Where I Live…

A copywriter’s apartment in New Delhi is just like its owner – opinionated, comfortable in its own skin, calm with splashes of quirkiness and most importantly, eccentric

23 Apr 2025

Freddy Birdy

Produced by Sonia Dutt

I love luxury, but for me it is measured not in square feet or luxurious things. For me luxury is about light and air and space and volume and how a place feels, rather than how it looks. It should feel plush. You don’t need marble or granite or silver coffee tables for that. A clean white bed sheet can be the most deluxe thing in the world. Walking with naked feet on a buttery terrazzo floor…what could be more lavish? Feeing happy in your own home, isn’t that the ultimate luxury?

In decor, as in life, what you leave out is as important as what you put in… when you invite someone to your home you gift them a part of yourself.

“A home should never be perfect. Perfect homes, like perfect people are boring. It should always be unfinished; there should always be something to long for, to wish for, something to add on, something to dream of.” — Freddy Birdy

A vivid blue bar cabinet from Sharma Farms Antiques gives a jolt of energy to the white dining area. On it are a buddha statue from Koh Samuii, white vase and candle holder from Sia; Photography by Gaurav and Thiru

Every room you walk into, wherever in the world, it will tell you its story. It will tell you about who lives there and how they think. And whether they are happy living there or not. Whether they like blue or white or pink. And what they like to eat. You can tell what fills their mind by looking at their bookshelves or what’s on their television screens. And what secrets they conceal deep within them. All you have to do is listen.

A home should be decorated slowly, over time, over the years. It is memories that make up a home, not things. So you can be a bit reckless with things, but choose your memories wisely.

What you can’t see can make a room more beautiful. The smell of coffee brewing, an apple crumble crisping slowly in the oven, the sounds of children playing in the park, knowing that there is a dark, unopened bar of chocolate somewhere deep within the fridge awaiting an hour after midnight, the hope, expectancy and sudden anticipation when a doorbell brings, the reassuring monotonous hum of air-conditioning, or best, simply waiting for someone you love.

A lamp from Apartment 9 and steel flower installation from Alex Davis’s new collection light up a corner of the living room; Photography by Gaurav and Thiru

White mosaic tiles by Bisaaza, Glassware from Room, Bangkok and Vaishali Kamdar; Photography by Gaurav and Thiru

“A home should never be perfect. Perfect homes, like perfect people are boring. It should always be unfinished; there should always be something to long for, to wish for, something to add on, something to dream of.”

Not a check-list of pricey acquisitions or a testament to your achievement, a home is more than just price-tags and boldface logos, though money could afford you that. Your space has its own journey and its own mind and its best you swim along with it, enjoying the ride as it were, adding here, subtracting there, cleaning, polishing, painting, enhancing, sometimes obsessing even, but always, always enjoying.

The ultimate decor in a home is its people. It’s people that bring it to life. In the
end it’s not about white paint or fresh flowers or perfumed candles as it is about the inhabitants. It is their thoughts and breaths and sounds and conversation and laughter that decorate a space. A home should make you feel beautiful even in sadness. How does your residence nurture you when you are alone? Does it gift you dreams? Does it pamper you in its embrace? Does it soothe you when you are unwell? Do guests want to linger on an extra hour? Or two? Or stay the night? However
far and wide your travels take you, isn’t the best journey always homewards?