IDEAL LIVING
This Scandanavian-influenced house designed by architect Ekta Khanna is filled with light, contemporary touches and strong accents
A Scandanavian-influenced house designed by architect Ekta Khanna
Situated on the 23rd floor of a high-rise star in Delhi is a 2,800 sqft, four bedroom apartment of a young couple and their family. Designed by architect Ekta Khanna, the apartment is well furnished, refined with luxurious interiors with a bit of a Scandinavian feel. Beside these touches, we loved the Indian-ness in the apartment, which gives it a unique character. Showcasing clean lines the place is warm and cosy, and the USP of the house is it’s location that provides ample amount of natural light in every room giving it an aura of being airy as well. Mostly the whole house has a very monochromatic tone; you don’t see a lot of dark vibrant colours. Muted grey is the basic colour that runs all around the house.
The living-dining, which is a one large space takes the spotlight in the apartment. The walls are in the shade of warm-muted grey and there’s a bold black and white wallpaper, which creates a dynamic and interesting background to the grey-linen draped sofa, which forms a part of the formal seating. This grey-black-white look is offset by a dark tan day-bed completing this formal seating. There is also an informal seating area in the living room, which has two dusty green velvet chairs and a random shelving at the back. Ekta explained, “A slightly informal setting was specifically asked by the client as they wanted to have a space where they could sit every morning and have a cup of tea. They really liked the idea of having a cozy corner for just the two of them.” The random shelving at the back is where they keep all the memorabilia from their travels, momentos, books, etc. The dining room, which according to her, was a bit of a challenge as it is a thorough affair-having almost five to six doors opening onto it. To overcome this the dining area is defined by a drop wood
“The furniture for living room and master bedroom by Boconcept helped us infuse functionality to modern home design.”
“As the rooms aren’t very large, we didn’t want to dress it up too much by adding heavy elements. Both the wallpapers are in a geometrical pattern which give a structured look to the rooms; we avoided leaves, flowers and trees which are more defined.”
ceiling and a teal-coloured carpet on the floor. The only colours that are being used are not the in-your-face colours, but very rich, dark ones used in contrast with the monochromatic tone of the house. Wood in two shades-walnut and dark-almost-black – is used in the whole house. The door frames are in a dark-almost-black colour while the shutters are in walnut-teak kind linear, which works throughout the house.
Moving to the master bedroom, again the focal point is the pastel wallpaper with a hexagonal pattern. There’s a narrow passage where the vanity is situated. It’s shallow, but practical, and doesn’t clutter the space. A blush pink armchair and a carpet with the tones of pink give the room almost a feminine vibe but the balance has been created by using black in other elements. The other room is their teenage son’s bedroom with a black panelled wall and a smart modern bed in a metallicolive-grey leather upholstery. Ekta further explained, “Since he is a teenager, his
personality is still evolving, so we didn’t want to give him something definite. We’ve left it as a bare canvas, so that he can keep adding things as and when he wants to.” The client’s mother’s bedroom is the smallest one where wooden slates have been used as the bed backdrop. The only colours that are used in the room are on the bed back, which is covered with a rich-looking blue velvet. Also, an eye-catching addition is a hanging artwork, which is a modern take on
Pichwai paintings. The last room in the house is the family, room which is for the guests. A sofa-bed, some additional furniture and a TV unit covers the whole room giving it a very basic and functional look.