Home Tour: A journey into a Texas Home...with a Uttar Kannada Influence!!

I am happy to be back Aalayam!! 

It's been a long time and we have not featured a Home Tour in this space in forever! Deepa had a baby, board exams and a new career happening to her, and I just got sucked into the world of corporate America, business school student consulting, and some trailblazing Ted Talking! 

In order to bring balance to our lives, both Deepa and I realize that being invested in the rich cultural fabric Aalayam has woven already, is imperative! 

A sun kissed living room, with bamboo drapes, deep rich tones and lots of style!!

So, here I am, privileged and pleased to be bringing to you a Home Tour, featuring the home of my friends Mallika and Vinayak, a fun couple who, growing up, set the example of what falling in love, and getting married really should look like..and feel like! 

Mallika and Vinayak are new parents, who have recently moved to the Houston, United States, from Sydney, Australia. They have lovingly decorated their new, modern Texas home with it's signature wide spaces, sunny living areas and high ceilings with generous touches of rustic splendor, that speak to their roots in India..and of course, the resplendence of Mallika's native Uttar Kannada origins!!

A delightfully welcoming entrance to a gorgeous home!

Join me, as I virtually traverse through this loving abode. Partake in my excitement as I make interesting connections between the Boppanakeri (Mallika's native village) vistas and vintage bungalows, to this fabulously classy Texas home! Replete with the "bring the outside in" mantra, you will see lush green potted plants bringing in the reminiscence of the coastal foliage of Uttar Kannada. 

Color, deep rich color! Roof top drying of local produce in Mallika's native village, back in India!

You will also see rustic red splashes and deep burgundy wood tones that render your heart aflutter, making you fondly recall the terracotta terraces, and deep red chillie carpets from your native locales!!

An aerial shot of Mallika's family home in Boppanakeri, Uttar Karnataka, India!

Mallika and Vinayak have subtly adorned their home with all the right touches.... imperial looking wood chests and ornate carved mirrors, masks and gilt edged accessories, intricately woven baskets, mats and blinds that bring in a delicious throwback to traditional textures, and instantly invoke flashes of "Ajji Mane" or "Halli Mane" decor! 

Mallika and I playfully pose near a enchanting little pond, in her family home!

So, without further ado, I will present to you Mallika and Vinayak's home, and their delightful journey to make it their own cozy abode! 

In their own words!

Wood tones and furniture bring about a solid sensibility to the home, played up by colorful and meaningful accessories!

First of all, thank you for letting me and Aalayam readers take a virtual tour of your home!! 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"?

Vinayak and I have known each other for almost 14 years. We met in Bangalore where we used to work together. We were dating for a few years during which time Vinayak decided to move to Sydney, Australia to pursue his studies which led to 2 years of long distance relationship! We then went on to live in Sydney for almost 10 years after marriage before making the move to Houston in Nov 2015 for Vinayak's work. We now have a little boy who is almost 2 and keeps us on our toes! We always imagined having a beautiful spacious house with a big backyard and a dog. Most of it has come true other than a dog :-) 

Woven bamboo textured planters, and gorgeous tropical foliage, bring the outside in!

What makes your house "your home"?

Our family makes our house a "home". People ask me if it has been a tough move from Australia to the States and I tell them not really. Of course the way of life is different and sometimes challenging but my home is where my family is. We brought with us all the things that we have collected over the years and it now adorns our home and the familiarity of it all gives us a lot of comfort.

The combination of the ornate carved mirror, the golden urn and the textured planter, work in a sublime fashion in this sunny fireplace!!

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

We think our style is mainly contemporary with spots of Indian, Balinese and Moroccan pieces. Vinayak likes modern sleek comfortable furniture and I on the other hand like ethnic, colorful, rustic items so we have made a home with a combination of both modern and ethnic pieces. It's true that opposites attract :-) 

The dining room gets the balance of modern and traditional, just right!!

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

Our personality influences the decor in our home. It reflects our passion for travel. It reflects modern and comfortable living but reflects our roots, where we come from and where we have been.

Adake (Betel) trees  in the backyard, from back home! A vision...an inspiration!!

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

I really like Pinterest and Houzz.com. I also really like a FB page called Home decorating mummas. Vinayak and I watch a lot of home renovation and makeover shows. These truly inspired us and we bought our first home in Sydney as a renovation project. For a year, we worked on the house every weekend while living in it. We are really proud of how the home and the garden was transformed by us. This is a true passion for us and we are looking forward to our next project.

Lounging in style...!

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

There is definitely an influence of my home state and my native place. Whenever i am shopping for the house, I tend to get attracted to items that are colourful, rustic and remind me of home. I have too many Ganeshas and elephants around the house  All our big furniture is modern  but is surrounded by decor that reminds us of home.

