Use green islands and jute rugs to help create a calm, happy vibe at home this season
Another summer of being locked down and work-from-home routines call for a refreshing summer makeover of the house. “Now that people are spending so much time at home, they want to add newer elements to eliminate monotony and the feeling of being stuck in the same space,” says Hyderabad-based interior designer Aamir Sharma of AANDH (Aamir and Hameeda Interior Designers).
Husband and wife Aamir and Hameeda are known for designing South Indian actor Allu Arjun’s award-winning, box-shaped farmhouse in Hyderabad, actor Nagarjuna’s restaurant N Grill in Hyderabad, Bangalore’s 2.9 acre microbrewery Ironhill Brewery, SK Car Lounge that houses pre-loved super luxury cars, again in Hyderabad, and the clubhouse of ultra-luxury residential complex SNN Clermont in Bengaluru. The designers, who recently launched design store One Dot Six in Hyderabad, are currently working on Nagarjuna’s son Naga Chaitanya’s 15,000-sq-ft home in Hyderabad and have just completed a 15,000-sq-feet home that has just two bedrooms, for Lakshmi Chalasani, of the Chalasani family, real estate developers in southern India.
Their evolved design philosophy right now, heavily influenced by the changing times and needs in the Covid-19 pandemic, focuses on minimalism, happiness, positivity, greenery and family time. Keeping in mind the new living needs for spaces in the home where the family can spend more time together, kitchens that are accessed by home owners, work and study set-ups, wellness and outdoor spaces and sustainability, Aamir Sharma draws a summer makeover plan for uber-luxe homes. “Cut out the clutter, keep it simple and elegant, make room for kids to run around, insert a lot of greens, pops of colours, hand-made maintenance-free elements like rugs and ceramics, and water sculptures to re-energise your homes and bring in the sunshine,” says Aamir.
And when it comes to sprucing up your home, never touch permanent features such as the flooring, walls or permanent pieces of furniture. Work around them.
Summer 2021’s colours
Mustard yellow, olive green, aqua blue and bottle green are the colours of this season, a palette that has been largely used by fashion designers as well. “Bottle green is usually a winter colour, but it’s in vogue this season and when mixed and matched with neutral colours, it works well,” says Aamir. “The other colours too are soothing and pleasant to look at in this harsh season.” He suggests infusing a lot of these to create calm vibes in the house, especially important in these uncertain times.
Creative safety screens
Small, secluded spaces at the entrance of the house to store delivered items for a couple of hours or to receive visiting staff and other outsiders has become a necessity. Aamir suggests creating creative partitions/screens to mark and seclude these spaces instead of erecting walls. “Threads of colourful beads hung from the ceiling, a curtain of recycled, stone-carved jaalis, a curtain made from interesting bottles, again hung from the ceilings, are all interesting ideas to create a partition, which can be removed easily when you don’t want it,” says Aamir. “These also double up as interesting design elements in the house.”
Happy dry kitchen
Earlier, kitchens in uber-luxe homes were mostly accessed just by the house staff, but in the lockdown, many rich homeowners have taken to cooking. “In fact, it has become one of the spaces where the entire family gets together to cook,” says Aamir.