Inside the characterful Chennai home of interior designer Sunita Yogesh

Simple design coupled with humble materials and textures create a calming abode for interior designer Sunita Yogesh and her partner in Chennai.

Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Phosart Studio; courtesy Sunita Yogesh Studio

The site

For interior designer Sunita Yogesh The Oakwood Project is a special one — it is home to her and her husband. Located in Chennai, this 1,650-square-foot apartment was received as a bare shell by the designer which gave her the freedom to modify its layout according to her design needs. Large windows across the east and west sides of the apartment allows the Chennai sun to ingeniously channel into the home.

The spatial configuration

The layout of the home allows for many private spaces instead of an open layout like most new apartments today. The apartment opens directly into the living room with the black metal swing doors connecting the living space with the rest of the house. The dining room is right in the centre of the home — between the home office and the balcony. The kitchen is adjacent to the living room, with the two bedrooms at the far end of the home.

The design intent

“We wanted a comfortable, light, airy, and bright home,” says Sunita. “Thankfully we have very similar tastes in interior spaces, which made the process very smooth. There was a lot of discussion concerning the functionality of each space, and what really worked for us. This helped us bring this home to life in a very organic way as everything just fell into place. I’m drawn to simple, understated materials and textures, and this home is just an amalgamation of that,” she adds.

To bring in balance, natural elements are interspersed with clean modern lines to unify the space. The walls have been kept primarily white, which helped layer the space with various textures. A humble material palette has been used extensively throughout the home — oak wood, marble counters, metal, wicker, handwoven fabrics, ceramic pottery, to name a few. With the neutral colour palette, whispers of colour are woven through various organic fabrics and decor accessories. For the flooring, a grey stone finished vitrified tile is used for the living, dining, and kitchen; and an oak-finished wooden flooring was the choice for the bedrooms and home office. All the doors in the home were custom-made in white oak veneer.

“Since we wanted the home to have a unified feel, we custom-made most furniture pieces, except for the study chair (from Josmo), the balcony bench and kitchen breakfast stools (from Purple Turtle). The lighting plan was a crucial part of the design process. Apart from the ceiling downlights, we wanted accent lights throughout the home. Hence we layered them with many table lamps, floor lamps, pendant lights, and wall sconces based on our functionalities, my favourite ones being the living room floor lamp (from the white teak company) and the modern, sleek pendant light above the dining table( from Voylite),” shares Sunita.

The design and material details

The main door opens directly into the living area which faces the dining room’s black metal swing doors. Close to the door, an entryway of sort is created by introducing a console above which a large circular mirror reflects the light around beautifully. The living area sees a deep sage-hued sectional sofa paired with mid-century style armchairs in light beige. And to maximise seating, stools with woven cotton rope details are tucked under the console table. An interesting design feature here is the vertical panelled backdrop for the television which is complemented by the woven textures of a cabinet.

The dining room lies at the heart of the apartment and has a six-seater dining table in oak finish paired with chairs in a darker wood tone and leather back. The sleek bar is set close to the dining table, and has deep charcoal blue for the cabinets, and a statuario marble countertop with the waterfall edge shelf that adds the right touch of opulence. A sleek modern pendant lamp anchors the space, lighting it up elegantly come evenings.

The kitchen was initially planned to be a typical builder grade one, which meant to share space with a utility/laundry. But as Sunita wanted a large kitchen, the laundry was moved to one of the balconies adjacent to the dining room. A double tone is used in the kitchen cabinetry — white oak finished veneer for the lower, and a light warm grey for the upper ones. The kitchen countertop is engineered quartz in a concrete finish, while white zellige style subway tiles was the choice for the backsplash which has been stacked horizontally to render a modern look. A statuario marble breakfast table adds more dimension to the kitchen.

“One of the best decisions we made was to open up the home office wall with a large custom French window in metal, which gives the privacy of a room while becoming a family room when we have guests over,” says Sunita. This space includes a built-in desk in white oak finish which is flanked by open and closed storage units finished in a grey PU finish. A compact sofa was accommodated in front of the window for lounging; while pouffes bring in colour and pattern.

The master bedroom is a calm oasis and opens to a small balcony overlooking the tall trees in the neighbourhood. A customised grey upholstered king-size bed is set against a vertical wall panelled in dark forest green. Oak finished nightstands with traditional wicker details on the drawers add contrast against the dark wall, while the globe wall sconces add a modern touch to the space. A seating corner with a monochrome striped fabric upholstered bench was placed in front of the window. “We were lucky that the apartment plan came with alcoves in all the bedrooms, which we used to our advantage to conceal all the wardrobes, which also helped us to optimise the floor space. We added tapered details to the wardrobe shutters finished in white PU which makes it look like an extension of the walls and makes the space appear larger,” explains Sunita.

The guest bedroom has ample ventilation around bringing in a lot of natural light into the space. It has a king-size bed with a leatherette headboard which is paired with wooden black stained nightstands. A large chest of drawers makes for storage, and is anchored by an oversized custom mirror. The wardrobe shutters are crafted in oak veneer, and the reeded details adds texture. The modern singular metal wall sconce next to the bedside is Sunita’s personal favourite.