孟买朱胡祖传住宅翻新丨孟买Olive Roof Designs

Mumbai: An ancestral Juhu home revamped to adapt to a newlywed couple’s needs

Olive Roof Designs was handed the task of making the home millennial-friendly while honouring its old bones.

This Mumbai home is a 900-square-foot, 2BHK in a 5-storey building with spacious rooms and a garden view—one of those rare architectural gems on

Juhu

Tara road. “It was an old apartment and had been unoccupied for years, but part of the family since generations. It was presented as a wedding gift to a young couple by the groom’s grandparents,” says Shraddha Shah, founder of Mumbai-based Olive Roof Designs, whom the couple hired to revamp the ancestral house’s outdated design.

“They came with a very simple brief that the house should be more relevant to their millennial needs, and fit in all their modern requirements. It felt old and neglected and was going to need a complete overhaul,” Shah says. “Even then, little things had survived since years; it would have been a shame if I had let go of the history of the house and turned it into something else,” she adds. So, the solid wood doors, brass handles, abandoned paintings, and the

terrazzo

floor were reimagined and restored, and given a second life.

The apartment had a typical old-fashioned layout, with a narrow passage leading to individual rooms. “Since the client didn’t want any structural changes, we took the opportunity of designing a London-style foyer which is currently rare in Mumbai homes,” the interior designer says. She executed this by introducing a clever mix of preowned furniture, with

English style

and textures.

The outdated amenities had to be revamped, not just for the couple but also for visiting family members, regular parties and their busy post-pandemic, hybrid work life. “We couldn’t knock any walls so structurally we made very little changes. A fireplace was incorporated into the design to match the modern tastes of the couple and their friends. It only

looks

like a fireplace; in reality it is where the husband’s precious PlayStation is stored,” Shah laughs.

The most challenge aspect of the overhaul was to accommodate a well-equipped kitchen in a 57- square-foot area. Due to the house's old bones, Shah had to retain the longer foyer, and the kitchen had to remain structurally untouched. “Not only did we manage to make room for all the appliances including the washing machine, but also made sure it looks gorgeous,” she beams. Shah finished the project in April this year, for the couple.

“I am inspired by the British designer,

Beata Heuman

. I have learnt from her designs how important it is to have your own voice. Although I have been working as a designer for the last six years, I can finally say that my designs have a voice, only now,” she muses.