Chettinad style home design: Karthik’s home in Bangalore
Chettinad style home design
My apartment is located in a quaint neighbourhood of Bangalore known as Cooke town. The building has six apartments. It is eleven years old and was built by one of the leading architects of Bangalore, Edgar Demello. The house is 1420 sq feet with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining area, living room and 4 balconies. It has an old world charm to it which I want to retain.
Click on image to read the full feature on Karthik’s Chettinad style home
I belong to Chettinad, a region in Tamil Nadu that includes 74 villages. I have always been fascinated by the vibrant colours and kitsch mix of traditional South Indian, Eastern and European influences at family ancestral homes in Chettinad.I wanted to bring some of it to my own place. I was also very keen to try and restore as much of old antique furniture for my home to reduce the amount of fresh wood being consumed.
The home design process actually started with the utility area. It was an open area with a wide open balcony and I instinctively sketched a sit-out for entertaining and relaxing with friends and close ones. The sketch had two huge European windows, with an arch at the top and stained glass, something that I had seen at my grandparents too.
I was fortunate enough to find exactly the same window at a college that was getting demolished, a gothic structure built in 1925 and one of the landmarks of my city. This piece of heritage includes two 7ft windows in Burma teak. All I needed to do was refinish the wood, replace the glass and colour the windows and grills.
I also made a seating in concrete and red oxide, that is typical of south India. This is called a ‘tinnai’, a place where one rests. The two chairs in the ‘sit-out’ are of rosewood and are again restored from a local flea market.
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Category: Home Design India
A treat to the eyes…the placement of furniture and knick knacks,the colour, everything adds to the aesthetics!
Dear mr karthik,
I saw your home in ” better homes and gardens”.Am really impressed with the Athangudi flooring. Even i would like to have the same flooring for my house,I stay in bangalore,,please let me know about the availability ,durability,cost of the tile in bangalore and maintainance o,,please message me,,
regds,
Sindhu Jagan
dear mr karhik,
i saw your home in “better homes and gardens”
, am really impressed with the flooring,
i would like to know the availability ,durability,cost and maintainance of the same,,is it available in bangalore?Please let me know
regds,
sindhu
What a beauty!! A real simple, elegant yet beautiful home. I will surely keep this home in mind while decorating my home…Wonderful furniture placement.
hi karthik,
as i am a antique collector,i really love this.my concept is mainly tube radio and wall clock.
i think if iam not wrong i met u in bombay, iam not sure if u remember, anyway first of all aa gr8 apartment, iam also a great fan of chettinad architecture and antique furniture, i want to collect the tiles that u fixed on living room sofa table. pl let me know where they r available
tku
swathi
Very few middle class Indian homes have the character and personality that yours has. Lovely home. I like the fact that you have re-used a lot of flea market/antique stuff in your house. And like the unique Chettinad styling.
Hi Karthik,
Totally love the way you’ve done up your home
We are planning to do something similar, wanted to check who was your contractor and would like some details on the same, its v.hard to get kinda guys who are willing to do the red-oxide flooring they did years back. In addition to this, we’re looking at a restoration architect for an age old home of hours to save it from being haunted:-)Would be great if you could share some details.
thanks!
Hi,
its very nice & eco friendly,Good,even we are planing to built a house by using natural stones, wood & athangudi tiles.So pleace help in this. can i have ur contact number please.my contact number is:9886340805,Bangalore
Hi,
A beautiful home and a sustainable one at that. Wonderfully restored furniture I assume to go with the architecture. Could you share some contact details of skilled carpenters you used for this home.
thanks
Hi Karthik,
This is a great home style! Can’t believe this is an apartment – has a great homely feel! As I begin to explore options to set up my own house, this is great inspiration. Will appreciate if you can share details of the architect who helped you build this up – is that Edgar Demello you mentioned above? Will great if you could let me know (raghav.chandran@gmail.com). Thanks, and congratulations on a great home!
Regards,
Raghav
Hello Karthik,
First of all let me pass on huge congratulations to you. You have done a superb job with your house and anyone who sees these pictures can make out that it has been designed from the heart. Just loved the way you have executed it with attention to detail for each and every thing that has gone in. This house is a celebration of India culture. I am sure you are proud of it and so would your ancestors.
I also wanted to ask you where you got the wooden columns from. I have been scouring the net on where I can get them, but no luck. Would appreciate if you could help me on this. Thanks!
Dear Karthik,
You have showed me the house, which i had dreamed. Now i have plan to built a house. I want to go with traditional way.I love ur house very much.
If you don’t mind, is it possible send your house plan to me. also the cost estimation of your house u built including all the antiques.
Many congratualtions
balaguru