The Green Antiques Idea book "Decorating with Chinese Antiques - Design the Ultimate Beach House" has some creative ideas about how to achieve a fabulous East meets West design which gels modern design with the inclusion of numerous antiques (some even painted bright colors as suggested by Blawnox Upholstery above!). http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/29094412/list/Decorating-with-Chinese-Antiques---Design-the-Ultimate-Beach-House This might not be the style which you are seeking, but similar mix and match old and new concepts can also be applied to many other style homes - see for example photo's from the Dream House project (a 7,000 sq.ft. Frank Lloyd Wright inspired prairie house which from the outside looks much like the world famous Robbie house). Completely different from the beach house example above, but nevertheless merging the old and the new in interesting ways. http://www.houzz.com/projects/594005

Hi pankaj. Some lovely ideas above. Is that a door at the end of the passage? It strikes me, especially if you want to make the passage all white, that you might be able to give that door a special treatment to bring some drama to the end of the passage. That draws the attention to the door and away from the passage itself. You could just paint it a vivid colour. I think we tend to let our interior doors remain very plain and boring, when there is no good reason for that to be a rule. The one below would need some sort of backing for privacy, I guess, but I think to put metalwork on a door is a great idea that you could adapt in various ways. (Be aware of the dusting, though! Outside the rain will wash things clean, but not inside.) Also have a look at http://www.lushome.com/11-door-decorating-ideas-create-modern-interior-doors/58940 for some creative paint ideas -- I can't get those pictures to copy. I like the first one on that site. It's simple and geometric, and could very easily be adapted without hurting the budget.

The best way to make a small space look larger is to avoid the tendency to add in too much furniture, or make it too large-scale. You need pieces that offer you enough seating, but with smaller profiles in both your living and dining space. Look for multi-functional pieces with storage, keep the wall color the same in areas that flow together, and use the walls for vertical storage and display instead of relying only on freestanding pieces. Look for furniture retailers that advertise "apartment size furniture," and see Houzz Photos under "small space living" and "vertical storage? for ideas. You can use art, an area rug or similar to decide your color scheme. Your apartment really isn't that small, fortunately, by big-city standards.

Thanks. Somehow I did not have luck finding good carpenters, Here is how I wanted the drawers to look. Here is how carpenter from my locality (not too cheap a neighborhood, called Lokhandwala) tried to make, A you can see, he tried to chisel the wood to get this design. Obviously had no clue. Finally he gave up, Brought the unfinished desk in with an excuse to show me how it is coming along, left it with me and never showed his face again. So I tried an expensive carpenter, who did some work at an apartment on NapeanSea Road, a very expensive locality and paid him what he wanted. He too did not know how to make this. All he did was out a moulding in the center to make it look .as though it were similar to what I wanted. At least his work was clean, except that he represented that the top was teakwood while I lter found out that it is mango wood, but he too did not know how to get this done. I hope one of you can suggest a carpenter with some skill.