Bring the Colours of India into Your Home
Discover a Theme That Will Cheer Up Your Interiors
These bleak times call for bright surroundings to keep the blues away. Adopting an Indian theme is the best way to cheer up and energize a drab interior.
A few simple changes can give your home an Indian feel. Here’s how.
Indian-theme Decor Colours
An Indian home has to be astonishingly colorful. Vibrant reds, blues, greens and yellows are complemented by whites and natural earthen tones as in terracotta. There has to be fine mix of neutrals and basic hues so that the colors are not overpowering but rather welcoming.
Vastushastra, the ancient Indian building treatise specifies certain colours for different rooms to ensure a better flow of energy in the house.
- Use yellows, tan or beige for the living, pink and blues for the master bedroom and green for the children’s.
- White is the best for kitchen though yellow, orange and red can also be added. Dining rooms should have refreshing pinks, blues and greens.
- Avoid black, since it is said to cause depression and tension.
- Papering certain walls can provide an accent. Wallpapers with allover floral designs featuring lotus, peacocks or other typically Indian motifs can be used.
Entrance Treatment in Indian-theme Decor
Lord Ganesha is a popular Indian deity and is usually placed at the entrance as he is known as the “Remover of Obstacles”. An idol or a painting of Ganesha placed at least a foot above the ground and facing the rooms within will provide an authentically Indian touch and probably bring good luck.
An earthen or better still a brass basin filled with lotus candles surrounded by small earthen animal figurines could be wonderful eye catcher.
Indian-theme Furniture & Accessories
Solid wooden furniture made in teak, rubber or rosewood is a must for an Indian theme. A huge sofa filled with colorful silk cushions, a glass panelled display cabinet, a four poster bed and an easy chair with a woven cane back are some of the essential pieces. These can then be surrounded by lighter bamboo or wrought iron furniture.
Natural fibers such as silk, cotton or wool should be used for upholstery, curtains and cushions. Kashmir carpets are the preferred floor covering but for a more budgeted interior cotton or woolen rugs can be used. These should feature floral designs.
For an Indian theme diyas or small kerosene lamps should replace candles. Walls can be decorated with tapestries of Indian village scenes, peacocks, tigers or other suitable subjects.
Wooden and brass decorative pieces can be used as accessories.
Most people picturize an Indian home as overpowering bordering to tacky, but it need not be so. It has to be vibrantly colorful so as to make it warm and livable.
An Indian style home should symbolize welcome and hospitality. It has to be family oriented, i.e. have a centric living room and a large dining table and be filled with family and friends!
What do you think about this article?
More in Home & Style
Latest Articles