Manisha Nath is a busy entrepreneur and wanted a fuss-free home that’s great to look at and easy to maintain; (below) the puja room at the foot of the stairs is an example of smart space utilisation

It’s a house that has creatively utilised space and has niches and nooks that offer surprises. A peek into restaurateur Manisha Nath’s duplex apartment reveals a baby fridge nestling in a corner of the drawing room balcony and a sleeper-wood rack running along the length of the terrace wall that works as a clever camouflage for the unseemly pipelines. The space by the foot of the staircase leading to the terrace garden works as a puja room (complete with a small marble temple) while Nath’s wardrobe has a built-in dresser to keep the master bedroom clutter-free.

Nath designed her home on fuss-free lines for a purpose. Since she’s worked off her feet running her chain of six cafeterias, Kafe Bindass!, she wanted a home that was easy on the upkeep. “I wanted a home that was stylish but easy to maintain,” says Manisha.

Nath’s home in a residential complex on the busy Raja S C Mullick Road in south Calcutta was designed with plenty of help from an interior designer. Her brief to him was to create a duplex from two flats on the 12th and 13th floors and it took six months to get the interiors finalised.

Nath and her businessman husband shifted to their 4,500sqft home about two years ago with their 10-year-old daughter, Anushka, and Manisha’s mother.

A floor lamp from Singapore adds pizzazz to the otherwise understated look of the bedroom

“Originally the 12th floor — a 2,500sqft flat — had four bedrooms, a drawing room and kitchen. We did away with the fourth bedroom and in its place created a staircase inside the flat that now connects it to the 13th floor,’’ she says. In its new avatar, the 12th floor has three bedrooms and the living room while the 2,000sqft upper level has a sprawling terrace garden with a glass-enclosed area for the household washing in one corner, and a roomy dining and kitchen area.

The terrace is the favourite hang-out zone for the couple and a playground for Anushka. An off-white, four-seater cane table is just perfect for tea time. Wood and iron garden benches add to the outdoorsy appeal. This is also where the couple throws parties as the garden is big enough to accommodate about 60 people. “We serve dinner in the dining room while the guests chill out in the garden,” says Nath. Running along the length of a terrace wall are old water pipes that have been camouflaged ingeniously with a wooden platform that also runs the entire length of the wall. Nath has placed potted plants on this.

Anushka’s all-mauve study corner is pepped up by her favourite toys stacked on open shelves

The garden also serves as her gym where her personal trainer takes her through her exercise routine every morning. To the right of the terrace garden is a glass-enclosed room with a washing machine.

The dining space inside is complete with a two-seater bar counter. An eight-seater, glass-top dining table with beige leather and wood chairs is the centre-piece here. The French windows allow sunlight to flood the room during the day. Apart from Anushka’s room downstairs that has laminated white vinyl flooring, this is the only area in the duplex which has floor tiles. The rest of the house has been given different kinds of wooden flooring. The floor of the drawing room is in walnut wood, the master bedroom has wenge wood while her mother’s bedroom is in oakwood.

The French windows allow plenty of natural light into the kitchen-dining area

The drawing room flaunts eye-catching curios. The shelves beneath the home theatre system against one of the walls showcase Nath’s cherished crystal collection, including several Swarovski pieces. A white porcelain basket with gold-plated porcelain eggs from Urbano, a luxury home décor store, sits on the glass-top centre-table. A glass side-table near the black leather sofa also holds curios including a blue piano and a peacock, both studded with Swarovski crystals.

The white porcelain basket with gold-plated porcelain eggs is a conversation piece in the drawing room; (below) the terrace garden is where the couple hosts their parties

A faux fireplace adds an interesting element to the living room and on this a white marble Buddha statuette has been placed. “Calcutta’s hardly the place for a real fireplace but I always fancied one. So, my interior designer put one in place,” she laughs.

The master bedroom on this floor too is brimming with souvenirs that Nath has picked up during her travels. A timepiece from London, a chic lamp from Singapore and a little hookah from Kansas in the US find place on the television cabinet. “I often take it up to the garden for a puff,” she chuckles. Her wardrobe dresser holds a collection of some 300 bottles of perfumes.

Nath seems to have passed on her love for perfumes to her daughter. The dressing area in Anushka’s room has a perfume collection too, most of them gifted to her by her mother. “Pink from Victoria’s Secret is my favourite,” giggles the little girl as she cuddles her huge soft toy teddy bear on the bed. The colour palette in this room is mauve, white and grey, and the look is understated yet cheerful. “In fact, this is the feel that I wanted to create for the entire duplex. And I’m glad that the look has worked,’’ says Nath.      

Photographs by Rashbehari Das