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Home décor in vogue
Interior designs for homes is no longer the preserve of the rich and wealthy. The concept of good living is catching up with the middle class Indians. They do not mind spending an extra buck in decorating their new homes. This has resulted in a boom in the décor mart, reports Ritusmita Biswas.
When Jay and Sonia purchased a new flat at Bansdroni in Kolkata they were looking for the very best to decorate their home. A jacuzzi and bistro in the bathroom, imported tiles, branded furniture, exclusive linens and draperies; they wanted it all. And they went ahead and got it spending little less than five lakh to decorate their dream home.
If you have been thinking till now that we were talking about only the rich and powerful think again. Jay and Sonia belong to the upper middle class bracket with a monthly income of under Rs 50, 000. What then made them to splurge and invest in an interior designer while decorating their own homes? “Well, let us say the major reason that propelled us to have our home interior designed is the fact that we have developed a taste for good living. Both of us have traveled abroad a lot and have been to good places. So naturally, when we wanted to have our own home we wanted to have the best and nothing else,” Sonia says.
And money was not really a big issue. “As it is we have taken quite some amount as loan to buy the house. So a couple of lakhs more would not make the difference,” her husband Jay says.
This easy availability of loans is probably the major reason that is driving people to set up a designer home. “In the past, once you built the house your reserves were almost exhausted. But now it is not so any more. Anyone and everyone can buy a house on a loan. And naturally, they do not mind shelling out that extra amount or borrowing from banks to have the ultimate dream homes,” says Ajit Jain, president of the Kolkata Association of Architects, Builders, Interior Decorators & Allied Business.
Agrees Tamanna Surana, an upcoming interior designer based in New Delhi . “Of course, the easy availability of loans is a factor, but for me the major reason that has propelled the growth of the market is the exposure that the Indian people have received thanks to globalization. The media too has played a very vital role in exposing the people to good living. Not only dress designers but we nowadays get calls from people asking us to decorate their rooms in a fashion similar to say their favourite character's room in a tele-serial,” she says.
Exposure coupled with easy availability of funds have made more and more urban middle class couples to look for interior decorators while doing up their houses. Says Utkarsha Mitra, an executive in a multi national company who had just hired a reputed designing firm to do up his house at Alipore: “I don't think we are compromising the personal touch in home in any way by hiring interior decorators. We ensured that we had long discussion sessions with our designer so that he decorated our home in a fashion that suited our taste , lifestyle and budget.”
Reinstating Utkarsh's view point Ajit Jain says: “Before embarking on a project we have long discussions with the prospective client where we try to gauge his taste and assess the kind of life he lives. After all, home should be a reflection of the lifestyle. You cannot design an exotic home for a person who essentially has a simple taste; in that case it would be nothing but a waste.”
“Interior designers add that much needed professional touch while creating your personal space,” he adds.
However, several people even today opine that hiring interior designers is nothing but a waste of money. Says retired government employee G. M Kundu: “It is nothing but a passing fad, a false show of status and waste of money. How can anyone know what suits your home the best. The problem with today's generation is that they want instant gratification. The moment they set their foot in a house they want a perfect space. But by doing this they lose the simple joys of living. I remember when we bought the first house 20 years back I and my wife spent our weekends scouting for bargain but excellent pieces of furniture. And it was such a joy for us to see our home to be gradually decorated. By hiring a designer you lose out on that charm of creating your own space.”
Kundu , however, misses out on the fact that today's double-income-busy couples do not have time to go browsing for bargains on weekends. They have too many things on the table for that. This is another reason why these couples go for ready-made, furnished and decorated houses. This means that interior designers are singing all the way to the bank
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