One look at Anupama and Aditya Gupta's home and we are immediately struck with the simple and relaxed beauty of the home owner's personal style. Embracing an open floor plan, their home in cosmopolitan Singapore is brimming with distinct character and uncontrived design spirit. Anupama has had a successful career as a communications consultant for nearly 15 years, spanning 3 different countries. She gave it all up for her two little angles, 7 year old Zoya and 2 year old Ira. She says , "As a mother of two girls, I feel I have learnt more from life than in my 15 years of work life." A new entrant in the blogosphere, Anupama blogs at "Wize and Other wise". A personal and inspirational blog, where she pens her experiences on making the right choices for leading the healthy life to her thoughts and perspective on being a mom.
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Talking about her style mantra Anupama says, " Well to be honest, we have never followed a particular style. What appeals to us most is that a piece of furniture, art or décor accessory should aesthetically ‘fit’ into our home. All our furniture and art have been bought over the years across different countries we've lived in or visited. The moment we see the piece, we know if it would fit into our home or not. The distressed blue book shelf in our living area was bought in Dubai (though originally it’s from Rajasthan), the boat-shaped bar is from Bali, and the red Chinese cabinet was bought from a store at Chinatown, Singapore."
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As we can see, Anupama loves experimenting and moving things around. Paintings, furniture and curios get moved around every now and then, to give the space a new feel. Her decor must have is an alternative set of slip covers to give the place a spanking new look.
A new addition to their home, the dining table is an antique Rajasthani wooden door reincarnated to form the solid tabletop. A mix and match of chairs and you have yourself one-of-a kind place that is the workhorse of the house.
The biggest decorating challenge that the couple had to tackle was moving from a 3,000 sq ft home in Dubai to a 1764 sq ft space in Singapore. Anupama says, "All of our furniture has been bought with a lot of care, we tend to be a bit emotionally attached to them.Our main objective while shifting base was to ensure that some of our favorite pieces of furniture found its rightful place in our new home. Knowing what pieces to include and what we had to let go was tough but thankfully in the end the home has a reassuring look of comfort and calm."
(Clock-wise from left: The Radha artwork by G Subramanyam is a collage of National Geographic clips. The lady painting by Shankar Kendale takes center stage in the dining room. A Bull painting above the red Chinese cabinet is by prominent Indian artist Sreekanth Kurva.)
The couple are avid collectors of art. They were introduced to the colorful world of art and its possibilities by none other than Anupama's brother in law, Mohit Gupta (based in Bangalore). A passionate collector of art himself, he has played a huge role in promoting upcoming Indian artists over the last 15 years. "My husband and I take my brother-in-laws recommendations about investing in art very seriously. It has taken us over a decade to build our collection and we find them priceless now. Some of the artists we have at our home are Shankar Kendale, G Subramanyam, Basuki Dasgupta and Laxman Aelay. We absolutely love each and every piece of art we own and are always on the hunt to add to this collection."
The experimental streak in Anupama got the better of her and she was able to restore some old pieces of furniture and give them a new lease of life. "I experimented on restoring some of our old pieces for furniture about a year ago. Be it an old bench (originally wood color), which I painted into a bright yellow color. It now sits proudly right at our entrance. Also the balcony furniture- they were given an aqua blue shade and the table a white shade. All these pieces of furniture had been bought at a bargain from expats while they were moving out. Even the bookshelf in the kids’ room was a basic white Ikea shelf which I painted red. I feel each of these pieces have added immense aesthetic value to the style of our home."
The one feature that the couple love the most about their home is its idyllic location. It's not only the eastern sunlight but also the breathtaking views of the Singapore skyline at night, that makes it a great place to enjoy at all times. " Our home faces the east. So we get a lot of the morning sun, which is so refreshing. We tend to spend a lot of time in our balcony especially on the weekends with the kids. Also the kids’ room faces the bay, which makes it very breezy and cool.
When we were in the process of buying our own apartment, we looked at several other options within the same complex, but decided to buy this place as it always felt ‘right’."
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The master bedroom is consciously kept simple with a Lotus painting in shades of calming blue by artist Suresh taking center stage. A collage of family pictures completes this room. Anupama strongly feel that " a home should be a true reflection of the people who live in it. It’s not always important that every piece of furniture is perfectly co-ordinated. Sometimes, if planned out well, independent pieces of furniture, lamps etc actually blend in well together."
And we think Anupama has nailed it...........the home is warm and welcoming with personal style, comfort and relaxation being the over-riding considerations in this space. Thank you Gupta family for being so generous and giving us a tour of your beautiful home.
Images Copyright/ Credit : Anupama Gupta. The images may not be used without prior written permission from the home owners.
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