Chettinad Inspired Villa (Home Tour of Deepak & Swapna)

The rise of social media seem to have replaced my blogging journey but after my typical “Yes-Yes” & “No-No” thoughts I finally decided to open my blog for this home tour, which deserves to be here and cherished for long just like the other showcased several homes previously.

Subtly accentuated rooms with splendors of classic architecture and discerning aesthetic strokes of designer Nehal Shanghavi at Caasa Mia are just a few of the many highlights of Deepak and Swapana's cultured and curated home.

Easy going yet undeniably stylish home today is a vision of designer Nehal, who is drawn to things that have history, character and soul. And while reading this please don’t take your eyes off the images. 

Interior Designer Nehal has rightly converted her passion of decorating into work through her design. Nehal’s work is powered through reflecting her love and passion of traditional Indian décor that she was secretly harboring. Nehal strives to push the creative envelope when it comes to providing her clients the best. So far it has been a surreal and exciting journey for her filled with tremendous experience.

Nestled on the outskirts of Bengaluru, away from the hustle and bustle of the city's chaos, is this Chettinad inspired villa which is an embodiment of tranquility and chic design sensibilities. Designed by Nehal Shanghavi @caasa_mia, the home owners, Deepak & Swapna's 3,800 sq.ft. home is lovingly named ‘Kamala’ translating to mean the seat of Goddess Lakshmi. 

 

A pair of rustic and gigantic 100 year old pillars spotted in an antique store at Pondicherry was the starting point to their design idea. The pillars bring in a Chettinad touch and paved way for other ornate design elements like the hand crafted teak wood swing, couch, bench, coffee table and a unique triangular 2 seater sofa. 

A good beginning with a focused mind led Nehal championing a fresh and an unconventional approach to those pillars. Her wit of using these traditional pillars in a modern way very much sums up the core of her style. 

Enticing display of silk cushions along with brass idols and green planters accentuated the overall look. Every detail draws the eye and creates the flow. The colors and accessories compliment one another adding a bit of a zing to the interiors.  

The architectural quirks of those pillars are well extended in the dining room. Through careful research and with love for every detail Nehal has merged art and luxury together. A unique round dining table with cane work under an eclectic chandelier was placed alongside glass doors that opened up to an intimate green sit out.

Nehal's stylistic touch runs through out the house. The collage of rustic frames, rustic storage shelves and the rustic looking handsome yet chic desk here simply compliments the entire surroundings. 

To lighten up the walls and accentuate the overall look, a mustard wallpaper with a clay like finish, a blend of ethnic stone plates, wooden carvings and a Ravi Varma art on the feature wall were used. 

The doors of the pooja room in their home has a welcoming vibe and strengthens the point of focus here. Pooja room, being a powerhouse of divine energy, they decided to retain the charm of an old temple with intricate carving along the doors and stone work inside. Meticulously designed traditional pieces like this door never go out of style. The door here breathes elegance and simplicity.

To keep the game going, visually weighty swing is inserted with well-edited elements in the background. The careful placement of each and every piece infuses every square inch here with whimsy and glamour. 

Chiseled to perfection pieces are sited and placed in the most unexpected places. The confident mix of modern and antiques are conversed brilliantly by Nehal creating an impactful effect in her interior choices. 

Each corner around the home has gone through intelligent and deliberate design process by Nehal. She brilliantly inserted this cozy reading nook along the stairway put the space to the best use.

In Swapna's words - "Thanks to our designer Nehal Shanghavi, we were able to style our home to perfection and have a space where we can relax, meditate and introspect after a hard day’s work. A few minutes at the swing with spiritual music at the backdrop, catching a book at our nook or coffee at our sit out with occasional conversations over the dinner table is our idea of a day well spent."

I agree with every word you narrated here Swapna. Your home is an innately nourishing space with a remarkable visual appeal! Nehal has nurtured every corner of this home lovingly and filled with things that Swapna's family will treasure for long. 

Concluding this home tour, wishing Nehal many more accomplishments and accolades for her artistic designing journey further. You can connect with Nehal on her Instagram feed right here.

Stay connected on my social media feeds for the upcoming festive decor, unitl than toodles!

Whimsically Ethnic Home Tour of Poornima Murthy (Part-2)

After a string of applaud and wowing the readers in Part- 1 (in case you missed it, click here) we are back with characteristically quirky Murthy touches in Part -2. However, the only thing missing from this post is a warning label. Be careful while reading this post, as you might never want to leave this home. 

