.png)
It was the terraces that did it for Ankita Dabrai and Neha Sawhney Chadha when they were handed over a 2,200 square feet Pune apartment to be transformed into an immersive living environment. “Most Pune apartments have one terrace, but this one had two!” exults the duo. So right at the outset their creative energies were channelised into deepening the connection between the enclosed areas and these outdoors spaces.
The ten-year-old apartment was spacious and airy, and blessed with abundant natural light. But for the founders of O’nest Interiors, you can never have too much of a good thing. They set out to make the interiors even more light-filled by pulling down walls to open the rooms to the balconies, as well as extending window heights—the latter strategy also gave the internal volumes an illusion of added height. Similarly, the kitchen was made brighter and cheerier by joining it with the adjacent wet area. And they added bay windows to every room to create extra seating spaces and cosy corners.
Also read: Two homes and two families intertwine in the courtyard of this Chhattisgarh villa
It was this attention to detail that drew the family of four—a middle-aged couple and their two preteen children—to O’nest Interiors. “The clients had seen our previous work and loved the fact that that house looked like a home and not a hotel.” In addition to asking for more accessible and usable terraces, the brief from their well-travelled clients called for an “elite palette balancing minimalist and modernism.”
Dabrai and Sawhney Chadha’s design response is delightfully layered and nuanced, and embraces textured expanses and slick surfaces; moulding details and panelled finishes; clean crispness and occasional flamboyance; organic rusticity and metallic elements. A pluralistic aesthetic direction that works wonderfully as a cohesive whole. As for the colour scheme, the two partners zeroed in on a subtle colour palette—tonal shades of green, grey and white—for an “evergreen look”.
That the terraces are crucial to the spatial experience can be seen in the way the program is now laid out. The living room spills over to an outdoor space, acting as a welcome respite to the indoors. The son’s bedroom, too, benefits visually from it. Similarly, the master bedroom is connected to a beautiful, double-height deck. ”The two terraces are our favourite part of the project. We designed them with different themes and effects.” The one next to the living room bears a wabi sabi theme, articulated with earthy colours and textures. The main wall sports a sandy finish, while a wooden pergola and wooden flooring lend the requisite warmth.
Also read: AD Small Spaces: Inside a 765-square-foot holiday home in Mumbai
On the other hand, the terrace attached to the master bedroom has been rendered in a black and white effect, poles apart from the organic overtones of its counterpart outside. For this space, the designers enlarged the opening between the terrace and the master bedroom, and highlighted it with a beautiful black Georgian bar partition, creating a perfect entry into a monochrome space.
This Pune apartment deftly balances several disparate elements, some minimal, some showy. But the whole effect is wonderfully cohesive, and stays firmly on the right side of opulence.
.png)
.png)
