Swagatham, Suswagatham - A Bengalooru style home in Virginia!

Hospitality is second nature to any Indian, as I am sure the Aalayam culture aficionados will agree. Hospitality reigns supreme in this sublime South Indian abode, nestled in suburban Virginia, USA. 

With cheer and vitality sparkling in every corner, this home resonates with the warm welcome  (Swagatham) of namma Bengalooru.  Hence, the title of this post - "Swagatham, Suswagatham" : a glorious welcome to the Aalayam readers into this gorgeous Kannada mane, resplendent in ethnic glory. 

Welcome to the home of Gowri and Vikram, whose sweet story has fascinatingly lent itself to making their living space, one to remember!

I met Gowri and Vikram at the local Indian store. Many Indians living abroad will agree that the Indian store, and the local temple is the best place to run into fellow desis living in the vides. :)

The conversation picked up simultaneously with the connection, with our language, our home town, our customs and the fact that we had Twins!! drawing us closer with each passing meeting. It only took one visit to Gowri and Vikrams' home for me to realize that I HAD TO FEATURE IT IN THE AALAYAM HOME TOUR SECTION!!

Gowri and Vikram graciously agreed to get featured and let me stomp around with my SLR taking pictures of their home's beautiful nooks and crannies. And as usual, I had to pester them for their life story. Here's a synopsis of the tete-a-tete !

Tell us a little bit of your story - how did you meet? how did you imagine your home is going to be when you "grew up"?

            My husband and I, we are childhood sweethearts and we know each other since we were 10 years old. He was my next door neighbor and we grew up together as best friends. Our friendship grew into something special and before we knew we were in love. 

As teenagers and in our early adulthood we both loved going for long drives and exploring nature. One more interesting and relaxing past time for both of us was looking for beautiful houses, architecture and landscaping. So we explored various neighborhoods for hours driving around and appreciating all the beautiful ideas and creations. 

We always talked about having a dream house of our own one day and thanks to my dear hubby he brought me to a foreign country which is an amazing land of opportunity, where we could lead a dream life and also bring harmony by balancing Indian culture and American ways.

What makes your home "your home"?

            When we move into a house it’s just a house. For us a house becomes a home when we start a new beginning, bring in new life, capture beautiful memories, joy and laughter, treasure moments, decorate each wall, each corner and each room with our presence in our home. Our best ideas and creations has flown into our house making it our home.

 Does the decor in your home fit the bill for any one particular style - if so, what drove you to that style?

                              I grew up back home with lovable and caring parents who showed me the righteous path of leading a beautiful life. I have brought those family values into a foreign land and put it into use. I am my parent’s reflection, emitting love, following tradition and bringing value systems into my family and into our beautiful home. 

Every artifact and décor in our home is fulfilling my childhood dreams and my beautiful Indian culture. As I started to bring closer those pieces, my vision of completing the puzzle in each room came together as a fusion of Indian culture and American blend.

 How does your personal decor style influence your personality or the other way around? 

                              Our personality has influenced all the décor pieces and styles in our home. We love to collect very unique artifacts for different places. I must say when it comes to choosing a décor for our home my husband and I have a unique quality of visualizing our home with that décor in it. 

All those beautiful pieces which we hand picked together over a period of time and each one of those unique collection reminds us the beautiful memories of our love together in this journey of life thus imprinting memories of different time zones.

 What are your favorite places to shop for your home? Are you budget savvy or would you rather own pieces that truly strike a chord with you even if they are expensive? 

            There is no one particular places that we shop at, we have collected artifacts from different parts of the world. Budget was never a big issue and I must thank my husband for that. Sometimes we might go overboard but at the end of the day we enjoy and relive the beautiful moment we captured into our lives which makes it totally worth the experiences.    

 Where do you draw your online inspirations from - any favorite resources that you can share?

            Speaking frankly and openly I am not a much of an online shopper or a browser. I am old school; I love to window shop and like to visualize that article in our home. 

I want to share one of my wonderful memories here, as I was growing up along with the love of my life. We loved shopping together; he wanted to buy me jewelry for a special occasion. We  went out shopping and I  liked a piece in the first jewelry shop we walked into but guess what? we didn’t decide on it and buy it until  we both visited another 13 more  jewelry places and then coming back to the first one and then brought it. 

Why I wanted to share this with the reader is to express our meticulous search of something which we both agree upon and confirm in our hearts that THIS IS THE ONE…

 Are there influences from your home state  (Karnataka/ Bangalore) in your décor? How do you balance the modern, clean convenience of the western decor to the intricacy of Indian decor? 

            Yes, to some extent our décor reflects our home town, Bangalore. We both call it the melting pot of modern lifestyle and also traditional living. Lots of our décor as been collected from various exhibitions, some exclusive handicraft shops in and around Bangalore. 

The famous Channapatna Gombe (wooden toys) was introduced to our twins to give them a flavor of Karnataka heritage. We have also displayed many heirloom objects in our home to depict our family legacy. 

We have collected relics not just from our home town but also from different states of India. We have furnished our formal living room with traditional Indian furniture giving our ethnicity and warmth for the people how walk into our home. 

We also wanted to bring in western décor and nice even blend with our India décor. 

We have furniture depicting a long deep Amish culture in American history, these Amish craftsmen bring in lineage of tradition into present times. 

Live wood end tables, warm leather couch and excellent choices of wood with detailed craftsmanship used in our dinner room set, and again our fusion of merging American furniture with traditional Amish furniture gave us a taste of rich sophisticated American culture.

We live in Virginia Beach and enjoy beautiful weather and sunny beaches. Our sun room gives us the feeling of coastal living stirring our heart and cleansing our thoughts with its serenity & peace.

 Finally, what is your favorite place in your home to relax, recharge and rejuvenate?

            There is no one specific favorite place in our home. If I had a pick one I would pick them all because every room is filled with beautiful memories as to how all the things came together. When I walk through each room they talk to me and remind me what a cherishing and a blissful journey it has been for me and my family. 

Reminds us about all our hardship in life and also how we, has a team over came that and remolded to make it magnificent memory. Life is beautiful and we as a family live it to the fullest.

Hard not to adore them and their home right? 

Thank you Gowri and Vikram for letting us into your homes, your hearts and your cozy living corners. Aalayam readers and I will forever be grateful!

Lots of love,

Supriya