Just because Poornima's passion for decor bring a certain poeticism to everything she touches, let me warn you that there is no surface (in the home) is unadorned. Every corner, every wall will give you a visual pop. Being adventurous and classy in the same breath, with every stage of her decor voyage, Poornima continues to push boundaries of decor to exciting new corners.

Just because every successful home story begins with a carefully devised corner. I am starting this home tour with a bold yet a total knock-out corner of Poornima's previous home. Before she began to hatch new plans and welcomed new ideas for gallery walls, this was the very first gallery wall she did in her old home. Just like this wall and every other wall in Poornima's home shouts part of her individuality and evokes deeply valued meaning of her culture through her decor. 

With the cultivated taste and deep passion, Poornima had a clear blueprint of what exactly she wanted when they were hunting down for a place called "home". Poornima prompts: "We went searching for our home more than three years and finally found this (4400 square feet) home that we both instantly fell in love with. This is our happy place, where we did not have to compromise in any way. All the countless niches in this home, got my heart racing ever since I clapped my eyes on them..now, I proudly display my collection in each one of them".

With a good beginning and a focused mind Poornima lives with her own interpretation of decor. Masterful mixing is very much of her way of having the best of the both worlds. Gracefully designed with a traditional console table (that mimics the look of a damachiya) from Cost Plus World Market is the focal point here. Layered with clusters of eclectic and global treasures ensure that guests will certainly get a clue of what to expect ahead in Murthy's home.

Poornima is not a rule breaker, she is more of a rule ignorer and this attitude is what got her started making and decorating this home at first place. Poornima has brainstormed many ideas ever since the house was under construction phase. Poornima sums up: "Growing up in India, I was already a maximalist with whimsical vintage sensibility by the tender age. Fascinated with doors of a bygone era, I was itching to have one of those show-stopping piece in our home. When this house was under construction, I had visualized one of the niches to have Chandan Dubey's door panels. I jumped on it and reached out to her and placed the order. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the order after learning about the fact about the weight of the doors and hanging it on US walls was bit tricky. Later my accidental search on internet led me to the talented DIY queen Divya :)." Rest is history. The door was executed exactly the way Poornima had envisioned by none other than Desi DIY Sisters about whom I have shared earlier here. 

Hours are whiled away day-dreaming many of the corners she has created. Poornima is bound by anything but her own imaginations and she has wholeheartedly enjoyed the process. Each room has gone through an intelligent and a deliberate design process.

While decorating her walls Poornima was mindful of not wanting to overpower any visitor with her collection but all the rules went out of the window when she actually started to inject a heaping dose of her collection on the walls. 

                           

Poornima went full throttle and drenched every wall mixing with striking shapes, materials, colors and cultural references...that eventually turned out witty and refined. 

Mixing old and new, rustic and contemporary is a sure-fire recipe for an exciting and eclectic interior. Poornima's hard work, vision and the ability to take risks factoring in every possibility has paid off well on her walls. Having design guts often leads to interior glory can be proved in Poornima's case by looking at these one of a kind tweaked set of frames. She simply attached few accessories on plain black and white frames turning them into envy inducing pieces....brilliant, isn't it? 

Her cultivated aesthetic stroke and stylistic thread of DIY continues to run throughout the home. While giving small updates to this deceptively elegant and giant sized mirror from Pier 1 Imports she has given it a major statement. To jazz up the elegance of this mirror, she has used decal stickers imitating the Chetitnad tile look on the borders. Just in an attempt to see how-it-goes-with-what-I-have she personalized the piece and gave it a bold decorative treatment. 

Her youthful DIY spirit occupies many other corners around the home. Striking a pose in the middle of this collage is an up cycled old bench that Murthy couple manifested into a new avatar. Rest of the wooden frames are also adorned by the art work of Poornima which she fondly defines as trial and error art pieces.

To find the far eluded calm in this busy-ness of everyday life, Poornima has created “Yoga-room” within the house. To soothe and enrich the souls, she has added clever touches of Zen elements. Her practical requirement of doing yoga is well served here as declared by Poornima: “We have been practicing yoga for 8 years now. When we moved in to this house, we wanted to have a yoga studio at home. We felt that with a yoga room of our own we can spend the whole hour dedicated to yoga practicing. With the ease of excess to this room, we have no excuse of skipping yoga now. I personally think that dedicating a space to practice is a way to acknowledge our commitment to yoga.” 

