Revamp Your Home with Sarah Sham's Renovation Tips

Sarah knew the condition of the space was bad, but what she didn’t expect when she kicked the door down was the abundant natural light in the whole house. “My husband and I just looked at it and instantly fell in love. Obviously, it was a dump, but the bones were just too beautiful.” They didn’t see a single house after that and Sarah made the owners an offer they couldn’t refuse–she’d renovate the space using her expertise but at their preferred budget. “Next day we just closed the whole deal. It was the weirdest experience ever to get a house.”

Low Budget, Smart Design

The renovation was always going to happen on a tight budget. While the landlady had an amount in mind, Sarah also didn’t want to spend too much on an apartment she wasn’t going to occupy for long. “The landlady said she could spend 15 lakhs to fix the kitchen, three washrooms, all the flooring, carpentry, electrical etc. When we were making the contract, I asked her to give the money to me so that I could spend it as I liked,” says Sarah.

Something Old, Something New

“I think if I was left to my own devices it would be much more contemporary, but this building is from the 70s and so the shell of the space was set. It’s got the terrazzo floors, the teakwood framing on the windows and doors, the archway in the living room, and I kind of went with this vibe,” says Sarah. But she is also quick to admit that the feeling of warmth in her home can largely be attributed to the shell and not to her stuff. “Just the amount of wood used here, the light, the flooring is, that in itself sets the entire mood,” she says.

Like chefs who rarely cook in their own home, does a designer prefer not to pay as much attention to her own home? Sarah both agrees and disagrees. “When making my home I want to get every detail right but don’t want to be bothered with daily maintenance. I am talking about other people’s home all day at work, when I come back to mine, I don’t want to think about all of that. I will live with a broken bulb for days,” she laughs.