Transformation Journey · Mumbai · 3BHK Apartment · 7 months · ₹1.5 Crore+
A 1970s Bandra Flat, Reimagined
for Sample family (demo content)
The brief
Three generations, one 1,450 sq ft flat built in 1974. Four small rooms off a dark corridor, a kitchen nobody wanted to cook in, and sea breeze that never made it past the front door. The family asked for three things: light in every room, a proper place for the grandparents' morning pooja, and a dining table big enough for Sunday lunch with everyone.
- 01
Listening first
Before a single drawing, we spent two mornings with the family: when the light reached each room, where Nani sits for her tea, which cupboards held forty years of memories. We reviewed the Vastu with them and agreed the pooja corner would face north-east, by the window that gets the first light.
- 02
Opening the plan
Two non-structural partitions came down (after our structural engineer signed off), turning the corridor and a box room into one long living and dining space. The sea breeze now crosses the whole flat, front to back.
BeforeAfter↔ - 03
The material story
Makrana marble underfoot, cool in May and honest about its age. Sheesham joinery made by karigars in Jodhpur, cane panels on the wardrobes so they breathe through the monsoon, and lime plaster that softens the light instead of bouncing it.
- 04
Light, through jaali
Between the living room and the pooja corner we placed a brass jaali screen drawn from the two leaning panels of the Intorio mark. It gives privacy for prayer without blocking a single ray of morning light.
- 05
Griha pravesh
We installed, styled and cleaned in the final week, then stepped back. The family walked in on an auspicious Thursday morning to marigolds at the door, the diya lit in the new pooja corner, and lunch laid out on the long sheesham table.
Materials & craft
- Makrana marble
- sheesham
- cane
- lime plaster
- brass jaali
- handloom linen
- kota stone
“For the first time in forty years, the whole flat feels like one home. Nani says the light finds her before her tea does.”
The outcome
One continuous living and dining space with cross-ventilation, a north-east pooja corner screened in brass jaali, a kitchen opened to the family, and storage for three generations that disappears into the walls. Completed in seven months while the family stayed with relatives nearby.