Radhika Aptes contemporary light-filled Mumbai home

By Tasneem Merchant

Actress Radhika Apte gives us a tour of her colourful Mumbai apartment awash in sunlight and filled with handpicked furniture pieces

Take a tour of Radhika Apte’s colourful Mumbai Apartment

By her own admission, Radhika’s husband Benedict is better at “imagining what the house could be turned into, and I’m better at turning it into that thing.” So, it comes as no surprise that the pair’s house is dotted with almost all of Radhika’s favourite pieces – right from her grandmother’s chair to the first one she got custom-made from her own money. There’s a little history to almost every piece you see in her house.

Their shared love for light-filled spaces is probably what led them to select this high-ceilinged apartment – the floor length windows in the living room flood the space with sunlight. “A very important thing for me is to have light in the house when I wake up. So, I look for a house where there will be enough light,” Radhika confirms. A key structural change they made was to break down the balcony and make it a part of the living room, creating a bigger, airier space.

Ask her where she got the idea to make each door a different colour and she admits, “A teacher had fans painted different colours, and I really liked it. I too want to do that, but don’t know what colours to pick, so in the meantime, I painted all the doors a different colour. If you ask me to use the bathroom, it’ll be “the purple door”. So, it is a borrowed idea that way”, she laughs.

The only structural change made in the house was combining the balcony with the living room. This resulted in a bigger space flooded with sunlight. Little pops of colour are brought in through the soft furnishings such as bright cushions and rugs.

While her bedroom is relatively simple, it is the guest room she has big plans for. Someday, she’d like to convert the wall behind the sofa cum bed, painted in the Asian Paints ColourNext 2018 Colour of the Year Passion Flower, into a gallery wall, densely packed with art. As she says, “I want to make this into a house that welcomes people and makes them feel comfortable and if they can feel that way, that’s great!”

Radhika in the first piece of furniture she got custom-made with her own money. Most of the pieces in her house are sourced from her parents or grandparents and each one has its own story to tell.

Radhika’s kitchen is a lesson in colour blocking. Carved out from the living room, the blue walls immediately create a demarcation between the two spaces. We love how one of her counters is lined with potted plants to create a sort of visual barrier.

ou’ll find plants in abundance in this apartment. Radhika grew up among trees and hills, and these plants are a way for her to reconnect with nature.

This wall mounted bookshelf also doubles up as a display unit for curios. Instead of having a single, large shelf, Radhika uses several smaller bookcases to house her collection – some mounted on the wall and some standing guard on the floor.

A host of different curtains cover the windows in Radhika’s bedroom, which serve to inject colour in the otherwise muted space.

A bright blue door welcomes you as you step into Radhika Apte’s home. The white-washed walls amplify the sunlight pouring in from the large windows in her living room.

Radhika has painted all the doors in her house a different colour. This not only helps in adding colour to the space, it is also extremely helpful for directions!

01-Jun-2018