House interior decor

So congratulations, you have signed your new home..and if its a bare shell like most new apartments are, then you have quite some work on your hands.

Always looked at online portals/house magazines/bloggers and imagined your dream home ? Well here is the chance to make it a reality.

Things to remember :

1. Decide your budget. Home decor/interiors have a way of going over budget no matter what.
2. Choose an interior contractor either thro word of mouth or one whose work you liked say at a friends place/neighbours place etc.
3. Make it a point to speak to the people where the work was done to find out if there were any issues and how they got addressed.
4. If the work was done for some client who is not in India and got the work done by speaking to the contractor on the phone/emails etc, also a good idea to assume the contractor/interior decorator knows their job.
5. You may choose to do the interiors at one shot or part by part. It has its own pros and cons.
• Pros of doing the entire job at one shot.
1. There is uniformity in the work you choose(all wood/etc done by the same set of workers/same materials etc)
2. Buying in bulk may work out for cost optimisation esp when labour/carpenters are involved
3. Its a one time headache.
4. Getting a good contractor/Interior decorator might help to source all the jobs/labour at one shot.
• Cons :
1. Its gets quite intensive. And to keep one's attention on what every carpenter is doing really takes a lot out of you
2. if the Contractor is not often onsite, and if their team tends to slack when the boss is not around, you have another issue of chasing.
3. There is a possibility that no room is ready at the same time for you to "start living"
6. Find out the rules and regulations of the Society/committee that you are about to move into. Some have time/hours for working and workers. Example no noise work between 1-3. and no Noise work post 19:00 hours etc. Find this out. Its very important to factor in the actual working hours so your contractor can manage staff and you can manage your leaving from the previous place of residence.
7. An ideal time should be between 6-8 weeks if you are getting the whole house done.
8. Dont try to custom make everything, as this can be very time consuming, Its ok to buy off the shelf at some of these home decor stores if it saves you time and if the wood/designs are what you expected. Maybe buy your Guest beds off the decor store, but your own can be custom built and so on.
9. Avoid the urge to Fill each and every room/gap/space with something. Its your home, you have years to fill it with beautiful things that you find along the way. Bear in mind the clutter issues.
10. Keep a part of the work like Exterior furniture(for balcony/terraces) and landscaping for a later date. This will you a little "less tired" of having workers in and out of your home all the time.

I must say we were very lucky to find Jyotika Baleri of Destination Designs to do up our entire home. She understood the brief, gave her feedback, kept us honest about our budgets, and did a good job with the end result. Lets just say she made our learning experience fun!