This small Mumbai apartment is big on style

Alchemy Collective play with pocket-friendly materials and textures for the desired rustic-modern effect.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Kshan Collective; courtesy Alchemy Collective

House no. 42 is an ode to modern farmhouse living, where timeless charm meets contemporary allure. When Alchemy Collective were handed the site, they encountered “dull and dingy spaces and lack of natural light,” reveal architects Grishma Thakkar and Niyati Gala. “Our design intent was to make the house look as light, spacious and as decluttered as possible and, at the same time, not to overwhelm the house with unnecessary storage spaces.”

Their client was a well-travelled makeup artist with a particular liking for modern yet rustic style of interiors. “She was quite clear in this vision, and this gave us a direction to work out our design around it,” says the duo. “The client needed the compact space to appear spacious and she wanted the natural light to fill her house.” Budgetary constraints gave them the opportunity to explore pocket-friendly, elegant ideas to achieve the desired aesthetic. The client needed the compact space to appear spacious and she wanted the natural light to fill her house.

“Since budget was a restriction, we played with the material palette,” state the architects. In the living room, for instance, the TV unit wall is clad in white undulated bricks, while the wall behind the sofa features thin, vertical POP slats. Overhead, the ceiling rafters in white plaster have a combing texture and the floor is covered with wooden textured vinyl. “Due to the low budget, instead of creating a false ceiling for the entire area, we designed rafters in plywood to carry the services and finished them in raw white plaster. This saved money and added to the aesthetics of the living room as well.” Continuing with the material palette, the kitchen is pragmatically dressed in laminate and tiles, with the ones on the floor mimicking rough stone. The bedroom sees the use of fluted laminate and linen textured laminates, and motif decals on the ceiling.

“We fell in love with the experiments we carried out in the living room,” enthuse the architects. “Moreover, the before and after of this space is drastic and we were more than able to create a proper storage for the crockery as well as makeup products, making the entire space look neat and organised as the client had wished for.”