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Karan Johar’s modern Mumbai pad showcases his personal tastes

Opulence in Neutrals

By Gauri Kelkar

Dec 01, 2023

Producer-director Karan Johar’s home interior design – Beautiful Homes

Asian Paints’ Where the Heart Is drops in at producer-director Karan Johar’s Mumbai home, which is all shades of calming beiges and creams and sneaks in opulence through rich materials and nuanced personal choices

That Karan Johar is a maestro at crafting supersized emotion and grandeur in vivid Technicolor is well-known. What isn’t, is that his interior design tastes are diametrically opposite—all creams and beiges and large open spaces. More than all of that, though, for him, “an ideal home collaborates with your lifestyle. Make a home that you can actually live in, where it’s okay to drop a glass of wine”. For the renowned director-producer, his house is a space that offers solace. “It's going back to a moment when you can be with your thoughts”.

It is also a space layered with the personality of its owner. For Johar, that means having people over for deep conversation or raucous fun. That explains why the bar, with a bespoke onyx light running through, is where many free-flowing chats and “risqué conversations” occur. Above all else, for Johar, home décor is more than a grand design. “Just to build a beautiful home that has nothing to do with your lifestyle, personality and daily choices is redundant. Your architect or interior designer almost becomes your life coach because your home has to be in conjunction with your aesthetic and practical for movement.”

Karan Johar’s home is a tapestry of memories built with thoughtful eclectic choices, gracefully holding the stories of his loving family and his illustrious career in cinema.

In this sprawling home, Johar’s professional persona as the creator of staggeringly successful blockbusters quiets down. Here, he is the homeowner who’s a family man, the friend who enjoys a good laugh with pals, and a serious peace-seeker who enjoys a quiet day at home. “At a time when everything is so loud, peace for me is that moment of watching TV in bed or reading a book.”

Inspirational Notes

Johar's beige-coloured home is a reflection of a multifaceted person, as homes typically are. And just like his personality, it finds expression in layers, textures, bold accents and quirky choices. But it’s all added into the beiges and neutrals that he prefers. “When we talk of beige, everything doesn’t have to be in the same tone. There is one mothership colour and the mother has various sons and daughters.” He also wanted to add green. Lush plants accomplish that; they dot the living room and form a veritable jungle in the covered patio. “My approach to any aesthetic is that it should be pleasing to the naked eye. It’s cool and calming.” This peek into his house with this Where the Heart Is season showcases how to balance minimalism with opulence.

Beige on Beige

Johar has cleverly worked in a combination of hues in the Beige family—an ultra-suede couch next to a lighter one in textured fabric next to one at the “deeper end of beige”. The various shades add depth to the space and saturate it in an understated yet rich aesthetic.

Colour in the Accents

It is pretty much a failsafe as a way to liven up a neutral-coloured space—add accents in bold, beautiful shades and eye-popping accessories. They effortlessly play off against the subtle beiges and creams. The colours you choose don’t need to be over the top. Even the deep blue and green, and the navy-coloured couch with the checkered pattern that offsets the dominance of beige, as they do in this space, are a winning look.

Living room design in multiple tones – Beautiful Homes

The open-plan living area layers the different shades of beige with bold accents; beige on beige, in multiple tones, is offset by smaller furniture pieces with bold accents.

Play up Material Diversity

Dark, dramatic onyx, pristine marble, accents of wood and a rich swathe of materials, from warm to cool, add dimension and character to your space. In the backdrop of neutrality, playing up the materials around the house can be the difference between a calming space and one that sneaks in glamour in interesting ways. Johar did it with a soft suede sofa, lush flooring, a bespoke onyx and marble bar counter (a favourite material and a well-loved corner for Johar), and an eye-catching dining table in wood and marble.

Dramatic entrance design - Beautiful Homes

The entrance to the house offers a dramatic counterpoint to the understated opulence that lies within.

Bold bathroom design – Beautiful Homes

Just as he did with the seating area in the living room, Johar brings in bold colour and lush texture in one of the bathrooms.

Create a Design Story with Your Flooring

The flooring you choose can play a significant role in raising the glam quotient of your minimal contemporary home. Johar did it cleverly with different types of flooring options throughout the space—a stunning dramatic white marble with lashes of black in the bathroom, warm wood in the living room, a chevron-pattern in his bedroom-sized closet and a beautifully patterned one in the master bedroom with flakes of marble. So, get creative with your floors for that touch of opulence.

Modern living room design – Beautiful Homes

Karan Johar’s living room, while dominated by neutrals, also has a seating area rich with colour and accessories.

Build a Dramatic Corner in Your Space

If neutral is your speed but you have a penchant for the opulent too, then (if you have the space), create a bold nook in your living room. Johar’s intimate seating area with deep-coloured sofas, a warm geometric coffee table and a dark wood console is an oasis of bold in his beige-dominated home. Add some elements of the neutral palette—a cream rug, or smaller furniture upholstered in beige into this space so that it echoes with the overall aesthetic.

Accessorize Right

While comfortable sofas and large furniture pieces are certainly one sure way to hit the right opulent note, focus on the small stuff too. Nothing spells drama like a large piece of art hanging on a blank wall, or brass or golden-finished lighting fixtures that are on the subtle side of rich. It is these details that will colour in the elegance in a palette that tends towards the minimal. Johar’s “hair and make-up room”, for instance, has the what’s what of accessories—a large well-lit mirror, a vintage Hollywood make-up chair and an onyx table. You can create a similar look with your dressing table in the bedroom and up the ante.

White upholstered furniture design – Beautiful Homes

Johar’s covered patio continues the neutral palette with the white-upholstered furniture; the wood ceiling and lush greenery, creating a sense of underlying luxury.

Luxury bedroom design – Beautiful Homes

The master bedroom has flooring with an abstract pattern and marble flakes; a faux fur coverlet that his kids love adds a different texture, as do the wardrobe doors and the leather recliner.

Simple wardrobe design – Beautiful Homes

One of the bedrooms was converted into a sprawling closet area, the richness here comes through subtly, in the chevron-patterned flooring, the patterns on the cupboards and plush stool.

Monochromatic bathroom design – Beautiful Homes

The expansive monochromatic bathroom here expressed opulence through the dramatic black-and-white flooring and sleek materials.

Modern dressing table design – Beautiful Homes

Johar’s hair and make-up room is a great primer for your dressing room area—with a well-lit tall mirror, a vintage Hollywood chair and an onyx table, all of which are offset by the muted colours of the rest of the furniture.

Producer-director Karan Johar’s home interior design – Beautiful Homes

Producer-director Karan Johar’s interior choices tend towards beiges and neutrals, as seen in the living room.

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