Mr. and Mrs Mangaokar invited us over for a cup of hot tea, freshly fried sabudana vadas and we sit in their living room which is as warm, interesting and full of life as they are. Extremely amused and incredibly curious, we probe deeper and note down in our little black book, all their nifty home décor tips and tricks.
This lovely 2 bedroom apartment that has been theirs since 1956, has seen many changes and over time, has naturally evolved into the accumulation of antiques, colours and memories, where the Mangaokars love to sit with their feet up the sofa, enjoying the summer sea breeze.
Mrs Mangaokar tells us that she always had a liking to putting up little plates as décor for the walls. Plates and platters bought over years and travels now adorn a yellow wall of the living room.
You can get these bone china plates from Musafir Khana in South Bombay, and take a look at Bombay Store as well. The hinges to hang these plates are can be bought at Amazon here. Plate prices start at INR 500.
The home is built with furniture picked up whimsically from secondhand markets, antique stores or by designing their own pieces.
They recommend going to Oshiwara market for the secondhand furniture, and a small section of Mahim market {opposite St Michael’s Church}. Prices vary but there is scope to bargain.
If you’re visiting Pune, then visiting Satara road for offbeat pieces. More expensive {but beautiful} options are Sanskriti Lifestyle in Pune, Or the ethnic section of Pepper Fry.
Another really interesting idea that they came up with was to replace regular glass with coloured glass in their wooden furniture. You can go to Dadar market {opposite Maruti temple, near Kabutar Khana} where many shops can make glass in any shade for you.
In one corner, they’ve put up a Gopuram and painted it colourfully, surrounding it by artwork, both of they picked up at Mahalaxmi Saras {an exhibition we wrote about here} which they recommend for unique finds.
They also bought wooden frames from Bandra and Mahim, and added raw silk cloth to the bag to mount some idols and figures on it. Talk about creative. Frames start at INR 300.
They love to take everyday things and make it into objects of peculiar interest. Be it taking a teacup for putting planters, adding fairy lights to glass bottles, using a porcelain vase for a lampshade, they have added their personality to each corner. Other tips are to use old saris to make curtains, using ghungroos to tie blinds together or even bangles.
Mrs Mangaokar insists with a smile, ‘You can make anything out of nothing.’
Take a big trunk, use it as your centre table and fill it in with a lot of your things. You can get trunks here for cheap.
Another hack is to get a foldable dining table which drawers in it. For matchbox apartments in Mumbai, try and always make storage space for extra bedsheets and quilts under the bed.
Each table is filled with brass antiques, such as bells, door knockers, figuirines, passed on from family or chosen spontaneously from street sales. They recommend going to this fellow named Parmar in Dadar West {near Kabutar Khana} whose brass items don’t look like treasure at first but after digging in, you will find gold.
Other places are Bombay Store, Colaba Causeway {even for colourful door knobs}, Centre of Arts in Juhu for colourful glass bottles, Baaya for kitschy items, Chumbak for their owls collection, Nirmitee and Lohar Chawl for lights.
Their list of important people:
Ex-carpenter: Irfam bhai from Arts at City Light, Mahim. He used to make furniture and now makes lamps. Will work on request.
Tailor for upholstery: Tailor Suresh
Fabric shop: A-Z fabrics in Dadar
Cane sofa: At a shop from Kemps corner. One of the best- 20 year old – very good at his works small stools also
Framing of art: AA framing works at Shivaji Park
They also really recommend getting exclusive and inexpensive products at the exhibitions held often at Bandra reclamation and Bhau Daji Lad Museum.