“A Celebration of Culture in Home Decor”

By Kuhu Kinnori

Art, music and culture– these aspects define the core essence of Mr Shantanu Saha Roy and Mrs Enakshi Saha Roy. Being involved with cultural practices, they express their artistry and sublime taste through the manner of decorating their household. Today we take a look at how Mr Shantanu and Mrs Enakshi have successfully manifested their idea of the perfect home.

A Culture-minded Family

Mr Shantanu Saha Roy and Mrs Enakshi Saha Roy introduced to their home. Their apartment is led by a windowed corridor decorated with ornamental plants. The condo greets with the refreshing sight of green plants and the expert hand-made, warm-toned wall paint decorations of the living, drawing and kitchen areas. Mr Shantanu, a service holder at a respectable firm, revealed that they tried to keep the touch of greenery, art and life force inside their humble abode. Mr Shantanu introduces his wife, Mrs Enakshi, as the artistic mastermind who tastefully decorated the house with her creative genius.

A Lively Living Space:

As a renowned painter, Mrs Enakshi expressed her effort in bringing out her artistic thoughts and inspirations. She begins to describe her thoughts that went into furnishing the drawing room. She placed elements like some potted plants, show pieces, and sculptures and arranged the collections with detailed artistry. She introduces the many rare collections of historical artifacts, statues of holy deities, and even some traditional tribal masks obtained from different parts of the world. They tried to utilize the walls’ spaces to the fullest with wall-attached furniture, hanging photographs, ornaments, paintings, as well as many inventive artworks.

Mrs Enakshi’s artistic finesse is on display on each wall, furniture, ornament and house room. In the drawing room, she shows an oil painting on an easel. On the ceiling of the living space, one could see how Mrs Enakshi breathed new life into the old ceiling fan with abstract paintings on its blades.

Walls and Embellishments:

The drawing room continues to a wall dedicated to the display of artworks and rare art pieces. There are also some family photographs, show pieces, glass artworks and collected paintings on ledges on this wall. The couple said they tried to make this area a ‘composite furniture’ that binds each element together in harmony. An invaluable ‘Patachitra’ painting collected from Kolkata works as the ‘pièce de résistance’ to the ‘gallery’. An attached shoe shelf that doubles as a sitter sits at the foot of the wooden wall. The glass artworks, hand-painted by Mrs Enakshi herself, are placed immaculately on the ceiling that leads towards this wooden wall. The glass mural gives off a Gothic cathedral aesthetic inspired by Bengali folk art. Besides the composite wall lies a narrow shelf with whimsical potted plants that add to the overall vibe.

Some cultural antiques hang from a vibrantly yellow-coloured wall near the living space. Mrs Enaskshi painted it with Berger Luxury Silk Emulsion paint to create a visually attractive contrast. She points at a rustic table and describes that it was a wedding present from her husband’s parents. This family heirloom was refurbished by the skilled hands of Mrs Enakshi. She added a touch of modernism to the table by embossing some ‘Nokshi’ patterns with lasers. On the table, she kept some family memorabilia they held close to her heart. A short wooden storage unit stands beside this table, painted in the “Madhubani” theme.

A Dainty Dining Space:

The dining space used to have a wall that Mrs Enakshi tore down. The dining space is now connected with the drawing room and living room as a continuous open space. She and her husband stress that the house now gives a more welcoming and spacious vibe and that they wanted it from the start. This openness is quintessential when they invite friends, families and guests to their abode for hearty, culturally inspired get-togethers.

A Corner to Get Lost in Books:

Mr Shantanu guides towards the corner they built as their open space library beside the dining area. To him, this large stretch of bookshelves is the favorite aspect of his home. He explains how he started out collecting books as a hobby from his college life has now helped him build this personalized home library. The bookshelves are installed on the walls, touch the ceiling, and are filled with many books. The opposite wall has a bookshelf-looking wallpaper, placed as a symbolic reflection of the surrounding knowledge. Mr Shantanu enthusiastically showed a mobile push trolley with several dictionaries in different languages. The trolley was themed orange, symbolizing the sun as a cradle of knowledge. The bookworm Mr Shantanu informed that almost all rooms have a small corner for books because the practice of reading books is indispensable for his family. Besides the purpose of reading books, this spot is also where the musical family gathers to practice and perform songs with a harmonium.

An Open Kitchen

Regarding the kitchen, Mrs Enakshi expressed that she always wanted an open kitchen and is now relieved to have her dream come true. She tore down the wall separating the kitchen and the living space. The now open living-dining-kitchen area makes a more interactive experience with the whole house. The high cabinets placed above the stoves contain all the cooking utensils, crockeries and ingredients. The walls are covered with light-coloured tiles and stone countertops that double as showcases. However, the critical feature of the kitchen is the wooden arch that Prateeti and her friend painted on the instructions of Mrs Enakshi. The style is inspired by Bangladeshi folk art.

The Master Bedroom:

The master bedroom welcomes with a spacious and airy-toned room with an eye-catching large ‘palonko’. This bed used to be the wedding bed of Mr Shantanu’s parents, and the other furniture inside the room matched the color and the vibe of this crucial piece of furniture. The walls are fitted with cabinets and drawers, a sizable makeup corner and a small bookshelf corner for their essential nighttime readings. The light-coloured drapes over the windows and soft blue walls give the room a serene and breathable feeling.

The Daughters’ Room:

The children’s bedroom is beside the master bedroom. This room is shared by the two daughters of Mr Shantanu and Mrs Enakshi– Sampreeti and Prateeti. The walls are imaginatively painted with line art style facial drawings and a pink and orange block-colored background using Berger’s Robbialac plastic paint. The youngest, Prateeti, made this beautiful wall art with her friend. The rest of the room used complementary coloured drapes, beddings, pillows, etc., to match the leading wall art. The combined cabinets, dressers, makeup corner, and bookshelf are attached to the opposite wall.

For the Love of Plants:

Mr and Mrs Saha Roy love to garden, so they put their veranda and the rooftop to good use. These places are accessorized with many rare and exotic flora and foliage that truly express the family’s green-positive ideology.

Where Culture meets Home Decor:

In the words of Shantanu and Enakshi, a “Fabulous Home” is many things: “Firstly, it is an endless source of happiness, warmth and emotions. It is a place to unite with family in harmony. It is a place to return to recharge after a tiresome day. And finally, it is a place to sleep in peace.” And this is the very blueprint of how Mr Shantanu Saha Roy and Mrs Enakshi Saha Roy constructed their picture-perfect home in peace and harmony.