The Modern Farm House

Celebrity Project
Project Name:
Aditya Rai & Shrima Rai’s residence
Location:
Bandra , Mumbai
Built Up Area:
2500 sq. ft
Firm Name:
Da Namah Design Studio.
Principal Designer :
Namrataa Shetty & Neil Cresto.
Design Team:
Design Head:
Namrataa Shetty
Projects Head:
Neil Cresto
Photo Credit:
Talib Chitalwala
Year of completion:
November 2021

We had met Shrima Rai for a marketing Collab of another project of ours, in 2019 , as she is a popular influencer on social media.

This Collab lead to her interest in our work therefore converting her new home’s lead in Bandra . We started the project Post lockdown, in March 2021 , after the client got the possession

As Shrima was born and brought up in Texas and is currently a social media influencer, her brief was pretty much clear : she required her house to be designed in a very minimalist theme with a neutral palette as her work demanded use of subtle colours in the backdrop , to enhance the beauty of the product she wishes to promote.

Considering her work requirement and to do complete justice to a family of 4 , we felt a Scandinavian meets modern farmhouse theme will ideally suit the design intent .

Scandinavian design is a design movement characterized by simplicity, minimalism 
and a Modern farmhouse design takes the comfortable, relaxed farmhouse style and adds modern touches such as smooth lines, glossy accents and neutral colour schemes. It’s less rustic, more sophisticated. With this combination we sought to combine functionality with beauty, By focusing on simple lines and light spaces, devoid of clutter.

The entire house has a white canvas with highlights of black, tans , greys & light oakwood , in the form of furnishings , table tops , upcycled consoles etc. The tall greens enhanced and added the required nature’s touch.

The Living room came with a marble floor which had a warm tone hence went well with a theme but was also a little overpowering, hence we preferred layering it with classic large carpets in the living and the dining area so as to balance the whole look.

The kitchen was one of the spaces that was completely re-done from scratch. This was one of the spaces where Shrima wanted to shoot more often for her food blogging, hence We decided to bring in the vintage feels here with white platform and backsplash to give her the neutral backdrop for the blog. Instead of the regular overhead cabinets we decided to go for more open look with full ( wooden )shelves thus maintaining the minimal , clutter free design. The wooden looking floor tiles helped in adding some warmth to the monochrome kitchen.

Master Bedroom : Shrima was worried that the room shouldn’t be too feminine for Aditya. Hence , we continued the neutral palate and tones where The upcycled master bedroom bed and the subtle veneer wardrobe were the highlights of the room which were complemented by the customised hanging lights and the vintage frames.  

Studio: Since her proffession required her to work from home and shoot at home for content creation , she really needed a space where she could sit and ideate, shoot and create her work without bothering the rest of the house. By adding a little glam quotient with the gold accents and open storage units and the upcycled vanity , we tried giving her a space that reflected her inner Diva at the same time gave her , her own office space.

Kids room : Aditya & Shrima wanted a room that the kids didn’t outgrow soon.
Hence, we contained the Scandinavian look in the kids’ room with the colours mainly coming thought the furnishings & artwork that they can change with time. The younger son’s room was characterized with white vintage panels, study & neutral wallpapers, whereas a bigger & rather modern and sleek study table was designed for the elder son with again a neutral wallpaper backdrop which he could retain for a long time.

As this project started amidst the second wave of covid, challanges were mainly pertaining to the lockdown rules. However with cooperation of our contractors , vendors , labourers & the building management , we managed to continue the work smoothly.

There were a lot of furniture that our clients Aditya & Shrima wished to retain & upcycle owing to special memories and emotional connect.

Without hampering its vintage value and look we tried upscaling about 5 – 6 furniture pieces from their old house. we made sure that they fitted well in our rather minimalistic look & feel.

  • A larger in-depth vintage console which was dual sided, was made into 2 separate consoles and upcycled for living and dining area respectively,
  • The vintage wooden vanity dresser was painted fully white & accentuated with a white Carrara marble top and gold highlights (knobs)
  • Master bedroom bed: An old wooden box bed, was upholstered with fabric and enhanced with a fabric headboard & with mere addition of metal posters was converted into a modern poster bed.