GR8 Homes _ Saumya Tandon
The lovely lady Saumya Tandon got herself a dream house in the suburbs and is quite happy to possess this beautiful dream house. The lassy lady strolls through her den to show us places and tells GR8! Stories about each one…
My earlier place was complete pink with even my sofas in pink and the cushions were in the form of a rose. While polka dots were all around and mom would tell me that my house looked like that of a teenager. She would tell me that people will either totally love it or hate it. My current home is something that everyone will like; it’s her choice and I am sure that people of all age shall like it.
This house is my first asset and I have really worked hard for it. It’s a big deal to have your own home in Mumbai as it is as expensive as most of the expensive and developed cities. It’s a nightmare to own a flat here. I would always feel that what am I investing into and working so hard for? But now I feel it’s really worth it.
My Room: My room is just like me… a fairytale style room, very light and dreamy. It’s also my favourite corner. My dad would tell me that I am the biggest daydreamer who’s in her own world. I am always thinking and at that time I really like listening to music. It’s my mood lifter.
Mom’s Room: This flat makes it possible for us to catch a glimpse of the kids playing in the garden and the swimming pool. You miss out on such things when you go for a higher storey flat.
My Hall: A jhaalar above the dining table gives it a regal look! This table is made of metal though it looks like it’s made up of glass. It’s light and quite different.
I have received awards for the best Jodi with Jay on DID, Best TV Personality and Best Anchor.
Kitchen: When it comes to cooking, I am not really a happy cook. But at times, for change, I do enjoy cooking.
Balcony: In this home you can also see the open sky and I wanted a balcony with jhoola… Our home in MP had a garden as my mom loves gardening. There were around 30 bonsai plants and around 250 cactus and flower beds all around. In summers, specially, there would be Venusta Begonia. It’s a summer flower which would extend through the garden and looked beautiful.
Idea: People always want to take homes at higher floors and consider it as a luxury and similarly, I too was in two minds while purchasing my place. But my mom grew frantic and told me what if the lift stops or if there’s no electricity then? We will have to walk all our way up. Thus, we opted for having a flat on the first floor itself. I thought of keeping the house very light, contemporary, classy, and modern; very inside. My house is not too much ‘In your face’ and it’s just sleek and classy. All that I had in my mind while purchasing this flat was that it should be airy and well-lit. It just looked like a healthy house. I am not much into Vaastu but my mom is, and thus our kitchen is in South- East, which is where a kitchen should be.
Colors: We have tried giving a brown- cream look to the entire home. There’s an obsession with neutral shades, i.e., beige, cream, brown, etc.
Curtains: Frankly speaking, I didn’t do any hard work for setting up my house. I only worked in for the curtains and each room has something different and representative. It took me almost a week to hunt for them. The hall’s theme is very clean and classy, whereas my room is very dreamy, it’s feminine. The guest room’s curtain is a fun curtain which has been made into a blind and once it opens, it looks like New York Times’ spread. It is like breaking into fun mode after everything’s been prim and proper. My mother has a warm and flowery curtain that’s purple and pink in colour. Now when we close it, it seems warm with those brown and purple-pink shades and when we open it, it is blue and green. So her entire room is very colourful.
Space saving idea: My walls are with shelves and it’s a brilliant idea to save space! A lot of it is the interior designer’s idea and quite a bit of it was already made.
Paintings: As we notice paintings alongside and ask about it, Saumya tells us about her mother, Jyotsna being a painter and an artist. She explains, “We have always had paintings in our houses and never did we have posters and such fun things. I love my mom’s paintings, they are just too good. Though I am not too good at drawing or painting as such, I write which is an expression of art by itself.”
Library: My dad was majorly into reading and we have a library of over 12,000 books. Reading books has been a part of our growing up. Daily in the morning we would have to clean the library along with the books as my dad would tell me that I won’t understand its importance as long as we don’t connect to them. We have all sorts of books; right from Mahabharata to Ramayana and Gita, books on Buddhism, Jainism and Shakespeare’s novels. When I was around 6-7 years old, I finished reading the Children’s Shakespeare.
Hazaron Khwaaishen Aisi Ke Har Khwaaish Pe Dam Nikale… and for my next home, I want to have a room entirely dedicated to all these books. I have been away from reading for quite some time now.