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Business
Corporate Moves and
Decorating Grooves
by Rekha I Nambiar
If you are a corporate
executive, chances are that you pack your bags and move to a new city
every couple of years. In a frequent-flyer world, you have to be willing
to relocate and explore the growth opportunities it offers. This often
means moving your belongings to a new place every now and then and
setting up a home, albeit a temporary one. Being well traveled and in
touch with trends, you would perhaps want a home that makes a statement
about who you are.
Having said that, anyone who has moved more than a couple of times is
well aware of the fact that it isn’t all that easy to get rid of the
things one accumulates and selling them for a pittance dampens the
spirit of the ‘move’. So, while you may desire the luxury of being able
to upgrade your living space, it is not always possible to leave your
material possessions behind every time fortune comes calling.
Decorating rented spaces is a challenge as you need to think long-term
while given the space you have here and now. When you sign the lease for
a new apartment, you could ask the landlord if painting the walls in
colors and textures of your choice is a viable option. That’s the first
step towards creating a space that mirrors your individuality. Colors
and wall treatments are relatively easy on the pocket and quite high on
style and effect.
If your professional endeavour entails frequent transfers, it will make
sense to buy furniture that is not too bulky and does not place a
restriction on decorating styles. Ensuring that all the furniture
designated for a particular area is in one wood finish also allows you
more freedom with other elements of décor. In the living room, keep the
sofa design simple and change the fabric and cushions every time you
move into a new home to give it a completely new look. You could even
consider re-modeling the shape. Coffee tables need to be elegant and yet
allow for maneuver in terms of their placement.
As a rule, buy good area rugs — you generally live with them a lot
longer than you anticipate and if you can rotate them in different rooms
every time you shift residence, that in itself throws up new
possibilities. You also have to bear in mind that you will rarely, if
ever, change the flooring of the home you rent.
When you buy furniture, cater for size configurations which allow
flexibility and stick to a general style that you would be comfortable
with for a few years. The dining table is a piece of furniture that you
keep for a long time and also needs to fit into different spaces if you
tend to move a lot. Always cater for a coordinating hutch as crockery
and glassware need a place.
Lighting is a key element of re-inventing your decor. Collect lamps of
different shapes and styles. They bring in a lot of warmth and just
changing the shade every once in a while gives a whole new look to a
room. It may be a worthwhile exercise to pick up interesting light
fixtures as well. You then do not have to settle for the ones the
landlord put on the walls and every room has the stamp of your
individuality. The bonus being that you could easily pack them and take
them with you when you leave !!!
When you get curtains and blinds made for a new home, providing ample
margin in the seams would be a good idea. As would buying extra fabric.
This would ensure that when you move in to a new home, you can tailor
them to the dimensions and re-do them with borders and accents. You
might want to use them in another room this time and complement an
entirely different setting. Keep the base fabrics in simple tones and
textures and focus instead on borders and embellishments that you could
change at will.
Invest in good art. It does not have to be expensive but it should be
something you can live with a relatively long time. We tend not to trash
what goes on our walls. It does not just adorn our walls but also
reveals a lot about who we are. Decide what you want it to say. Go
shopping for artefacts and curios. They do not restrict you and change
the décor of a room.
Consoles and chests of drawers are easy to accommodate in any home. They
are useful to have and allow for a lot of permutations in terms of
placement. A console does not necessarily have to go with a mirror or
against a wall. It can be used as an effective space divider and keeping
it free standing gives you more options. A screen with panels that can
be changed is something else that works beautifully in any kind of
space. You can create a new effect by changing the panels and also use
it as a room divider.
Bookshelves and display cabinets should have adjustable shelves and
preferably need not go against a wall. Consider queen size beds instead
of the standard double as they work very well in small homes, especially
if you move from an apartment in a place like Delhi to one in Mumbai!
Paying attention to sheets, coordinated bedspreads, drapes and the area
rug would make for a far more aesthetically pleasing environment. You
could perhaps opt for a contemporary bed which is upholstered as opposed
to one that is in a particular wood finish. This way, whether your new
home has the wardrobes in beech or teak becomes irrelevant. Bathrooms
can be given a shot of aesthetic management by picking up a whole new
set of accessories and linen.
For those on the move, a faithful companion is usually a sofa-bed. It
comes handy when you have guests but allows you the luxury of using the
guest room as a TV/family room the rest of the time. If your lifestyle
entails frequent entertaining, a portable home bar would be a good
investment. You need to be able to put it just about anywhere and
deliver that daiquiri on request.
At the end of that day, when you have packed and unpacked and you find
comfort in the familiarity of what you brought with you and derive
pleasure at the thought of how you might make your new home look
‘different’; you would have gone a long way in settling in and the
transfer would not seem as daunting a task. Happy at home necessarily
translates into a lot more energy at work
April 14, 2007
Rekha I Nambiar is an interior designer
based in New Delhi, India and specializes in furniture, window
treatments and home furnishings. Her work may be viewed online at
http://www.idi-home.com
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