DESI DOMUS
- Client:PRIVATE CLIENT
- Location:Sewri, Mumbai
- Area:2000 sqft
- Delivery:DESIGN + BUILD
- Design Team:Prashant + Anu + Akshata
- Photographer:Nayan Soni
- Photoshoot Styling:Salonee Thakre
THE BRIEF
When the clients came to us with a jodi apartment — two 2BHKs merged into one — the scale of possibility was immediately exciting. The husband brought a technology-forward sensibility and a passion for wildlife photography; the wife, a vibrant artistic spirit who sketches and paints. Together, they wanted a home that was deeply Indian at heart — colourful, cheerful, and completely their own.
At ZERO9, we don't design for clients — we design with them. Desi Domus is the result of that philosophy at its fullest. We took the family's clarity of vision and layered onto it our expertise in spatial planning, material curation, Indian craft traditions, and design storytelling. The client brought the soul; ZERO9 gave it form, depth, and permanence. The result is a 5-bedroom home that feels entirely, irreplaceably theirs — and is unmistakably ours in its craft.
THE ENTRY
The home announces its identity before you step inside. A hand-painted Warli mural in terracotta and white stretches across the landing wall — tribal figures depicting scenes of family life, nature, and togetherness. A dark reeded wood door with sleek electronic hardware bridges traditional craft with contemporary confidence. It is a quiet, proud declaration: this home is deeply, unapologetically Indian.
THE LIVING & DINING ROOM
The living room is the heart of the home — generous, layered, and alive. Warm greige limewash walls set a calm canvas for an extraordinary mix: a bold teal paisley sofa, blush pink mid-century armchairs, and a floor-to-ceiling dark walnut bookshelf anchoring the dining zone with the gravitas of a private library. Kota flooring and a custom mosaic of triangular Indian stones create a galicha underfoot, defining the seating and dining areas with quiet ceremony.
The dining table — a square 8-seater — gathers a collage of seating: a bench on one side, four cane-back chairs, and two swivel chairs that can fluidly join the living room conversation. Opposite, an Ultra Short Throw Projector paired with a motorised rise-up screen coexists with a monumental flamingo photograph — shot by the owner himself — commanding the wall as living art. A small brewing counter and breakfast bar open directly into the kitchen, unified by mustard yellow subway tiles that thread a warm material story through both spaces.
THE KITCHEN
Functional, considered, and full of character. Mustard yellow vertical tiles form a glowing backsplash that connects seamlessly to the bar counter outside. Stone-finish cabinetry in pale greige with brass bar handles keeps the base restrained, while dark walnut upper cabinets with glass fronts add warmth and depth. A bold geometric encaustic floor in sage green and cream grounds the space with unmistakable vintage Indian charm. Glimpsed through the ribbed glass pass-through window, this kitchen is designed to be seen as much as used.
THE GUEST BEDROOM
Tucked alongside the kitchen, this room does double duty with a Murphy bed that folds away to reveal a compact home gym setup. When the bed is down, a botanical block-print wallpaper, deep hunter-green cabinetry, and woven rattan wardrobe panels create a lush, forest-inspired retreat. The palette is maximalist in commitment yet serene in execution — a tight natural story of wood, weave, and linen. The attached bathroom carries the calm forward in soft baby blue tiles with a complementing grey base.
THE DAUGHTER'S BEDROOM
Spirited, curated, and effortlessly cool. The room is built entirely around a deep ocean-blue palette, anchored by an arched channelled velvet headboard that is as sculptural as it is inviting. A wave artwork crafted in Lego blocks hangs beside it — playful, personal, and unmistakably hers. A two-tone teal-and-navy shelving unit serves as study storage, paired with a floating timber desk and a blue ergonomic chair. Sheer curtains and a whimsical paper cloud pendant soften the drama, while warm oak flooring keeps the space grounded. The attached bathroom continues the coastal story with deep navy subway tiles, a crisp grey floating vanity, and an oversized brass-framed round mirror.
THE SON'S BEDROOM
Earthy maximalism with a storybook soul. The room is built on a terracotta-and-blush palette, grounded by natural oak and lifted by a gradient green wardrobe that shifts from sage to forest. A fluted burnt-orange velvet headboard is the emotional heart of the space, while whimsical details — animal-knob bedside drawers, a paper lantern lamp, a flamingo chair — keep it joyful without being juvenile. The attached bathroom extends the narrative with a terracotta-and-black vanity set against wall-to-wall tropical botanical wallpaper, finished with a walnut-framed mirror and brass accents throughout.
THE MASTER SUITE
The master suite is three rooms in one — a bedroom, a den, and a luxury bathroom — each with its own distinct atmosphere.
The bedroom is heirloom living: curated, nostalgic, and quietly magnificent. Dusty blush limewash walls meet a dado of teal geometric wallpaper. A dark wood two-poster bed, antique cane-back writing desk, oak wardrobes with teal fabric insets, ornate gilded wall brackets, and encaustic patterned floors layer together to evoke a grand, well-traveled home from another era.
The den is an intimate cinema-meets-sanctuary — brooding, cocooning, and deeply personal. Deep oxblood red wraps the room, warmed by a gallery wall of black-and-white family photographs. An oversized recliner sofa in muted pink mocha and warm oak flooring soften the drama, while layered curtains give theatrical control over light. A fully functional desk makes this space work as beautifully for video calls as it does for movie nights.
