They say a home says a lot about one’s personality. And the beautiful and cozy home we visited in Bangalore, reflected the warmth and welcoming nature of its homeowners.

This home, located in Kolte Patil Mirabilis Gated Society in Bangalore, has been designed by Design Cafe’s team of design experts for a family of three. The couple both IT professionals who live here with their daughter, had something beautiful to look forward to as they embarked upon a journey to designing their dream home with Design Cafe.

What they desired in their new home was two simple things – a home that made a stunning statement yet was functional with loads of storage.

Notes from the Design Expert: We spoke to Nikita Chotrani, the designer behind this spectacular project, who tells us how she interpreted and translated her client’s brief into a flawless design! “When we started designing this couple’s home we decided to give the bedrooms a contemporary style of interior design,” states Nikita. Here’s what she adds about the entire idea behind the design elements of each of the rooms of this cozy abode.

The Living Room
The living room was designed with a modern style of interiors with straight, clean lines. It was designed keeping in mind a small family and the team included an elegant TV unit and small poufs that can be pulled out when needed. We used a soothing colour palette in neutral tones and this extended to the dining and kitchen areas too. We played with colours by adding a dash of colour on the loose furniture and upholstery to bring in a fresh and vibrant look across the entire home. The pleasant blue sofa with yellow cushions became the highlight of the living area.

The Dining Room
The dining room was designed with a contemporary theme as well but with a traditional touch. We included a low seated table with comfortable poufs keeping in mind the family’s daily ritual of eating on the floor after their prayers. We used a resin table because it has a unique abstract design and blended well with the overall theme of the space. A crockery unit was included in the interior design of the dining room to display their expensive dinnerware with a turf glass backdrop for a contemporary look.

The Kitchen
The interior design of the kitchen has been kept functional with plenty of options for storage to give the space a clean and uncluttered look. We included two tall units – an appliance and pantry unit as smart storage solutions. We opted for hanging shelves to make this cooking space look more open.

The Master Bedroom
We gave the master bedroom a trendy look and used a colour scheme of midnight blue and cream. The bedroom was also designed such so the couple have enough space to store their belongings in an organised manner It is also designed with a mirror pullout and a separate unit for bags. We used long handles on the wardrobe to give it a touch of luxury. The internal design of the wardrobe has been designed such that the couple has dedicated areas for their clothes, accessories and footwear.

The Kids Bedroom
The kids bedroom was designed with a wardrobe on one side, a study and a window seating. We included plenty of storage for toys as well so the room stays neat and tidy at all times. A hut shaped bed with clouds and a princess themed dressing table is the highlight of this bedroom. However it has been designed such that the look of the room can be changed down the years with minimal tweaks such as new furniture like the bed.

The Guest Bedroom
The guest bedroom is designed more like a study and we have included a prayer room with a queen size bed for their parents who visit occasionally. The study was designed in a way where they can work comfortably with a lot of storage for books as the couple are avid readers. And there was a unit added with jali design on shutter for their prayer books and this was designed keeping the auspicious direction in mind.

Also, we had particularly focused on light curtains and paints such that it flows with the theme properly.

This house doesn’t have a foyer so a shoe unit in the living room was designed such that it doesn’t look like a shoe unit. Since the wall from the living to the dining is fairly long, this unit broke that wall into three parts. The space for the shoe unit is concealed. This area is designed with a stone finished wallpaper in the background, an industrial clock, and a comfortable wing chair, where the couple can sit and relax or work while keeping an eye on the whole house. The washrooms were also designed in a way such that they are functional, but also aesthetically pleasing with specific space for planters.

Design Café

Design Café was founded in October 2015, by award-winning architects and interior designers Gita Ramanan and Shezan Bhojani. With the vision of democratising home interiors, they are India’s first home-tech brand to have a vertically integrated business model, with their own designers, workforce, and a 35,000 square feet factory in Bangalore, manufacturing all their products to deliver homes that are designed and built from end to end in 60 days with a 10-year warranty. The company is currently present in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad and expanding to other cities with 800 employees and delivers 150 homes per month.

Being one of the largest companies in a highly unorganised market, Design Cafe makes maximum use of technology in multiple ways that helps us in simplifying internal processes and providing a superior home interiors experience to our customers. This includes both back end and customer facing technologies. The latter being of great significance since it helps in differentiating them from the rest. Also, Augmented Reality truly allows an immersive-experience, to visualize our solutions, directly in their new home or existing home they are designing that they’re renovating. While the Covid pandemic has already driven customer behaviour online, with a higher acceptance towards digital products than ever before, an AR-experience for the entire home design, in a room-by-room manner, will transform the customer experience, and therefore, the home interior space.

Founders: Gita Ramanan, the CEO & Co-founder Home Tech Brand – Design Café, is a self-described woman of diverse interests. Gita has worn many hats and is driven to excel at all. Being one of the top students and athletes during her college years, she found her calling in architecture and design due to her equally compelling interests in scientific logic, innovation and creativity.
She along with her partner started Design Café, post a decade-long successful career of working on varied projects in the residential and hospitality sector. She decided to focus her energies to fill the existing gap in the organised and affordable home Interiors space; with the idea of giving access to the best of designs and manufacturing processes to everyone (especially those who are underserved today), in their budget.

Shezaan Bhojani, the CEO & Co-founder of Home Tech Company – Design Café, is a seasoned architect and has been an integral part of the Indian Design ecosystem for a number of years. He founded Design Café, Bangalore’s leading Design and complete home interior solutions firm along with Gita Ramanan. He is known to reach design excellence and customer satisfaction for every project and has been able to take his company from a small team of 10 members to a 500+ employee organisation. They have been able to achieve the delivery of three homes per day in the city and have a regular sign up of over four projects every day. They have launched their operations in Mumbai in June 2019 and have huge expansion plans, to democratise design across India.

Design Café Experience Centres

Design Café lets you experience the outcome of your home at their experience centers where they give you a taste of what is to come. You can also take a 3D walkthrough of some of the homes done by them or read up about other homes in their in-house magazine. The experience is a place where you interact with your personal interior designer and get the blueprint of your home design ready. They give a free consultation and design samples, what’s more is that they undertake end to end work of your home – whether false ceiling, painting, modular works, or even suggesting appliances and furniture.

Design Café has three stores in Bangalore, one in Mumbai and one in Hyderabad. Each center is expansive with more than six kitchens, a model apartment and living concepts.

Additionally, they are all set to launch in Chennai in November at Design Cafe, 137(95), Anna Salai, Pudupet, Chennai. Visit www.designcafe.com or call on 080-68065015 for a free consultation.

– By Namita Gupta.