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| Sunny yellow sofas and an equally eye-catching collection of artwork bring the living area alive |
If you’re visiting Alex Davis’ home, expect a house that has a designer stamp all over it. The avant-garde installation artist’s home also offers breathtaking views of the Qutab Minar from his balcony and terrace. And inside, the third-floor flat in Delhi’s smart Geetanjali Enclave exudes a cheerful and easy charm.
On the outside, it looks like just another regular Delhi apartment. But this three- bedroom home, that sprawls over a roomy 3,000sqft, is far from ordinary.
Davis’ passion for design and architecture is on display in every room — from the living room to the hand-painted kitchen walls and the machaan on the terrace.
Davis and his wife Sangeeta took eight months to renovate this apartment before they moved in two years ago. They shifted from their flat in Chittaranjan Park where they’d lived for over a decade. “That flat was too small and with our sons growing up we needed more space,” says Davis.
Davis’ use of colours — in the furniture and accessories — is also striking and these stand out against plain white or grey walls. From yellow sofas to painted green beds, Davis has used vibrant hues throughout his home.
Davis has used every bit of space in the home creatively. To the right of the entrance door are the three bedrooms — one for the couple, a guest room and their sons’ bedroom.
The boys’ room has been done up with oodles of flair. The highlights of the room are a striped accent wall and elevated metal beds, accessed by a step-ladder. To save space, a colourful study unit has been accommodated under the beds.
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| One of Alex Davis’ cherished possessions is a vibrant painting by an artist in Mombasa, Kenya |
The living room area, to the left of the entrance, is the section that Davis has re-designed completely. Originally, this side of the apartment had the master bedroom but Davis tore the walls down to get himself a larger L-shaped living-cum-dining room.
The highlight of the dining area is the use of distressed glass on the wall. Davis spent a month giving the glass this distressed look at his factory. Davis has clearly taken his kids into account when doing up the dining room. One wall has been painted black and can be scribbled on. Needless to say that the boys — Ayaan, 12, and Agastya, 7 — love it. Each day new stuff is written or drawn and wiped off this blackboard wall.
Other than that, the eclectic living room has unconventional sofa sets, and a variety of paintings and installations by other artists. There’s also a stainless steel piece from his collection Hyper Blooms.
For upholstery, Davis has gone entirely rugged. He narrowed down on a mix of auto-rickshaw fabric (like polyester), blue denim and leatherite for the couches, which he insists can take a lot of abuse (from his sons).
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| Davis’ aesthetic sense pervades every part of his house; (above) metal lounge chairs on the terrace make for a perfect hang-out zone for family and friends |
The living room is also adorned with curios that Davis picked up during his travels. A circular twig lamp made from dried wine creepers is from Italy while an eye-catching painting has been made by local artist in Mombasa, Kenya.
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| The kitschy ‘Froot Juce’ mural that Davis got done by a local painter lends a fun feel to the kitchen |
In his kitchen, Davis has created a glass window that opens into the living room, which he likes to keep open when he or Sangeeta are cooking. “I don’t like to be cut off from the rest of the house when I’m in the kitchen,” he says. But what really makes the kitchen stand out is the unique “Froot Juce” mural on one wall. This is a typical Delhi juice-shop painting which Davis had a local artist come and paint for him.
Davis is particularly proud of what he has done with his terrace. One part has been turned into a den which also serves as Davis’ office when he’s working from home. His workstation is an exquisite camel bone inlay table with typical Rajasthani artwork. “We decided to incorporate craft from small towns in Italy and Kenya as well, like masks, paintings made from Maasai beadwork (from Africa), Kenyan wooden pillows and more,” he says.
To the left of the terrace, opposite his office, is a machaan which you can clamber on via steps. Here Davis has used hand-glazed pottery and cane furniture.
And that’s not all. On one side of the machaan, Davis has designed and placed metal lounge chairs that can comfortably seat at least 12 people. “I have designed these lounge chairs so that they are completely vandal-proof — the vandals being my sons,” says Davis laughing.
Even though Davis is a man of few words, the home that he’s designed so painstakingly, speaks volumes for him.
