Goa Houzz: A Stylist Weaves an Old-World Design Story in This Home

The four-bedroom property opens to a long corridor with a herringbone-patterned floor. This floor runs through the living area, marking the passage, demarcating the living and the dining areas. At the other end of the long passageway is the garden. “To accentuate the scale and height of the space, we sourced rustic ceramic pots from Gaia pottery, and used tall foxtail palms to line the corridor. We also bought old hand-blown glass lights from antique markets and hung them from the ceiling,” says Gandhi.

Ceramic pots: Gaia pottery

Gandhi created small vignettes in every nook and corner of the house with clusters of pictures – lithographs sourced from antique dealers and framed in teakwood frames.

At the end of the corridor are french doors that open up to the outdoor space and the garden area. “We used a light wooden, easy chair here, that overlooks the lawn and the pool. We polished the wooden chandelier [a part of it visible at the top of the image] in turquoise to give a pop of colour to the space,” says Gandhi.

See these restful and relaxing outdoor lounge areas

All the old teak furniture pieces were given a fresh look by “repolishing them in different hues to bring in an element of surprise and sunshine, but, most importantly, to complement Basrai’s charming interior design,” says Gandhi.

All the bathrooms include wardrobes with a dressing area, so they are almost half as big as the bedrooms. “For creating a focal design point in the bathroom, we repolished the mirror frames. We also added customised rattan baskets for storage under the counter. We added candle lanterns on hooks for the evenings, fun trays to hold face towels, brass accessories especially customised by Isprava, rattan baskets to store extra linen and a splash of gorgeous pink orchids. We also hung old art and displayed blue pottery to add quirkiness to this master ensuite,” says Gandhi.

Learn how to set up a dressing room

The children’s room has a modern yet old vibe to it, thanks to the wooden dresser (between the beds), an old-style fan and beds with ornate headboards. “The headrest in teakwood was originally sourced from local markets. Since this is the kids’ room, the client requested us to give the furniture a new avatar. We repolished the bedheads in fun antique sea-green hues, which also played well against the ochre and green chevron cement flooring,” Gandhi says. The dresser between the beds was sourced by Gandhi from a local dealer to complement the sea-green tones. She used fawn bedspreads to balance the green, and “make the beds cosy and welcoming for the kids”.