“A home that greets you like an old friend”

Sitting above the Mahalakshmi racecourse with the Arabian Sea unfurling beyond, this 4,000-square foot apartment in central Mumbai serves as a city pad for a family that’s always on the move. They needed a space that would greet them like an old friend the moment they stepped through its doors. The brief asked for four bedrooms, a den, an art studio, and generously proportioned living areas, all resolved within a single, considered floor plan. We imagined a contemporary European home painted in a romantic palette and filled with a lived-in kind of charm.

Both visions harmonise perfectly in the den. An elegant little island at the heart of the home, its contours are fluid. The den sits behind glass panels that move like sash windows to either open up the space to the living room, or shut out the world outside. Sunlight is always welcome here and it pours over the foresty greens of the Au Bord du Lac wallpaper. Inspired by the classic verdure tapestries of 18th-century France, it has a time-worn sepia tone that sets off the showstopping teal of the custom velvet sofa, the soft radiance of the brass Hanuman figurine, and the saturated pop colours of the ceramic vase.

In the living room too, we were keen not to impose rigid order but rather to inspire an organic exploration of the space. A beautifully weathered circular wooden table from the family’s previous home anchors the space, surrounded by mismatched chairs – an elevated French farmhouse, complete with Richard Taylor’s rustic hand-forged oak branch chandeliers.

Flanking the dining table are two seating areas, each of the three are designed to be self-contained but with shifting borders that constantly lap up against each other. The vintage carpets, the pair of lamps created from old Chinese balustrades, and a gilt mirror on one end reflecting on the other, a framed piece of Phulkari, a family heirloom - all hint at a space in perpetual conversation with itself, and the sea outside.

Throughout the home, colour appears and disappears to subtly direct the eye. In the living area, the walls are a lustrous backdrop to the statement décor and lighting. In the den, cabinetry in a juicy lacquered cranberry encloses the large-screen TV and, behind its doors, a cherished Smeg refrigerator. It melts into an ivory richness once again in the kitchen and master suites, allowing botanical wallpapers, family photos and vintage watercolours to shine forth.

The bathrooms are washed in palate-cleansing French pastels, making them oases of serenity. Drama returns in the guest suite, where a silk wallpaper in a heady ‘Indian Red’ ties together the profusion of prints flowering over the sofa, lamp, vase and carpet.

As befits the home of seasoned travellers, the décor is a collection of serendipitous ‘finds’ as well as thoughtful commissions. The hand-quilted godhri from Gujarat, an oil painting from a flea market in Paris, a Shanghai Tang vase spotted in a warehouse in Chiang Mai - each carries the thrill of an unexpected discovery.

We evoke this sense of serendipity even with our custom-made pieces, including the bone-inlay coffee table commissioned in Jaipur and block-printed silk curtains with the classical French paisley design created in the PRD studio. A certain je ne sais quoi surfaces in other ways too: the tasseled door knobs, the striped crown molding in the bathrooms and the iconic blue-and-white chinoiserie vase in the guest suite.

We’ve used heritage textiles and archival prints to infuse a sense of history into every room. The carpets are a selection of antique Mughals, a rare Yarkhandi, and artisanal hand-knotted creations from Jaipur Rugs. The fabrics we chose also tell their own stories, from the heirloom Indonesian batik in the master bedroom to the hand-painted lotuses on Sabyasachi’s ‘Kamalika’ collection for Nilaya.

The art gives the impression of being gathered over time, rather than tightly curated, allowing 19th-century engravings of Indian hunt scenes to keep company with a contemporary Pichwai. French botanical prints bloom across one bedroom wall, while vintage illustrations of tropical birds flock on another.

In the end, our aim was to create a home for this family that would allow them to pick up right where they left off. To put their feet up or plan the next adventure. To arrive, to exhale and to simply be.