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An all white dreamscape cocooned in a 550 sqft rental apartment in Mumbai

Apartments

By Pragnya Rao

Mar 02, 2017

Blogger Rukmini Roy Kadam’s apartment is a lesson in how a rental apartment doesn’t have to be utilitarian and instead how it can be every bit of the dream home you’ve envisioned it to be

The moment we laid our eyes on this all white, light-filled space, we were smitten. After all, this is what our Pinterest board looks like. Dreamy, bordering on romantic and full of ideas we can actually recreate in our home.

It was in 2014, that Rukmini and her husband Rohan were house hunting, and looking for one without brokers. Not everyone is as lucky as they are, their landlords also happen to be their friends, “I can change things freely around here, and they appreciate it,” offers Rukmini. The space offers stunning views, and the large windows allow for ample natural light to filter in, which is a rarity in a city like Mumbai. Rukmini based her décor around it, and made provisions for as much light as she could.

Relying on what is one of the oldest, fail-safe décor tricks – working with whites in a small space, the interiors are a complete whitewash – of the good kind. With its white walls, floor and ceiling, it’s a beautiful, luminous box at first glance.

Blogger, Rukmini in her living room.

Look closer, and you will find it filled with prettier details, flowing white curtains, white painted furniture, pristine upholstery, even the flowers here seem whiter than they would normally be. And for all its touch-me-not whites, the space is rather cosy. “Home should be a place where you look forward to come to after a tiring long day and be thankful to wake up in every morning. It doesn't matter how big or how tiny your home is, when you step in, it should give you the feeling of safety, familiarity, cosiness and comfort,” says Rukmini.

We are a little less adventurous with white these days, you can’t blame us, we can still hear our mum grudge us about how hard it is to maintain the linen sofa we picked for her last summer. “People are afraid of white, yes. But I think they are more afraid of the dirt showing in. Honestly, some regular clean up and it should work out just as colours do,” smiles Rukmini.

The two things she definitely wanted for her home was a good chair and a laundry area. “You know, one of the most important parts of living happy is slowing down. From Danish Hygge to Norwegian Koselig and Japanese Zen, it's important to slow down and rest in comfort for at least some time. And try as you may, you just cannot relax anywhere. You need your spot. So a chair was very crucial,” she says, “Good for me, I found it on the streets while taking a walk!”

Even with a choc-a-bloc schedule that sees her up at 6.45am, Rukmini makes it a point to sling her camera around and use the (sun) light between 7.30am to 8.00am in the morning. Post work, her evenings revolve around books, and conversations with close friends. “I often get, ‘how do you do all of this? Where do you get time from?’ But that is our Hygge time. It's pretty hectic, trying to balance everything but it’s fun,” she trails off.