This modern home in the Himalayas is a space for all seasons

Designed by Manali-based Sherab Tharbus, a once-unwieldy home in Kullu now brings together the modern and the old school

It’s the quintessential mountain home in India, whose windows open up to the enviable views of the snow capped Himalayan mountain peaks in Kullu. It’s as if you could extend your hands and touch the peak when you’re in the balcony, and 32-year-old interior designer Sherab Tharbus, of Manali-based firm Tharbus Designs, was entrusted with redoing the first and second floors of this home—built only in 2018—but with minimal wastage and wreckage in 2021. The home was a gift from photographer Avinash Shashni, a native of Kullu, to his parents, who weren’t too keen on roping in a designer for the project.

For the most part, the layout of the home was unwieldy and dysfunctional, with objects placed thoughtlessly in corners that held so much potential. “One needs to see the before and after images to believe the kind of transformation this space went through,” Tharbus says. The tall arches, the black-and-white and beige—all of it weave an old-world romance into the space that took over a year to complete. “In the plains, it wouldn’t have taken more than three months to finish, but you barely get anything—whether building materials or elements for the interiors—in Manali. We pretty much sourced everything either from Delhi or Chandigarh,” she says.

It’s a compact built area spanning 1,000 square feet, where the first floor is dedicated to common living spaces and the main bedroom (which wasn’t renovated), while the second floor belongs entirely to Shashni.

Challenges to scale

“We don’t have contractors for interiors in Manali; it’s a problem one faces across the board in the hills. So our clients are mostly our contractors,” Tharbus says. This results in an issue of scaling one’s interiors business in the region, as building homes with modern features and amenities requires sophisticated techniques and a knowledge of their execution, both of which is glaringly lacking in her hometown.

When consigned with the responsibility of telling a story through the space, and making it true to its owners, she couldn’t have wished for a better inspiration than a random piece of junk that was lying around in the home. “It was this electric fireplace that the family said was an impulse buy from the Kullu Dusshera [fair]. I didn’t think that would ultimately become the centrepiece for our design inspiration,” says Tharbus.

The interesting aspect about this fireplace, however, was the way it was fitted into the living room. It isn’t set in marble like it appears to be. “It’s very difficult to source marble in Kullu-Manali. So we cast it in PVC laminate. The owner, Avinash, was actually the one who wrapped each slab with his own hands,” explains Tharbus. Shashni referred to a DIY YouTube video, and borrowed his friend’s hairdryer to heat the laminate sheets. “It was the first time he was doing something like this,” she says.

Tharbus usually goes all out when it comes to colours, but for this project, her pared back approach worked wonders. An older balcony was torn down and turned into a cosy nook of what is the current living room; the fluted glass and heavy black wooden doors offset the earthy tones of the interiors.

The first floor also houses a tandoor room, where the family and their friends gather for intimate evenings, especially in winters when the tandoor is lit up. The connecting staircase that leads to Shashni’s second-floor den is lined with black-and-white mandala-patterned tiles that were sourced from Chandigarh. “Pretty much most of the decor items you see in the house are from the Banjara Market in Gurugram. People in the hills aren’t very excited about buying things online that will be delivered to their doorstep, but will cost them a bomb. Instead, they prefer handpicking every item from local shops and markets,” she says.

A hideout by the Himalayas

On the second floor, the bedroom is a snug cave following the same colour scheme as the rest of the house. A wooden stage underneath the bed leans against a wall, one that doubles as a chalkboard. “The bed also has ample storage space under it,” says Tharbus, then pointing to the breathtaking view from the balcony adjacent to the bedroom.

The home is a labour of Shashni’s love, a gift to his parents who had their initial skepticism, but were won over once they witnessed the result. The kitchen, mostly clad in black too, was a space difficult to justify. But now they all agree that the result was worth the debates that preceded it.

“Honestly, now I wish my home looked like this,” says Tharbus, adding that since the home tends to absorb both the heat and the cold, lining it with soft furnishings has made it amenable to such changes. Clearly, it’s an abode for all seasons.

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