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Living in style
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People are now opting for furniture that complements lifestyle
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SUMA IS doing up her newly constructed home and is looking for trendy furniture that will lend her home additional chic. Gone are the days when heavy teak furniture graced most homes. Today, the focus is on lighter stuff that complements the lifestyle of the owners. Change in lifestyle, storage habits and personal habits have brought about a sea change in how people look at furniture.
Small spaces are being enhanced in various ways. Right from structurally opening space by lowering windows to enclosing balconies and knocking down walls to aesthetically enhancing essential beams, the norm now is the tried and tested principle of camouflage.
When you follow these rules and shop, what you get is a home where the furniture, fittings, soft furnishings and accessories sit easily in rooms filled with colour and light.
"The concept of living in style is fast catching up here. People are more willing to experiment with ethnic and contemporary wooden furniture to add aesthetic appeal to their `small' houses," says M. Natarajan, senior executive of Business India exhibitions, which organised a recent expo on furniture and furnishings here. With space coming at a premium, everyone wants to ensure that movement around a small room is comfortable. Small areas need no longer appear cramped; they can be as visually fulfilling as any other bigger room. Only, it calls for some ingenuity on your part.
"Innovative interiors create a feeling of space, in style!" says a homemaker. Luxury sofas are now giving way to beanbags that come in a variety of colours and textures.
"Apart from aesthetics, the comfort factor also plays a vital role when it comes to decorative items. A bean bag can mould itself to support your body, portable and can be maintained easily," says Saji Kumar of trendz interiorz, which deals with designer sofas.
Easy availability is another factor that has resulted in homes sporting the latest furniture. "Sturdy readymade doors made of membrane foil that come in a variety of colours sell fast," says Bhasker Sagaya Raj, Business Development Manager of Eurofurn. "People are also willing to spend up to Rs. 35,000 for doors made of seasoned wood with traditional Aryan, Dravida, Georgian and Islamic designs imprinted on them, coupled with modern craftsmanship," says K.V Satheesh of Arya Bhangy, the house of wood carvings.
Step into any newly constructed house, you'll find tastefully done-up sofa-sets, dining tables and jhoolas welcoming you. "People who spend Rs. 100 on a sq ft of marble are now willing to spend Rs. 150 and that has paved way for the tendency to look at newer stuff. So, granite, green marble and Italian marble have been replaced by `milky opal', a range of wonder marble," says Shruthidhar Paliwal, business manager of R. K. Marble. As an executive at Indroyal, that deals with global furniture, puts it: "People are willing to spend lakhs to decorate their homes with swanky sofa sets, trendy chairs and tables."
K.JESHI
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