Magic Nooks: Creating unexpected places of surprise and delight
For a beautiful house to transform into a beloved home that you can call your own, the most interesting and individual slice of style you can add is to build in nooks of surprise and delight. Pick a focal point in your house where the colour, architecture and art can come together in interesting ways. At Inaya this is something we have as an integral part of both the architecture as well as the interior design.
Our architect Ahsan Ansari says, “During the process of designing, I always imagine myself in the space. What would give me joy? For me it is to sit by a window & watch the paddy fields, to bathe in a sunlit courtyard, to enjoy and absorb the sounds of rain, to deeply breathe in the smell of wet red mud and fresh blooms, to retreat within myself by reading a book. And then to fall asleep on a bench at one end of a verandah or in a hidden nook.”
Create elements that make your home an experience, and not just a physical structure. Where’s your favourite view to be taken in with a cup of tea in the morning? Do you have a cosy reading corner in your library to curl up in, at the end of a work day? Build these special spots around the hobbies you love or the activities that evoke happiness in you and your family. Let your home become an extension of your personality.
We love unexpected indulgences, like the courtyard with a chandelier in Cotton House, or moments of magic like the installation of flying birds in the atrium. These are ways to inspire awe and delight in places that might otherwise be overlooked, like the guest bathroom for instance. Build in unexpected places of respite and repose, like a long wall couch or an upholstered rocking chair. An unusual piece of furniture or a mosaic of colours can make your home eclectic and unique.
If you’re seeking moments of calm, being at peace when surrounded by nature goes a long way towards making a space feel zen. Take the sculptural metal bench of Macassar House, the perfect spot to revel in the fresh blooms of your garden. Lounge in the sun-dappled courtyard of this house on a snippy winter afternoon or watch the rains sprinkle the ground around you.
Our interior designer, Pavitra Rajaram, puts it perfectly, “Your home then reveals itself slowly, and your memories of it are built around special moments and little elements of surprise. It makes you experience the space, so the house then becomes a living thing, so you see its different moods, it feels different in different parts of the day, and it becomes a more organic thing. It’s a creature of life and wind and air and plants, and all of the layers we add to it.”
