Spruce up your home in style

It's that time of the year when one's social calendar leaves little room for relaxation. Drawing rooms bustle with animated chatter, fancy soirees keep air-kissing beauties busy and Diwali parties are a welcome delight for social butterflies.

This also happens to be the best time for those who are house-proud to show off their humble homes or grand abodes. Most homemakers take advantage of the festive season and see it as a reason to spring-clean, spruce-up and slick up their casa. Some homeowners go so far as to do a complete overhaul of their interior spaces this time of the year.

Over the last two decades, people have started paying attention to the details and dressing up their space in a variety of ways. Thanks to a huge demand for objects d'arts, paintings, sculptures, bespoke furnishings and extra ordinary interior design concepts, there has been a monumental increase in the number of home furnishing stores, galleries and décor brands across the country.

Gone are the days when one hopped over to Fabindia, Seasons or Jagdish stores for their accessories and décor. Nowadays, brands like Good Earth, Oma and Address Home have ensured that one is spoilt for choice. Even international fashion houses known for their trendy interior décor like Cavalli Interiors, Fendi Casa and the Versace Home Collection to name a few, are top picks with the urban population.

Some of the biggest names in fashion have also turned their eyes from the wardrobe to rooms - designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee has fashioned bespoke interiors for hotels and his flagship stores, duo Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla have created one-of-a-kind homes for a select celebrity clientele and even Rohit Bal has launched a luxury villa project in Goa.

From ostentatious designs to modern minimalism, there is no end of the options available for those who want to create a unique personalised space. Plus, the number of professionals that deal in the segment is also steadily on the rise. So much so, that there are even a number of celebrity WAG's, with hardly any training behind them, who have made a career out of interior designing.

However, one of the pioneers in home décor and the first few to predict this increased interest in exclusive interiors was Raseel Gujral Ansal, Creative Director of three independent and extremely popular lifestyle brands - Worxx, Casa Paradox and the soon to be launched Casa POP.

Raseel is well established in this field as one of India's leading lifestyle designers. She has been valued for her rare ability in predicting and leading interior design trends over the past 25 years. Her refined use of art and patterns, choice of magnificent objects and textures, a sophisticated colour palette and strong silhouettes result in original concepts and a refined signature look.

Worxx and Casa Paradox was founded over 20 years ago and she has been the creative genius behind some of the most spectacular lifestyle spaces in the country that are infused with her immaculate sense of style and glamour.

While Casa Paradox defines fine living and is reflective of a contemporary and timeless design, it's her latest venture that is creating a buzz in the design space. A diffusion line "Casa Pop", pegged as "High Voltage living for the Urban Diva", is the latest brand from her repertoire and it targets the 18-45 age group. The store is set to be launched mid October at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj along with an online retail portal, both of which promise to be "quirky, funky and vibrant." This is of particular interest as it captures the changing lifestyles of today's youth and the urban living ideology.

While the "nuclear family" model might have been in fashion over the past decades, there is a growing and steady shift towards living alone and independently amongst those in their late twenties to early forties. Whether it be young bachelors who want to live life king size or headstrong women who choose to live life on their own terms - there is definitely a shift both in lifestyle and interior styling.

Affluent young professionals with little or no time on their hands prefer to shop online than waste time going from store to store.

Raseel Gujral Ansal is quick to spot this changing curve and her latest offering stocks an unparalleled design catalog of accessories, soft furnishings and incidental furniture with an assortment of products like crockery, cushions, tableware, luggage pieces, clocks, jewellery, trays and wall art to name a few.

Diwali is just around the corner and folks, FYI, if you haven't already, then it's high time to get them.