A montage of eclectic elements define this quiet suburban Mumbai apartment, crafted by Noorein Kapoor like a trendy Pinterest mood board for the young couple who reside here

It is tough to put your finger on any one distinctive vibe. And that is actually the most remarkable feature of this charming 1,600 sq ft apartment in the quiet neighbourhood of Khar in Mumbai.

As you walk through the home, the mood is eclectic. A mixture of textures, styles and colours make this space edgy and casually lived-in at the same time. Noorein Kapoor’s young, newly-wed clients, Karan Mehta and Krutika Patel, flooded her with their Pinterest moodboards, a lot of which became inspiration for this house. “Let’s just address the elephant in the room first,” smiles the interior designer who is also the creative director at her namesake studio Noorein Kapoor Design (NKD), “Social media is a given today. The use of Pinterest and Instagram is common, almost unspoken between designers and clients.” In this case, it eliminated certain stages of the design process and became an interesting gateway for the three of them to edit their story using these concepts as a base and then making it their own.

The apartment opens first into the dining area, not the most ideal location but the only optimal solution when it was planned by Noorein.

The open-plan kitchen is right by the dining table, its cool blue island rendered perfect against black shutters, bold striped flooring and grey finishes. Both blend seamlessly into the living room. Much like the striped kitchen floor, the dashing pop striped bar unit or the classical black-and-ivory inlay credenza by the dining table, little audacious corners of the home are conversation points.

Everything balances out eventually, with simple hints like a muted charcoal veneer or a stark Scandinavian coffee table. Clean lines dominate the living room furniture in a soothing blue, ivory and tan palette. 

The most important direction was of course versatility in design—with sliding doors that connect and open up various spaces of the home and manage to convert the cleverly designed multifunctional guest bedroom into a den, library, study or an extension of the living room.

Afterall, smartly designed and neatly lit work-from-home space is pretty much the keyword in interior decor since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. It is also clear in the quirky touches and bold splashes of smooth millennial blue, pink, teal and oak that bring out the base tones of black and grey throughout.

The large windows, the use of plants, hints of green and even the out-of-the- blue tropical wallpaper in the den, pay a soft tribute to the trending tropitecture influence in design. The space is colour-blocked yet balanced, off-set with the very hip use of concrete finishes. The layering too is on trend—almost like a thoughtful anarchy of disparate design elements, like a distinctly Scandinavian coffee table, layered carpets, oakwood floor set in herringbone and a mad pop coloured bar. 

“This was the first place that we were to call our home,” smiles Krutika, 32, co-founder of start-up Style Podium. Her husband Karan, 31, who runs his own biomedical start-up Life Bound, was also extremely involved in the decision-making process—a true team of differing tastes that came in sync quite effortlessly.

The highlight of this apartment is its absolute sense of fluidity, made possible by a subtle jigsaw of four different types of sliding door systems that connect the various parts, thus freeing up space and movement for the residents. And there is a certain geometry and functionality of decor that defines this fluidity—the undisputedly favourite aspect of the home for Noorein and the couple.

“Our home needed to be a reflection of smaller details brought together beautifully to make a space that resonates with us,” says Krutika. It is the medley of elements here that is truly engaging. Like the guest bedroom’s bold tropical print wallpaper, which is elegantly finished in black and white— thus, becoming both dramatic and understated.

With this are the green touches in the bathroom with Art Deco style subway tiles, the emerald of the library unit and the pops of blue or orange that all come together to conspire with the two distinctly neutral tones—the many shades of grey and the gentle touches of nude and cream.

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