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What they wanted
Prashanth, a retired government employee, and his wife, a retired professor came to us for the interiors, they owned a good deal of antique teak furniture that they wanted to use in the living area and elsewhere, an old almirah they had no wish to part with, and a large collection of idols for their puja. Their brief for the design was short: keep it simple, without heavy false ceilings or ornament.
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The challenge
Designing around existing pieces asks for a different kind of care than designing a room from scratch. Each piece already had its own scale, colour, and history, and everything new had to sit beside it comfortably. A home with this much antique teak needs a quiet backdrop, and the work lay in deciding what to add and how much to leave alone.
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The idea
We kept the ceilings plain and let the furniture do the talking. The staircase railing used to be the first thing visible from the front door, so we covered it in horizontal timber paneling, with a small open niche for a sculpture. The entrance now feels calm and composed, and the stairs reveal themselves only once you are inside. To go with the teak, we chose darker tones for the wardrobes and finished them in veneer. We shaped the wardrobe run around their almirah, bringing the central section forward so the old piece is kept and looks like part of the design.
The puja room got what it needed most: generous counter space, in tiers, for the idols, set against a warm terracotta wall. In their son’s bedroom we designed the whole set, wardrobe, bed, and study table, as one piece of work. From the family area, a balcony opens onto a sit-out. We framed that opening in timber paneling and finished it with soft furnishings, so it became a proper place to sit rather than a passage to the outside.
From the home
