Dhrubaa De and her husband Debkumar De live in a very elegant house in New Jersey, with lovely touches of India (Calcutta) in it. Their home is quite tastefully done-up with earthy tones mixed up with cheerful pops of colour.
She tried to recreate the feel of an old Bengali bedroom with a four poster bed draped with mosquito nets, kantha stitched quilts, an accent dresser and a huge mirror.
Says Dhrubaa, “My family did not have a four poster bed. I envied my friends who did, because they used to play house-house and other pretend games on the bed. I tried to talk my mom into getting us one because I figured that it could be my hideout for when I spent hours collecting Sachin Tendulkar’s pictures from magazines and news papers instead of doing homework. My mom refused saying that it was passé and impractical. She was right. Soon Bengali families started replacing their canopy beds with storage beds. Children stopped playing house and started frequenting cyber cafes. And I lost my play houses. But what Calcutta lost is the distinctive charm of a Bengali bedroom. For me nothing screams Bengali more than a four poster bed draped with mosquito nets, walls lined with book shelves stacked with old books, elaborate mirrors, and framed pictures of Gods, Goddesses, political and literary dignitaries, as well as family members (living and dead) randomly and confusingly arranged on the walls.”
And that’s why, when they got their new home and Debkumar wanted a Bengali styled bedroom, Dhurbaa knew she would finally get her own personal play house (reminiscent of childhoods in Calcutta where the veiled beds so often doubled up as play houses for the children).
The huge mirror makes the bedroom look more bright and spacious. If you are looking at the stool, know that there will be more pics of it later in this post.
Instead of buying bed side tables she bought two small book shelves, which she hopes to fill with books and photo frames.
The sitting area next to their bed is a storage unit as well. So all the extra sheets, towels, comforters, pillows etc can easily be stored inside that.
The red dresser adds a pop of color to the otherwise simple color pallet of the room.
For the study table she utilized the big bright window as best as she could. Because she is an academic (doing a PhD in English Literature) and a blogger (notacurry.com) she spends most of her waking time at a desk in front of the computer. So she wanted to keep the area bright, cheery and yet completely distraction free. Hence the use of a white pallet with a few pops of pink and yellow.
Dhrubaa hates huge living room furniture or media spaces with heavy drawers and glass panels. She likes open spaces, even for her furniture. So instead of investing in a media center, she bought a book shelf, lay it horizontally, and filled it with neatly labeled storage boxes. She says, “This way I don’t have to rummage through the entire contents of the drawers just to find a tiny safety pin. The same applies to my bedside table. I try to use a lot of cane baskets to add to Indian feel of the house.”
I leave you with more pictures of this beautiful space.
Head to our Pinterest board – where we have all these images already pinned!
You have so many great products that it’s hard to settle on one design choice. That Combination of sitting area & storage unit is really interesting.