– The synergy factor!
Sometimes, you are faced with a situation which feels overwhelming, and quite impossible. But the fun part comes, when you end up doing something even more ‘impossible’ due to it. A synergy takes place, and you come up with an idea, which is completely new and thrilling.
That is what happened in my case.
All the rooms in my home were taken up, and I wanted to make a special room for my Nadiya. How to do it? At that time, my tenants were the wife of a Shaheed officer, and there was no way, I was going to ask her to leave. So?
I looked at the floor plan of my house. I found two store rooms and part of a small veranda in the basement, which, if cleverly used, would make a lovely studio apartment. It was a risky plan, as the entire house rests on the basement. So, I went to my architect Mubeena Nasir. She liked the idea. I had said, that when we break that load bearing wall, for the doorway, we can build it with an arch. An arch is the strongest opening.
No more foundations could be made, so we just built the walls with the huge cement block ‘bricks’, which she said were just fine. We kept the marble floor. I wanted a rough look to give it that special texture on walls. I had planned the interior already.
One store room wall was already, in a terra-cotta color, so that terra cotta set the main theme color of the studio apartment. I did offer my daughter a small kitchen and laundry area, but she refused, as she would be using our kitchen and laundry anyways.
My daughter loved the walk-in cupboard which came out of the shelves which were in one of the store room walls, so we left it as it was, and added rods underneath to hang clothes. Later I added a dressing room area, also. The upper shelves could be used for off-season clothes and items.
My father funded the whole project. My old team of workers on my house, the architect Mubeena Naseer, carpenter Haji Sharif and plumber Nazir and Nadeem helped build the bathroom and walls. We all worked with great zeal to finish this project within a month or so.
The washroom windows were made with help of glass bricks. I tried to have plenty of natural lighting, by putting clear glass over the doors.
The Nayatel system and internet was connected. A television added along with the furniture, and accessories. Nadiya got together with her sisters to add her charming style.
This is how the studio apartment in my home was completed. Now it serves as my guest room.
It seems, my experience and knowledge of Interior Designing had come to my rescue.
Stay blessed my reader. 🙂
Warning: Only try such a project by consent from your architect and interior designer.
