Home improvement
Your guide to the best home decor stores and young interior designers in the city.
Niche Ideas/ Elvy
Looking for the perfect picture frame for your windowsill or a vintage candle stand for a modern drawing room? Head to Elvy, a niche lifestyle and home store where you will not mind spending a little extra. Here you can also find a range of European inspired tableware to pick from or nightstands and vases that can easily belong in an art gallery. At Road No 12, Banjara Hills Tel 23329983 elvy.com
Vivid Hues/ Eucalyptus
Shop for a rugged stone Buddha for your garden or lamps crafted from paper and coconut shells, besides ceramic knick-knacks and tasteful decor accessories, hand-picked from the flea markets of Bali, Thailand and Indonesia at Eucalyptus. You cannot help but start ideating with so much to choose from at this inviting corner store on the way to Kavuri Hills.
Besides these interesting finds, you can also select from an exclusive range of block-printed duvets and bedspreads in vibrant summer shades. At Road No 44, CBI Colony, Jubilee Hills Tel 23552269 eucalyptus.in
Exquisite Craft/ Inhabit
Add a touch of spunk to your home with Inhabit's vibrant collection of furniture and decor accessories. From painted chairs for an eclectic living room to funky wall art and vases to pep up a corner, there is much to look around, besides plenty of ideas for charming lighting. You can also take a pick from cushions in interesting themes and throws to jazz up an otherwise plain setting. At Road No 10, Banjara Hills Tel 65986666 neetakumar.com
Rich Feel/ S Casa
Step in and it's easy to be spoilt for choice with a huge selection of luxury Italian furniture on display across three floors at S Casa. Stylish couches and chic cabinets, artsy outdoor chairs and interesting home accessories; find a discerning range of upscale products for adding a touch of class to any living space. At Desire Elegant, 674/B, Road No 12, Banjara Hills Tel 9032456688 scasa.in
Eclectic Designs/ Benu Mehta
Benu Mehta, 42, opens out her treasure trove of stylish furniture that reflects a unique eclectic taste and fine aesthetics, with each piece hand-crafted like an artwork at her studio. Mehta took to furniture design when she was moving house almost two decades ago and ever since, "it has been quite a journey," says the former corporate professional.
Her designs are appreciated for their creative blending of materials and styles, and the final outcome is a line of niche statement pieces-an antique-styled door painted bright for a contemporary look or an interesting blend of resin with metal for a cabinet, besides artsy inlay work using mother of pearl and lapis for cupboards and doors. At Road No 29, Jubilee Hills Tel 98492 86096 benumehta.com
Funky Spin/ 23 Degrees Design Shift
The recently launched Fat Pigeon Bar Hop is the kind of lounge, "that the city has not seen yet," says Srikanth Reddy, 34, who designed it with partner Nilesh Kumar, 33, as a neighborhood urban bar with four individual zones holding their own distinct drama. The duo loves to experiment with their designs and the result is often a home or cafe done up with innovative use of space.
"Instead of cramming a space with decor items, we bring out the best with what is naturally doable with the site," says Reddy. Mocha Bar in Jubilee Hills, for instance, was a little villa attached to a big backyard and they made the best of this feature. No two properties they design turn out similar in any way, Reddy says, "except for art installations that feature in all our projects." At Road No. 3, Banjara Hills facebook.com/23degreesdesignshift/
Fine Taste/ Sona Reddy Studio
There is something splendidly non-fuss about architect Sona Reddy's designs, with an infusion of colour that will bring any space to life. Reddy, 33, enjoys creating an artsy look for her spaces by using natural textures for effect-like the bare brick walls in designer Anushree Reddy's studio that form an interesting contrast to the elaborate mirror frame and chandelier.
Currently in New York for a month to learn the finer nuances of lighting, Reddy is indulging the artist within. Her home decor store, Room Therapy is a rich assortment of chic lighting options, stoneware and ceramics in contemporary styles apart from exquisite furniture. At No 885. Road No 45, Jubilee Hills, Tel 64552200 sonareddystudio.com
Earthy Charm/ Raveena Rayapaneni
"I love bringing in a certain old-world charm to my designs," says interior designer Raveena Rayapaneni, 25, talking about the framed Tanjore painting at her parents' tastefully done up drawing room. Fashion designer Archana Rao's studio that she designed a couple of years ago is where you will see a sturdy wooden traditional dresser sourced from a village in Andhra, blending in beautifully with the ruggedly chic look of the store.
"Almost nothing about my work is overtly contemporary," she says. Another of her signature features is the use of earthy tones. At Plot 38B, Road No 70, Jubilee Hills; raveenarayapaneni@gmail.com
But Naturally/ Spacefiction Studio
Architect couple, Baba Sashank, 30 and Vindhya Guduru, 30, believes in bringing nature indoors and it is not just greenery that they have on mind, whether in a house or a night club. Their recent project, the lounge, Dock 45 is made incorporating materials from actual shipyards, with an atrium for a dance floor that is open to the sky.
Open spaces that bring in wind and natural light are their signature style, "the inspiration is drawn from Japanese architect Tadao Ando, who designed the Church of the Light, an unconventional church in which the alter is a wall with slivers in the shape of a cross through which light streams in," shares Sashank. At Plot No 491, Road No 10, Banjara Hills Tel 9502127722 spacefictionstudio.com
Green Effect/ Gamlaa.com
No corporate space is too formal for a garden, nor an apartment too tiny, seems to be the mantra with Gamlaa.com, an online plant nursery and landscaping venture. Whether it's an elaborate vertical garden for your office wall or planters to line up the balcony railing, there are many ways to bring greenery indoors and Gamlaa.com shows how.
Besides this, they also conduct green workshops and offer plants as gifting ideas. At Plot 1060, Ayyapa Society, Madhapur Tel 40202777 gamlaa.com
Stone Art/ Stone Life
Whether building a new home or redoing a space, pick from an elaborate variety of natural stone for floors and walls at Stone Life. Oriented like a gallery, this stone studio offers a large range of luxury stone products in various textures, including leather and fabric finishes.
Besides the granites and marbles, find yourself awed by their semi-precious collection featuring agates and amethyst, lapis and malachite for table tops and accent walls. At Above Barista, Road No 1, Jubilee Hills Tel 23334455 stonelife.in
Enchanted Garden/ Unique Trees
Potted plants to create an interesting green space is so passe when you can have a garden featuring fully grown trees brought over from anywhere in the world. Your backyard can be lined with olive trees from Italy or a Rainbow eucalyptus from Philippines, the trunk of which looks painted, or an equally exotic Brazilian Grape Tree which has grape-like fruits growing on the trunk rather than the branches.
Take your pick from dozens of such lesser-known varieties imported from 25 countries. Shares Ramdev Rao, 42, founder of Unique Trees, "A client once told me that his guests were impressed by the 18-feet-tall Lucky Ficus trees in his courtyard far more than the imported furniture in the drawing room that was about three times more expensive. It is a delight when I am told that people take selfies with my trees." At 489, Road No 12, Banjara Hills Tel 66666622 uniquetrees.in