This Mumbai home takes big chunks of neoclassical visual inspiration and makes them its own.
This home looks like an ancient castle that decided to come alive, with some precious remnants from its earlier life firmly in tow. Except that it decided to morph into a sea-facing Mumbai apartment of today, and walk a fine line between nostalgia and modern aesthetics.
The interiors of this 2,800 sq ft flat have been designed by Mumbai-based Tejal Mathur Design using designer furniture and art collection sourced from India and the USA. The combination of panelled wall accents, unique decorative elements, metal handles, wooden surfaces, and that unforgettable ambience dominated by a canvas of brooding grey is the result of a wish to recreate an old-world, European charm.
The master bedroom’s passage is decked in gleaming chequered black Marquina and white Statuario marble, with a cladding of tobacco-stained herringbone flooring from C. Bhogilal sitting side-by-side, establishing a subtle swipe of textural difference.
The backdrop wall is a remarkable sight in its neoclassical elegance, an array of lightweight concrete panels covering it, and a ‘Rosette Plaster’ from the Corte Madera furnishings experts, Restoration Hardware, sitting with talismanic flourish above the bed. A wall of wooden doors and closet openings runs along the passage’s length, centred by the bathroom doors distinguished by their coloured panels.
The walnut herringbone floor pattern spreads across the living and dining room sections. The former segment is the lead-up for this home, all concrete wall panels, weather beaten black sofas, and grey upholstered chairs.
The early 20th century zinc-top mercantile coffee table is a dark body in this delightfully Gothic pile. The two showpieces from the ‘1920s French Cloche Glass Collection’ with a cast flower coral specimen inside the cloche and petite tomes parchment from Restoration Hardware are beautiful. The ‘Girado Dining Table’ from P3 Architectural Solutions is lit by a 19th century chandelier, and by the sunlight streaming in from the wooden slatted window shades.
The passage in the middle of these two segments is marked by wooden swivel restored doors with stools standing between them holding stoneware vases on their heads. This sliver of relaxation holds a dewan, a vintage weighing unit on the floor, framed herbariums on the wall.
Designer Tejal Mathur’s favourite room is the “man cave” with charcoal walls and an ox blood leather couch thrown in. The daughter’s room is distinguished by a mannequin bust from Pier One Imports and a beautiful 1920s French drafting table placed against a white brick wall finished with a plaster finish.
