have to be a New York loft or apartment. Reason being apartments in New York- like Mumbai are quite tiny, yet some of them are so chic and tastefully designed. They also use a lot of brick in the their decor, and we wanted to bring in a bit of that. We picked up a couple of 'Design for small spaces' books from Crosswords, which was a good starting point. We also got a lot of ideas from this show called 'Top Design', and flickr.com and apartmenttherapy.com It's amazing the amount of design ideas available for free on a click.








Stylkist: Which room did u enjoy doing the most?

Mathanki: The study. Initially I was really nervous about the brick wall, if it would go with the rest of the house, but then it gave the room a rich warm feel that totally grew on us. The blinds for the window, we made out of a Portico bed sheet. Bedsheets always have a lot of colors and patterns somehow that's always missing in the 'curtain material' section in stores. The bar counter on the other side was made of tiles salvaged from the kitchen and bathroom, and that wall is actually white pin stripe texture wall-paper painted black. Although it seems like random things put together, everything blended in just right. So we definitely enjoyed doing up the study the most.





Stylkist: The use of colours- is there a story here? we see so much aqua!
Mathanki: I love colors. And Bombay is not the best city if you want to maintain white walls. Although we didn't go overboard coloring every wall, we did want bring in a bit of color in every room. For the living room, we went for a rich dark chocolate texture 'art' wall, which would provide a good contrast to all the framed artworks and prints we plan to put up. The brick wall brought in enough color to the study. As for the aqua- there is no story, except it's my most favorite color! I find my bedroom wall most calming- reminds me of the oceans, reminds me of nature. Aqua unlike most colors is neither to bright and jarring to the eye, nor is it too dark and depressing.








Stylkist: A little about accessorizing your house- I love the study and the wall prints. Give us some insight into making the cosiest room of your home.

Mathanki: We put a lot of thought and time into the accessories. We had a budget, and so I surfed through the net and made a note of the few 'must visit' shops in Bangalore and Mumbai. We picked up a lot of stuff from Good Earth, Loose Ends, The Bombay Store and HomeStop. As for the prints- I have been collecting vintage prints of various sizes from all my travels, so finally I have walls to put them up on. What's making the rooms look cozy- I would think it's the size! Tiny and cute, with comfy couches and futons and lots of fluffy cushions!








Hope you loved this original, cool home! Oh, also, do check Mathanki's blog- By Two Kaapi n a Bit of Art, some cool stuff there too!