The actor’s bedroom has a warm look with cane chairs, colourful cushions and bright curtains

Actor Sonu Sood’s two-bedroom flat in Mumbai’s Oshiwara area reflects his personality — it’s simple, unassuming and spirited. Sood, who moved into this apartment six years ago — after buying it from actress Urmila Matondkar — and he lives here with his wife Sonali and son Eshaan. He had to make lots of structural changes to create what he reckoned would be the perfect look. “I had to fix a lot of things before taking possession but that also gave me a blank canvas to work on,” says Sood.

(From top) An ornately carved wooden chair from Nagpur; a bench made from a mix of iron and wood picked up in Calcutta

Simplicity is the theme that is maintained all through the house. The flat originally had three bedrooms but that has been turned into two bedrooms with a large hall dominating the centre of the house. “Coming from Punjab where we are used to staying in bigger homes, I wanted my flat to look spacious. That meant having a bigger hall to give an open feel to the entire house,” he says.

Sood has always liked the weather-beaten look and it shows in his Morocco- inspired décor. Then, he hunted high and low through Mumbai’s best design stores to get the right furniture that would match the look.

Actor Sonu Sood sitting in his living room, with paintings byVijay Shellar in the background; (below) a Buddha face in stone bought by Sood in Madurai

One enters the house through the living room, which is also Sood’s favourite part of the house. The living room in the 1,300sq ft flat is divided into two different parts — a cosy seating area and a dining area.

The weathered look is helped by the terracotta tiles brought all the way from Auroville in Pondicherry. “Earlier, the room had Italian marble flooring which we didn’t like. Since I wanted a very earthy look, I used terracotta tiles to heighten the effect,” he says.

Two comfortable-looking black faux leather sofas dominate the living room. There are also two ornately carved old-fashioned wooden chairs opposite the sofa. The walls of the house are hand-plastered in white to give them a rough feel. Sood also loves paintings and has two oil-on-canvases by artist Vijay Shellar on one wall of the living room.

The ornately carved stone base of the dining table was picked up from Behram Baug in Mumbai; (above) a brass bell completes the look of the meditation area

Sood is a movie buff and has a projector and a rolled-up screen in the living room where he can watch movies during his free time. This part of the room was once a bathroom which Sood broke down. But the beams that were there originally have been untouched and it has now all been turned into a cosy sitting area. The warm look of the low-seater has been contrasted with colourful cushions.

There’s also the eye-catching wood and glass-inlay coffee-table in the living room. The table is made of teak and the inlay work is by an Ahmedabad-based artist. “It’s a child-friendly coffee-table as all the sharp edges of the glass have been smoothened,” says Sood.

(From top) An eye-catching wooden and glass-inlay coffee table; a Buddha statue table lamp; a brass elephant-shaped candle-stand

The dining area’s at one end of the living room and its most interesting feature is the dining table which has ornately carved stone base (which was part of an old fortress) picked up by Sonali from Behram Baug in Jogeshwari. A glass top has placed on top. The chairs which are from one of Mumbai’s top home stores were initially a dark brown. But to match the dining table they’ve been re-polished and turned into a faded white for an antique look.

A wooden console painted blue stands close to the dining area, and there are Bastar vases on it. A beautiful carved mirror from Rajasthan has been placed on the console. The spacious kitchen is separated from the living room by a glass door.

Another unique corner in the house is a small meditation corner next to the dining area. A mandir made of marble and a hanging brass bell completes the look of the area. “I am a religious person and wherever I go I love to collect small idols,” says Sood.

The actor’s bedroom is cosy with a bed and two side-units to hold photo-frames and little knick-knacks. A mirror hangs from the wall near the window and there’s a television opposite the bed. There are two cane chairs where Sood spends time reading books. The second bedroom is also simply done like the rest of the house and has a bed, a wall-to-wall cabinet and a plasma TV.

Sood also has an eclectic collection of knick-knacks picked up from his travels. There are pieces strewn around the living room that add to its unique look. For instance, a Buddha face in stone, which he bought in Madurai, stands in one corner of the living room while a table lamp with a Buddha statue blowing a horn is displayed on a table next to the sofa. Another interesting piece is a table lamp in the shape of a projector, which he picked up from Los Angeles.

So does he miss staying in a big house in Punjab? Says Sood: “Sometimes I do. But right now I am very happy staying in my own flat in Mumbai. The house has lots of positive energy and it has brought me luck.”