“I spend hours doing up my house”

IIN MUMBAI, THE CLEANER YOU KEEP YOUR WALLS, THE MORE SPACE THEY GIVE TO YOUR ROOMS.

love anything that is antique or vintage. In terms of decorating my place, I found most of my stuff in antique markets like Jogeshwari. I am also a huge fan of refurbishing old pieces. I usually buy them, bring them home and then in my time I sit and work on them. I find it therapeutic.

Instead of sleeping after a hectic shoot, I spend hours just doing up my house; I find it very relaxing. I bought a chair from Jogeshwari market and a foot stool to go with it. I sanded it down, painted it and got a lime green for the cushion.

I love how you can find unique pieces in Jogeshwari market and your home doesn’t look like it is out of a catalogue. I found a little bedside table there or just Rs 1,000! I personalised it by painting it in gold and white colours.

I like to collect vintage things. I did a show called Style in the City that took us all over India and I picked up pieces along the way — beautiful door handles from Pushkar, hand painted cushions from Kishangarh Art Gallery in Jaipur and antique boxes from Lucknow. I am not a huge fan of contemporary design. I like it more if it is mixed with vintage things. Just like in fashion, I like to mix vintage with modern.

Usually in Mumbai, the cleaner you keep the walls, the more spacious your house looks. The minute you paint the walls a dark colour, the room appears smaller. I’ve kept my walls plain, but I go crazy in my kitchen. I painted my kitchen walls and cabinets turquoise to give it a more funky feel. I am also not much of a hoarder and that keeps things sensible in terms of space. For me, furniture is best if kept at a minimum. I really like black and white framed pictures though—candid pictures of my sisters, friends from Australia and my parents. I also have a lot of vintage posters of Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe.

The author is a singer, anchor and model.