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Mandira Bedi’s colourful, artfully curated home in Mumbai
Bold colours, curated artworks and family photographs sit comfortably alongside eccentric curios and travel finds in Mandira Bedi’s sprawling Mumbai home
It’s easy to recognise this home even from a distance – a unique triangular house, right in the middle of a Mumbai suburb, with bold letters at the top spelling RaMa. That is how you know you’ve reached Mandira Bedi and her husband Raj’s house, and as soon as the gates open, out come her two dogs, curious as to who has come over for a visit. We couldn’t have asked for a better welcome.
As we make our way to the living room, we can’t help but notice the use of wrought iron. For Mandira, this has a lot to do with synergy in her spaces. This is also brought about by her choice of colours, which not incidentally match the massive artwork that hangs above her couch. “The cushions and covers all match the shades used in the painting. And when the painting changes, which may be very soon, these colours will change too,” she smiles.
Acquired as just a plot of land, the house was built over a period of one year, and continues to be a work in progress, with the couple upgrading and modifying things often. But if there’s one thing that has stood the test of time, it’s the bar in the living room. The counter is cemented into the ground and has remain unchanged since.
The home is lovingly done and carefully curated – be it the pictures adorning the staircase walls or the souvenirs dotting the asymmetrical windows at the landings. Even the bookshelf on the first floor is a painstaking selection of Raj’s favourite bestsellers and Mandira’s wellness books with parenting books thrown into the mix. Across this space is Vir’s room, their six year old. As with any boy his age, his fascination for vehicles finds a place in his entirely blue room as cushion covers, with photographs of him and his mom dotting the space.
“We didn’t have a decorator or architect on board, so all the happiness and all the mistakes are ours,” says Mandira. Ask her how they got to the name, and she immediately becomes nostalgic. “It was monsoon season and a few of our friends were over. The house was just built, there were no rooms and we were up on the terrace. Someone suggested that we should name our home, and RaMa was immediately suggested by another friend. We liked how it combined both our names, so we kept it.” It’s as if on cue that Vir and Raj appear, and the family winds down on that very terrace amid peals of laughter and cups of hot chai.
The stairwell of Mandira’s multi-storey home has asymmetrical windows which allows sunlight to stream into the landing. The sills display curios accumulated by her when travelling.
For Mandira, it was important to have a synergy flowing through her house. In order to achieve that harmony, she borrowed colour clues from the paintings adorning her walls for her soft-furnishings. This is something you can easily adopt in your own home too.
The lower level of Mandira’s home is a large open-plan space with a dining area, bar and living room combined in one. Notice how the colours all match the painting of Buddha above the side-board.
