Nothing about Bengaluru-based interior designer Vinita Chaitanya is ordinary. Every room she touches becomes a canvas, every design choice a statement. To meet her is to step into a world where maximalism reigns and beauty—whether beheld through her eye or yours—is always dialled up to the highest setting. Hyderabad-based real estate developer Rohit Reddy knew these things about Chaitanya when he called her one morning a few years ago. “He had definitely heard stories,” laughs the interior designer, who is famous for erring on the side of flamboyance—whether her clients like it or not. Reddy was as interested in Chaitanya’s sui generis style as she was in his 18,000-square-foot mansion in Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills—newly built by architecture firm Morphogenesis. “The space and scale were massive, so I was immediately intrigued,” reflects Chaitanya. The only question was: for a structure already set in stone, what value could she really add?
Palazzo Palooza
A lot, it turned out. With an artist’s instinct and a storyteller’s flair, she saw beyond the glass and concrete, layering textures, patterns, and a riot of colours to transform the space into something unmistakably hers. “I realised very quickly that the architecture was just the backdrop—the soul of the space would come from the details,” says the designer, who wove the visual scheme from the ground up—literally. “I inherited a plain beige floor, but as I was putting together mood boards, playing with colours, and sourcing materials, I came across this stunning Italian marble with gold and pink streaks. It instantly gave me grand European palazzo vibes. So I thought, why not go all in and do an Art Deco interior?” It wasn’t a style familiar to Hyderabad or Chaitanya. “It took a bit of research, but my mood board turned out spectacular,” continues the design maven, who conjured magic with marble around doors, as architraves, and in beautiful floor inlays around the staircase.
Drama in the Details
Chaitanya likes to observe how her clients live and then amplify that experience manifold. She recalls visiting Reddy and his mother at their old apartment before taking on the design reins. “Everything was nice and contemporary, but it didn’t resonate with me and I wondered how [our partnership] would ever work out. Luckily, they gave me carte blanche and let me take the creative direction I wanted.” Giving the home a soul became her starting point for the Reddys’ new mansion in Hyderabad. Every piece she introduced had to feel as though it carried a sense of history, embodying the geometry, symmetry, and understated elegance of the 1920s. For every existing vintage-inspired element, she added one of her own: the internal courtyard was beautifully landscaped, sky-high walls were enlivened with classic wallpaper, and passageways were overarched with old-world pendants, weaving a seamless narrative of past and present.
“It was a Make in India project; we sourced almost everything from within the country,” she avers. No detail was too small—not least the ceilings and trims, which she saw as works of art, or the doors, which she embellished with magnificent grillework. She envisaged the staircase volume as the tour de force, crowning it with a custom 20-foot Murano glass chandelier that illuminates the brass balusters and the brass mirrors by Vikram Goyal, embellished with semi-precious stones. “It’s one of the most beautiful staircases I’ve done,” she shares of the masterpiece, which nods to the style of the late Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí.
Each Realm Unto Its Own
To Chaitanya’s mind, the colour palette is perhaps the only area where she exercised restraint—partially, if not entirely. “We used silks and velvets throughout, but I was worried about Hyderabad being hot, so I didn’t use too many dark colours,” she notes, her words ringing true in the living room, steeped in fresh green with a dash of pink. And yet, if you know anything about Chaitanya, you know that her aesthetic extends far beyond just the visual. “I really thought about where they’d live each part of their day,” she says. This rationale led her to tailor each functional zone, starting with the dining room, which she divided into family and entertaining realms—the former with a small table and the latter with a larger one.
“They entertain almost every weekend, so it was important to have a space that was extensive for many but intimate for a few.” She also created a bar off the living room as a little haven for drinks before dinner. True to form, Chaitanya infused the home with an eclectic mix of heritage elements, sumptuous fabrics, and bold artistic statements. Every corner bore her signature touch—opulent, deeply personal, and a little unexpected. The result is a home that doesn’t just exude grandeur but also tells a story—one of artistry, intention, and a life well lived.
