A Heady Brew of Traditional Indian and Vintage Charm: Pratibha’s Nest in Mumbai

Hello my Dear ones,

I hope you savoured our rendezvous at Shalu’s gorgeous European style villa last week. If not, you can still visit her home here. As a blogger, it’s been my good fortune that I have come across such amazing home décor enthusiasts who have generously opened the doors to their homes for me to pen down and my readers have been equally benevolent with their encouraging comments and reviews. Hoping that the journey so far has been enlightening for all of us, the next pit stop on my blog wagon will be in the commercial capital of India – Mumbai. Having lived in this ‘City of Dreams’ for a couple of years, I realised that a few dreams get fulfilled, while there are others which are broken, but the resilience in this city’s dwellers’ veins runs so deep, that for them, there is no way, but forward!

Today, in Mumbai, we are headed to Pratibha Vinod’s home in Mulund. I can’t remember having connected with someone on so many levels in the first telephonic conversation as her! One glance at her home is enough to tell you that she isn’t just passionate about décor, but also literally breathes it, lives it, and like me, hoards it too! 😉 From being in the corporate sector for almost a decade (she was a senior manager with ICICI) to following her heart, running a school for kids with her friend, she has sort of been there, done that. And even though, she has had not formal training in interior designing, she has done a fantastic job with her home. Lets roll…

Pratibha’s home is a wonderful and exciting potpourri of traditional Indian and rustic  vintage decor styles; and with the generous sprinkling of her favourite natural element – wood, both styles amalgamate seamlessly and elegantly without blocking each other.

The bright cerulean blue entrance had me at the first glance and after that I was just lost in a maze of rustic wood panels, brass artefacts, and eclectic charm. I absolutely love this Vishnu Dashavataar carved panel and yalli brackets mounted above the wooden panelling, right outside the kitchen.

Pratibha had the wall between the kitchen and utility knocked down to give it a sense of openness and even arranged for a cosy sitout in the area. The liberal use of wood with bohemian styled open shelves make it look so inviting!

The sit-out beyond the kitchen sports an exposed brick facade with a handwoven eclectic charpoi and lots of interesting knick-knacks like this distressed window frame, family pictures, and quirky typographical panels. It serves as a playful banter corner for the happy couple while cooking.

Pratibha got a uniform engineered wood flooring in this space to let the rustic vibes flow right from the kitchen. The barn style door and stained glass panels tug at my heart strings and get extra brownie points.

The living room is truly an embodiment of Pratibha’s personality – an intriguing melange of traditional and vintage charm. One can easily spot the rosewood pillar (traditionally found in Chettinadu homes) displaying the hanging brass lamps, the carved wooden idols of Goddess Saraswati and Ganesha, brass vilakkus, and yalli wall brackets, and in the same breath, you can’t help but notice a huge barrel side table and an antique style window mirror frame on one of the textured walls…

The carved idol of Goddess Saraswati and wooden Chettinadu pillar

Pratibha loves shuffling things in her home to keep the freshness quotient high. Her living room is no exception. With an open floor plan, there’s ample space to play around with, especially when Vinod and she host their friends and extended family over – from ethnic seating to a lounge style set-up.

The wooden barrel conjures up an image of a rustic European barn in one’s mind and has a funny anecdote attached to it. Apparently, Pratibha was visiting a local craft fair when she spotted this barrel being used as a step ladder in one of the stalls to take out stuff. She wouldn’t stop staring at it, and instantly asked the guy if it was for sale too among other things. After a few minutes of negotiation, the harried stall owner sold the barrel to the unrelenting Pratibha to get rid of her and our lady came back home with a radiant smile and the huge barrel in question! We women always get what we want 😀

The space opposite the barrel has a cosy couch with a couple of chakki tables doubling up as additional seating options/footrests. Pratibha has added a shelf of antique brass kamandalams belonging to her Grandma.

The corridor leading to the couple’s and their teen daughter’s bedrooms is a testament to Pratibha’s talent in mixing and matching different styles…

The left side wall leading to the bedrooms is peppered with traditional brass and wooden artefacts, wall brackets, and even an antique rosewood cradle converted into a display case. The cradle is extremely close to Pratibha’s heart as it belonged to her Grandfather.

The opposite wall, although seems like completely from another  realm – a bohemian yellow and sea green/teal cabinet, a rustic barn wood mirror, a knotted rope pendant lamp, printed and framed Ravi Verma lithographs.

The corridor culminates into a huge wooden paneled mirror which is her favourite design element – she loves watching the reflection of her entire living room collection in that mirror!

Pratibha’s room is also a medley of new, and/or up-cycled stuff, and a host of hand me downs from her grandmother’s – like this beautiful wardrobe…and who doesn’t love a four-poster bed which instantaneously makes you go back in time!

The opposite wall in her room is full of memories, floating shelves (with books, plants, and curios, of course!) and a gorgeous up-cycled window frame…When Pratibha realised that the discarded window frame was actually solid teakwood. she had it restored immediately.

Daughter Tanushree’s room is like a breath of fresh air and is layered with elements like a patchwork bedspread, a boho sea shell hanging (picked up from a quaint Miami-based store) asymmetrically arranged wall frames, a cool teal and white cabinet and a mirror.

The guest room serves as both – a home theatre and the Pooja room. Simple and uncluttered.

I love the way Pratibha creates magical vignettes. A self-confessed hoarder, she not only has quite a few inherited treasures, but also periodically rummages through stacks of centuries old piled up vintage charms in Chor Bazaar’s rickety stores and these include (but not limited to) brass tiffin carries, old weighing scales, typewriter, milkman cans, rustic caddies, handcarts…the list can go on…Take a look at a few magical vignettes she has created…

A couple more quirky corners of her home below:

And with Ganesh Chaturthi just around the corner, the home is getting festival ready!

I hope you loved Pratibha and Vinod’s traditional and rustic home tour. I for one, certainly loved penning down this feature for you all where two different styles blend so beautifully, without clashing with each other. You can follow her on the Instagram handle – homenharmony . (And Pratibha, our trip to Chor Bazaar is on! 🙂 I would love to see my readers leaving their comments in the section below!

(All images published in this blog belong to Pratibha Vinod and may not be replicated or reproduced without prior permission. Text copyright: A Cauldron Full of Love)

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