Strategically placed art work adds color and character, while traditional textures add visual interest!

Masks from wanderings around the world! Bringing back influences of "Yaksha Gaana" or traditional native Uttara Kannada dance dramas, where ornate painted faces form the visual cynosure of the drama.

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? 

A lot of our decor items were collected during our travels mainly from local artisan markets and our furniture is mainly from Australia. 

Can you tell, Mallika is an accessory enthusiast, just like me!

Here in the US, we go everywhere..Ikea, Target, Pottery barn, Home goods, World Market. As for being budget savvy, if the both of us truly like something we usually go for it as long it is does not cost an arm and a leg.

Traditional accessories pepper into this modern Texas home!

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

We love our kitchen. When we entertain, all our guests just hang out in the kitchen as there is heaps of space around the kitchen island. But our favorite has to be our living room. We spend most of our time here as a family. It is cozy and has big windows which brings in a lot of light and you can see the whole backyard through it. 

Mallika and her beautiful family!

Thanks a ton for sharing your home and your perspectives on what Home means to you, with the readers of Aalayam! I personally loved the peek into your beautiful home, and cannot wait to come and luxuriate in its beauty in December!! And to the readers of Aalayam, feast in this glorious Texas home tour and let us know what you think of Mallika and Vinayak’s soul refreshing journey!!

Until next time!

Love always,

Supriya

Throwback to 2006! Mallika and me in her Boppanakeri family home, surrounded by smiling faces and verdant landscapes!

Home Tour - A Tropical Sanctuary!

Mishta's art work (that's right!) hangs proudly on her gallery wall.

Verdant courtyards, colorful Portuguese influences and the home owner’s discerning aesthetic strokes are just a few of the many highlights of Mishta and Anirudh’s cultured and curated home in the heart of a city that I fondly call home – Bengaluru, India. 

Tropical colors and spanish tiles greet visitors at the entrance!

Aalayam readers, it is with great pleasure that I bring you a home from home ! One that kindles the senses with its allure!

 It is a labor of love filled with Mishta and Anirudh’s globe trotting treasures and impeccable taste! One look at the luscious green spaces that blend seamlessly with the light 
and airy indoors and you will want to move in and call this your home! What can I say – this home is a  tropical sanctuary par excellence!  

Previously, the home has been featured on BBC Good Homes, Inside Outside, Deccan Chronicle, Good House Keeping, Ideal Home and Garden and Rang Décor Blog. Yes, it is that good! 

I love the play of light and shadows on this tiled porch - don't you?

Today, I am proud to tell Mishta and Anirudh’s home story - the Aalayam way! 

Thank you for sharing your jewel of a home with all of us. Thank you also to my dear friend Pooja for introducing me to Mishta and making this home tour possible!

House proud - Mishta and Anirudh!

Mishta was great fun to work with! I walked into her home (virtually via Facebook) and stood there with my mouth wide open! This is the kind of home that would totally engage even a stranger! I could not stop looking at the beautiful images of her home staring at me from my FB screen. And then, I sent her a mountain of questions! I had to! I wanted to know everything about how this beautiful home came to be! I am sure Mishta had no clue what she was signing up for when she agreed to do this for Aalayam but she obliged cheerfully. I connected with her warm and ebullient personality in an instant and I knew then that the home was an absolute extension of her diligence and energy. The time difference meant that we would catch each other at ungodly hours and anybody who can inject a little humor into a conversation even at 12.30 am when they are in the middle of a late night feed for their child is worth getting to know and I am glad I did! I deeply cherish the alliances that Aalayam allows me to make.

Layered with love!

Below is our conversation on home and décor with insights from Mishta's keen home making sense. Mishta and Anirudh share this space with darling daughter Mohini fondly called Mou and their furry feline! Mishta’s home has been featured in several print and online media before but Aalayam  holds the bragging rights for  being the first to share pictures of Li’L Mou’s room! Yay!!

Check out the French Calligraphy announcing Mou's Room - The devil is in the details!

 Sit back and let the images take you to a  kaleidoscopic tropical retreat. Diwali will be here soon and it is that time of the year when we all want to spruce up our homes and get into the festive spirit. Allow yourself to be inspired by this magical space!

One of the three courtyards in the house. Leaving the city behind.....

What makes your home "your home"?

M:  Our home is a home because we live in it :) !  We don’t believe in having a showpiece museum at the cost of living, but having said that, we’re naturally neat people and we take pride in our efforts to make the house look beautiful and lived in at the same time. Our daughter is being taught from a very young age to put away her toys after she finishes playing so no Lego underfoot here!