People love color but are afraid to use it or may be not entirely sure how to introduce it into their space. In the case of Poornima, she loves the idea of shaking up her pallet and can commit to large scale color pieces in more daring shades. In a reply to choosing yellow shade for the living room, she replies: “Yellow is the color of sunshine that we very much miss in Seattle area for greater time of the year. Hence, we chose yellow as the color theme for our living area. It definitely helps to uplift our mood and bring positivity during the dark and grey days 😊" 

Combining chic style and femininity from fabrics to furniture to fixtures hunting in this home is all about vibrancy and comfort. She has left sleek minimalist look at the door and have opted for vibrant layers of texture, color and prints throughout her home but her living room inspires us to be bold while giving a jolt of excitement.

Some colors have power to transport you, yellow itself being an energetic color it adds lots of impact here. However, splashy Pichhwai was the starting point for going all yellow. Mr. Murthy who weighs in for every décor decision of Poornima believes in decorating with one focal point in the room, and following his decor mantra, Poornima made the Pichhwai painting a conversation starter focal piece in the living room. Sharing their sentimental attachment Poornima coins: "For a person brought up in India, it is uncommon to have grown up listening to the glorious stories of Lord Krishna. So, we decided on Pichhwai to have as a focal point and started hunting for it. We got lucky to have find an artist on eBay, who happily agreed to customize the painting to match our rest of the yellow theme.”  

Murthy family’s every room only augment the seriousness of couple’s admiration for our culture and traditions. With Poornima’s vision for the space, elevating a room doesn't mean breaking the bank or spending months under renovation. Adding colorful frames on your plain bare walls can make your home feel grander in a single weekend.  Poornima and her husband completed this room on a weekend like a pro and embellish the room.  

Her collection here is a manifestation of her lifelong interest in sustainable design and commitment to support ethical Indian art and designs. She collected these oleographs from the different sources in India and now they have transformed this space into Murthy family’s own private gallery of sorts filling it with the collection. She knows when the pieces of art come together, they tell a completely different story.  

Bold pieces and mishmash of furniture and unusual naïve accessories create a witty yet relaxed living space full of drama and narrative in this brightly hued living room. Supersaturated tones that leap from the walls and furnishings makes her happy and lifts her spirit...and she really went for it.  

Before we wrap up, sharing a richly layered corner in couple’s master bedroom which shows that every room is endowing with personality and soul in Murthy family’s home. This corner however lacks "desi" touch but I still sniff "desi" vibes here with her choice of accessories and decor. Poornima laughingly admits that they both are polar opposites when it comes to home décor: “I am more of an old-schooler who loves the classic look that never dips out of style and my husband likes modern and fresh looking-contemporary style. However, he encourages and nurtures my creative spirit and follows my ideas with blind faith. We have set boundaries with décor style to fit in both of our choices. Family room and master bedroom are the area that he owns and you can see very less antiques/brass artifacts there.” 

Poornima embraces imperfection, welcomes the charm of worn vintage pieces and prides herself on creating an atmosphere that follows the rhythm of her heart.... after all, the magic lies - as ever - in the mix. As we conclude this part –2 leaving you with a picture of family’s dining room as next we have lined up the heart of the home – Murthy family’s kitchen in part-3. 

This tad bit long home tour will be a memorable one and will inspire a purposeful living experience for many of us. After all, the home is a place to be celebrated and you deserve to live beautifully.

So, go ahead, jump on in, reinvent and refresh your style and to learn how to balance colors, how much and where to use it. I know, after Poornima's colorful home tour, I am at it.  

Until we meet again with part-3, stay connected, toodles.

Whimsically Ethnic (Home Tour of Poornima Murthy) Part -1

The month of February takes us just that little bit further into the year, while still retaining the essential freshness of new beginnings. That being said about beginnings, bringing you a brand-new home tour to kick start this year at the blogging front.  

With color and creativity at every turn, this home is a purposeful reflection of what the home owners truly love and how they live. Seeking balance between beauty, art and functionality with a touch of quirk this home tour will definitely strike a chord with you all. So, to make it up to you all for this admittedly long overdue home tour (and my absence on blog sphere), I have decided to feast your eyes and senses in three parts. After all, a home packed with tons of ideas and lots of guts deserves more than a single post. 

Beautiful homes always brim with multitude of beautiful things. Portraits of many lovely vignettes - all with diverse style, colors, accouterments, layouts and ambiance illustrate how small personal touches of Poornima has bring charm to every setting. With her impeccable style of displaying her collection and artifacts, I was not ready to let go any of the big or small picture that she shared with me hence this part - 1 will be all about an attention to detail look at her collection and vignettes.

Whether you like to go bold or subtle, I invite you to embrace the richness and radiance of this home where the home owners Poornima Murthy and Srikanth Murthy have adopted “The-sky-is-the-limit" approach.

