This Mumbai bungalow brings the outdoors into the home in the best ways possible

Breaking Down and Opening Up

“I had been looking for someone to redo the living room downstairs, mainly just change the upholstery and help me place the art. But when Rubel came in, she brought a whole vision of her own. She could obviously see something that I couldn’t,” says the 38-year-old lawyer about the home she shares with her parents, husband and two-year-old daughter.

Keeping it Green

With a mother who has always been a keen gardener, living with plants isn’t new to Prembhari. “If we had an empty corner, she would liven it up with plants. This is such a large space and it always felt empty, the living room particularly because of the high ceilings,” she says. At the moment, the family has 10 different kinds of indoor plants including Ferns, Brassia, Bromeliads and Philodendrons that do well in low or medium light and can thrive in smaller pots. The champa that they loved couldn’t be contained in a pot, so they had to get it rid of it recently.

“The family loves plants. They will tell you its scientific names, benefits and everything else about it,” smiles Rubel. For example, the mistletoe cactus, which Prembhari tells us is actually Rhipsalis Baccifera that she likes for the structural element it adds to the décor. On the second floor of the house too, which the couple shares with their little daughter, the master bedroom was attached to a room flooded with natural light and surrounded by dense foliage. The picture windows added by Rubel make this the brightest room in the house, a space Prembhari now calls the sunroom. “We feel like we are living in the treetops and can even see the squirrels running about. This has now become the space where we spend most our time as a family.”