Global treasures find a place in their home and heart!

A lot of us stop at designing/decorating our interiors but you seem to have prioritized decorating your outdoor spaces too! Tell me about your love for the green spaces in your home.

M:  A few trips to Bali and Sri Lanka changed the way we viewed the outdoors in personal space forever, the blurring of the inside and the outside and to seamlessly blend the two. The sense of peace in the morning, sitting in the courtyard, looking at the plants and breathing in the fresh air is a luxury that we cannot do without anymore! The emphasis on the outdoors, and a laid-back approach to living is what defines our home.

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

M: ‘Tropical’ is what we are aspiring to…the cool shades of greenery and warm color schemes equate living in this space to living in a dream.  The design of the house really allows us to experience all of nature up close and feel at peace any time of the day and it reminds us of our beloved Bali and Goa at each corner.

Who calls the design shots in your home? 

M: We both do. Anirudh holds the rights to more practical solutions while I lean towards the more whimsical.

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

Since we’re both visual/ergonomic designers, it has definitely affected the way we see spaces and colours. Tropical decor is vibrant with lively overtones and both our personalities resonated well with that. Mishta is a graphic designer from Central Saint Martins. Her company is called Drawater by Mishta Roy while Anirudh is an ergonomist from Georgia Tech; a technical design consultant for technology companies.  

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? 

M: We decorate our home with pieces we have purchased all over the world on our travels. We once shipped large Balinese doorway guardian statues all the way from Bali and enormous birdcages from another trip! We don’t ever shop for anonymous pieces. They have to mean something to us and be associated with an experience/memory/geography/childhood. 

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

M: Inhabitot for now for Mou’s room, Rang Décor, Indian Summer, Kaleidoscope.

Mou's room - Magical and merry!

 * My absolute favorite response – this to me sums up how and why this is such a gorgeous home *

Are there influences from your home state (west Bengal/Calcutta) in your décor or have you stuck to southern influences of your adopted state/city (Karnataka/ Bangalore)? How are the two different in your opinion? 

M: The house inadvertently has mirrored my grandmother’s house in Alipore, Kolkata. Three bedrooms in three distinct color schemes…pink room, green room and blue room. As well as the grandfather clock that chimes melodically every 15 minutes… we got a Seiko that sounds the same as my grandmother’s clock! The library was inspired by Anirudh’s grandfather’s extensive collection and we designed the floor to ceiling bookshelves to mirror that. So I would say that our home is not so much inspired by our cultures, but rather by our childhood memories of happy spaces.

How is your adorable daughter influencing your home décor process now – tell me a little bit about creating kid friendly spaces.

M: She is influencing us through necessary childproofing…so a lot of furniture has moved around and safety gates installed. The green room has been turned into her playroom which is circus themed. I wanted to give her an environment that was colorful, propagated a love for animals and strong women who fly(!), so no pink princesses here!

Pick one room and tell us how it came about – what did you buy first, how did you keep adding till you said this is it. Did you envision the look before hand or was it done on the fly?

M: How did it come together so well? It evolved...but was determined right at the beginning by the color of the wall..ie pink room has fabrics which are soft florals always so it compliments the color. The furniture too is delicate. So it is a fairly feminine, peaceful room and so my glass perfume bottle collection has a home here. Blue room is the master bedroom and has strong indigo flavors, so the furnishings and furniture compliment that.

delicate wind swept block print fabrics add to the romance!

What’s next for your beautiful home? 

M: A swing! The perfect indoor/outdoor swing has been eluding me for awhile!

And because I love this wall, her art work, that chest and those bird cages so much..... 

One simple thing – a swing, she says!  This is yet another reminder of the fact that it takes patience and perseverance to create the home of your dreams.

 Anirudh and Mishta, decided to build over Anirudh’s family home’s existing ground-floor bungalow and Mishta says “ We wanted something different, something that reflected our love for travel and nature and blurred the lines between inside and outside. A house that was inward-facing and left the city out,while creating a peaceful oasis that we could enjoy privately”

They have accomplished that and more, don’t you think?

Thank you for joining us on this home tour. Please leave your comments and questions for Mishta. Tell us if you are inspired by this space. Our home owners, who graciously share their homes with all of us, would love to hear from you.

Next up, the post that you and I have both waited for – Aalayam's Diwali post! Yes, it is now an annual Aalayam tradition and I am all excited to bring you sparkling inspirations to ignite your festive fervor! Join me next week for Diwali décor inspirations!

Cheers!

~Deepa

P.S: All images belong to the home owners – Mishta and Anirudh and may not be used without permission.