With all the colors around her, I am sure Poornima has all the reasons to smile. Driven by sheer passion, this software engineer is an "all-rounder" when it comes to interior decoration and has crafted her home with a heartbeat. She excels in whatever she attempts and puts her best foot forward; be it a venturing into a new decorating project or humming along on a wonderful journey of raising her pre-teen boy. 

This Seattle home of Bangalore natives with deep roots of southern India encompasses both traditional and western ethos at the same time. A home filled with family heirlooms, vintage collections and fanciful finds pay tribute to Murthy family’s heritage and tradition.

Beefing up the colors, mixing and matching with splendid fabrics and cloaking every room in some-kind of eye-catching wall treatment is what Poornima excels at. But she credits some spirited ladies for fanning the flames of her decor passion. She loves the design sensibilities of few women who have top the bill in her book of decor and where she usually looks up to feed inspiration and motivation repeatedly.  

Spilling the beans Poornima declares: "I started collecting brass/art for almost about a decade now. Anu, from My Dream Canvas happens to be my first inspiration. Reading her blogs has rightly converted my passion of home decor stronger. Her blog is a major inspiration for me to start my love for suzani fabrics and vintage decor. It was via her blogs only, I learned about many Indian artists including Chandan Dubey. I proudly own many of her one of a kind frames and that Gauri head is also from Chandan's boutique. I personally admire another local artist is Meenal.  Art pieces from her PaintPotteryProducts are proudly dotted around our home. My anituqe collection is from various sources such as The Indian Weave, Indian Antique Store and few local Banglore stores". 

Poornima is the essence of this space, so her home reflects her life and personality. Poornima coins: "I love everything ethnic and bold decor in equal measure. I am the happiest when surrounded by bright colors. Due to the frequent transfers in my father's job, we could not keep any artifacts in our home. But it all began innocently enough when I used to enjoy and re-arrange whatever we had. Now my home is powered through reflecting my love and passion of decor that grew over the period."

"Go-big" decorating attitude is nothing new for Poornima. Playing with different colors combinations come naturally to her. She sees her home's vibrant colors as an antidote to her busy work schedules and school calendars and the blah gray days of Seattle.

The more personal your collections and displays are, the more of a unique character your home will have. Artwork, collections and heirlooms are soul of Poornima's home. When heirloom pieces are combined together with newly founded gems, they solidify a naturally integrated display. 

A sense of unexpected is always welcome in Poornima's settings. She experiments with ways to add her own personal flair to bring a touch of whimsy to make every vignette come alive. 

Poornima just like any other decorista, believes in the power of natural elements. Flowers and plants are added in most of the settings of her vignettes to get an organic feel.

Her every vignette in decor highlights an important design lesson: Contrast adds layers and interest to a space. By incorporating colorful accents with the softer background she has created a look that's equally striking and beautiful. 

Poornima's home has got a very Indian flavor to it. Her amazing collection reflects her globe-trotting life. Her walls are the best story-teller of her home with the capacity to communicate and capture the very essence of her home. 

Riot of color and pattern in small confined areas are masterfully mixed in every setting. For Poornima, the bolder she goes the bigger the smile when she sees it.

Brave hits of color and patterns beautifully collide in this happy-glam home. Modern design infused with the ethnic essence proves a winning combination. This zen setting here is a part of her Yoga-Room....I don't think I would be interested in doing yoga, my eyes would be too busy with my flirty glances to see all the beauty Poornima has created around it. Will reveal the bigger pictures of all rooms in next post soon, Pinky promise :). 

As we wrap up this part -1 of Poornima's home tour, here is a final picture to pique your curiosity. I personally believe the glimpse of this picture is not enough to prepare you all for visual dazzle that you will experience in next part. Come along on an adventure with me and Poornima that's full of exciting new decor surprises in part -2. There is lot more to appreciate but until I come back again, let your imagination soar. 

I would like to give a special mention to Meenal at PaintPotteryProducts for connecting the dots with Poornima. When the opportunity to showcase Poornima's home presented itself, I jumped and rightfully grabbed it....and I am so glad that I did. The beautiful new connection that has blossomed along my passion filled journey is just precious. Connecting with like minded souls like Poornima who shares the same great decor passion as me is -hands down- the best part of my blogging journey. Thank you Poornima for giving me this opportunity. 

For the link of part-2 click here.

Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

(Images are from Poornima's home. Please do not use the images without the prior written permission of the home owner and Pinkz Passion however, you may re-pin them from Pinkz Passion's Pinterest account)