Located on East Coast Road, this Chennai home bears all the makings of a vintage cottage beach house from the 1980s — a retro radio cabinet, gilded chandeliers, suave leather furniture, wall art and a lofty bookshelf that becomes a treasure for bibliophiles.
Curating soulful spaces that are suffused with culture has always been at the core of designer Arti Muthiah and her design philosophy So, when life took a detour that pushed for a geographical relocation to her hometown, she decided to channel her innate flair and give this 2,400 sq ft abode a maximalist facelift. “The brief to myself was to transform this rental house into a cosy and chic space for my daughter and myself, to settle back into the city, after several years of being away,” the ex-Dubai resident states.
Contrast play
A quick home tour makes one thing certain — Arti doesn’t believe in doing things in half measures. A wave of calm reverberates across the interiors, where the chosen choice of colour palette is predominantly blue and grey with neutral whites and a terracotta contrast.
Upon entering the foyer, the presence of a console table on the right and a sturdy bookshelf provides visual interest.
A Sanctuary Of Artefacts
Reminiscent of plush cigar lounges from the 90s, the living room has a distinct personality, with the inclusion of passionately collated art and suave leather furniture like a classic, sienna-hued Chesterfield and a niftily reupholstered ivory sofa.
Raw and tactile materiality assumes the forefront here and natural stones, jute, sisal, and wood take centre stage.
Earthy and rustic — these words aptly describe the dining area. A fiery terracotta tint veils the ceiling, and the choice of colour feels like a refreshing change from the domineering blues, giving rise to a playful contrast between warm and cool tones, breaking the overall monotony of the space.
Finding Solace In A Piano Room
“The room is a sanctum for my daughter, who has been ardently honing her musical mastery over the years,” Arti reveals.
On days when the urge to press pause, a makeshift escape-esque nook is all one yearns after. The piano room was created as a result of a similar train of thought, with an organic feel to it through its materials, art, furniture and decor accentuated through a focal wall and ceiling of a blue canopy.
A Verandah With A Storied Past
The verandah embodies the calm and grounding energies of a slow Sunday morning. Overlooking the lush garden amid thickets of bamboo, this nook makes for an ideal alfresco dining area, enveloped in sunny ochre and white stripes for languid brunches.
A set of carefully handpicked plantation chairs in the verandah, painted in emerald green, trace their lineage to over 100 years ago. “Belonging to my grandfather, etched with his initials, the chairs serve as a reminder of my ancestral home in Chettinad,” concludes Arti, as she takes us through this architectural masterpiece that hadn’t sprouted out of a work commitment, but was rather born from a yearning for a life well spent, aptly reflective of the phrase that states, “There’s no place like home.”
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