Vasudha Narasimhan’s home in Bangalore : DIY on a budget

 

Vasudha’s home was a part of the stylish home contest, a while ago. Here, in this new format, she talks about her love for design and all that inspires her.

Do check out her wonderful blog - Cherishing Spaces

I was born and brought up in Bangalore. I am a fun loving person with a great passion for the creative things in life. Even as a child, I was fascinated by interiors. Mixing and matching of colours, patterns and styles captivated me. Although I worked as a management professional, my heart was elsewhere.

My first experience in design was as a novice. I designed and decorated my 1900 square feet apartment right from scratch. I realised that I was very happy and excited with what I was doing. People called up to say they wanted their homes designed by me. That is when, I started learning the art of decorating homes. I pursued formal training in interior design and am now a freelancer in this field. I teach at various design institutes and conduct workshops on specific design concepts.Travel and cuisines are my other passions.

After I got married, we have been living in different houses with different ambiences. During our stay in my very own city- Bangalore, I wanted to give a local feel to the decor. The time limit of my stay was known, so I decided to go in for a theme that would not require too much of an expense. When things are locally crafted, they not only cost less, but are easily available too.

My aim was to decorate my home with the least possible expenditure. For this, I decided to go in for furniture makeovers. I went through the attics in the homes of my parents and in-laws and brought down all that I could use.

The wardrobe stand is the most appreciated piece of furniture in my house. Traditional south Indian homes have this kind of a hanger which also doubles to be a partition sometimes. This belongs to my in-laws and must be about 70 years old. This is a classic clothes hanger made of rose wood and I just love the timeless elegance of the piece. I added extra hooks and used this to display my collectibles. While sometimes, this would have an African theme, on other occassions it would have a Diwali or a Christmas theme.

I have used the art of decoupaging to convert an old wooden chest to a beautiful low-lying table for my telephone and other accessories. This trunk is easily about 75 years old and was also odamaged. To restore this, I first painted this dark brown, the colour of chestnut itself. I used an oil based paint and generously applied two coats to achieve the right colour and finish. I let it dry for a few days and then applied artist’s gold colour which is also oil based medium. I then decoupaged this with prints of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings.

My collectibles are mostly souveniers from all the places I have visited. I love to change these every few months to give a fresh feel to my home seasonally. I am on the constant look out for Flea markets selling antiques.

I bought this at Aryabhangy in Bangalore, India. This is a teak wood door in a rose wood finish. Initially this was a single door, but I wanted a traditional double door for the pooja room and so modified it slightly to get that effect.

My decorating style is mostly eclectic with an emphasis on the south Indian feel (especially Mysore). I love colour, especially a warm blend of reds, oranges and yellow. These colours also have a strong influence of south Indian culture. As I had lived abroad for a long time, I was missing this touch and so decided on this palette for the home.

The chair was made by a local artisan in 1984 and was being used at my in-laws as a writing table chair. This is made out of pure teak wood and was painted in an off-white oil colour. Since I wanted to match it with the decor of my house, I decided to enhance this with some colourful kundan stones of various shapes and sizes. The pattern started evolving as I worked on it. I then painted the rest of the portion in artist’s gold paint.

 

Category: Home Tour, Spaces