The master bathroom is immersive and tactile — floor-to-ceiling terracotta brick-pattern tiles creating an earthy warmth, contrasted by sage green encaustic floor tiles that echo the heirloom bedroom's palette. Bold, saturated, and unapologetically handcrafted.
BETWEEN THE LINES
Q1. What was the brief for Desi Domus? The clients — a family of four — came with two clear visions and the rare gift of self-knowledge. The husband wanted a home built around technology, automation, and his love for wildlife photography. The wife wanted something vibrant, Indian, and alive with colour and art — she is a painter herself, and her work is woven into the home. Our job was to honour both voices equally, and to co-create a space that felt entirely, irreplaceably theirs.
Q2. What makes the layout of this home unique? This is a jodi apartment — two 2BHK units merged into a single, fluid 5-bedroom home. Rather than simply combining rooms, we rethought the entire layout from scratch to create a home with clear, intuitive zones: a shared heart in the living and dining area, a kids' wing on one side, and the master suite on the other. The Murphy bed in the guest room adds further flexibility, doubling as a home gym when not in use. Every square foot is accounted for — nothing wasted, nothing forced.
Q3. How did ZERO9 co-create this project with the clients — and what did your expertise bring to the table? The clients arrived with something invaluable: genuine clarity about who they are. They knew their tastes, their art, their lifestyle. What ZERO9 brought was the expertise to translate that clarity into a home of real architectural and design depth.
We took the husband's love for technology and ensured it was seamlessly integrated — invisible yet omnipresent, enabling comfort without ever competing with beauty. We took the wife's artistic sensibility and built an entire design language around it — sourcing the right Indian craft traditions, identifying the material palette, commissioning the Warli mural, curating the encaustic tiles and block-print textiles that gave her vision texture and permanence.
Beyond aesthetics, ZERO9's spatial planning expertise was critical in making the jodi apartment work as a coherent, flowing home rather than two units awkwardly stitched together. Our knowledge of proportions, sightlines, material continuity, and craft sourcing elevated what could have been a personal brief into a project of genuine design excellence. The clients brought the soul of the home. ZERO9 gave it architecture, craft, and a design narrative that will endure.
Q4. How does the design express Indian identity? It starts at the threshold — a hand-painted Warli mural in terracotta and white sets the tone before you even enter. From there, the Indian-ness is woven into material choices, craft traditions, and spatial sensibility rather than applied as surface decoration. Kota stone floors, encaustic tiles, block-print wallpapers, cane furniture, geometric mosaics, and hand-painted murals all draw from a living Indian design vocabulary. The result is a home that feels culturally rooted and personally meaningful — not themed, not nostalgic for nostalgia's sake, but genuinely alive with the spirit of Indian making.
Q5. How was the client's photography and art incorporated into the design? Centrally and intentionally. The husband's flamingo photographs — shot in the wild — are used as monumental wall art in the living room, functioning as both a dramatic focal point and a deeply personal statement. The wife's paintings and sketches are displayed throughout the home, making the interiors a genuine reflection of the family's creative lives. This is what sets Desi Domus apart from a designed space: it feels collected and inhabited, not installed.
Q6. How does the living room hold the home together? The living room is the connective tissue of the entire apartment — spatially, socially, and visually. It opens onto a balcony that floods the space with daylight, and sits at the intersection of the kids' wing, the master suite, the kitchen, and the dining area. The layering — Kota floors, limewash walls, teal paisley sofa, mid-century armchairs, a library wall, flamingo photography, and a hidden projector setup — gives it the lived-in richness of a room assembled over years, not months.
Q7. Each child's room has its own world — how did you approach that? We designed each child's room as a complete, self-contained universe tailored to their personality. The daughter's room is ocean-blue and coastal — an arched velvet headboard, a Lego wave artwork, navy bathroom tiles — spirited and cool. The son's room is earthy and storybook — terracotta, blush, flamingo chairs, animal-knob drawers — warm and joyful. Both rooms are age-appropriate without being babyish, and designed to grow with the children rather than be outgrown quickly.
Q8. How is the master suite differentiated from the rest of the home? The master suite operates as a private world within the home — three rooms, three moods, one deeply personal suite. The bedroom draws from Indo-colonial heritage: blush limewash, teal wallpaper dado, a two-poster bed, encaustic floors. The den shifts entirely into cinematic territory: oxblood red, family photographs, a recliner sofa, a work desk. The bathroom is raw and tactile — terracotta brick tiles floor to ceiling, sage green encaustic underfoot. Together they offer the couple a complete retreat from family life, without ever leaving home.
Q9. How does technology sit alongside the traditional craft aesthetic? Lightly and deliberately. The home is fully automated — the husband's brief was unambiguous on this — but the technology is never on display. It operates behind beautiful surfaces: a motorised rise-up projector screen that disappears into the wall, electronic hardware set into a reeded wood door, smart lighting behind handcrafted fittings. In Desi Domus, technology enables comfort. Craft gives the home its soul. The two coexist without tension because we designed it that way from the start.
Q10. In one line, how would you describe Desi Domus? A home that is deeply, joyfully, unapologetically Indian — co-created by ZERO9 around the lives, art, and passions of one remarkable family.
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