A home in the hills

Payal and Ajay Kapoor?s home in Bhowali is built in true colonial style.

Their whole idea was to convert the minuses into pluses. And the first step that noted interior designer, Payal Kapoor and her husband, Ajay, took was to extend every room so that all the six bedrooms in the house overlook the greens. Built in 1996 by a local builder, today, their hill home at Bhowali (near Nainital) resembles a dream that exudes a certain degree of warmth and luxury as well.

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Says Payal, “The house has been constructed in two parts — one by the builder and the other through our renovations. Built on a site that overlooks the Bhimtal lake, the house can accommodate 15-16 people at a time. The basic idea behind constructing it was to have a place where one can unwind and relax, far from the madding crowd.”

The house has been given a colonial look and can pass off as any country cottage in England. Spread over 1,000 sq. yards, it is surrounded by a garden on all four sides. Designed as per the tenets of Vaastushastra, the interiors of the weekend home have been done up with “stuff from our Delhi home.”

The staircase leading up to the first floor is in wood. Even the banisters are in the same material and thus exude warmth that is difficult to miss. The six bedrooms in the Kapoor’s hill home sport a variety of colour schemes. The bedrooms all sport Italian stone on the floor as carpets are a strict no-no in the house. “Carpets tend to smell in the hills and therefore, we decided to do away with them in the house,” says Payal.

While each bedroom walks out onto a balcony, the most interesting aspect about the master bedroom is its two bathrooms — his and hers. Laughs Payal, “My husband takes so much time in the bathroom that I decided to have separate ones for both of us.”