Family estate dazzles with Bollywood chic

Oh gosh, I have to post something this month. I haven't even done that yet! Therefore, I decided to just save and post an article I found in AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution).

Actually, I saw this article a few days ago but forgot about it until just now. This is my dream house.

I've always wanted a home with an interior decoration Indian style (although the article does say Bollywood). Since my hubby likes to landscape, I always wanted a beautiful Japanese garden (fell in love with that ever since I saw Bruce Lee's movie, Chinese Connection).

So here is the article post from the AJC.



Shelina and Ali Chunara, originally from Bombay, India, have been Georgia residents just as long as they've been married - 21 years. They bought their six-bedroom home in the Bridgewater subdivision in Snellville in August 2004 to have more space for their growing kids, Farzeen, 13, and Shehzaan, 17.



Shelina and Ali Chunara moved into their 7,900-square-foot home in August 2004, and because they spent over $100,000 on interior fittings and custom treatments, they didn't have to renovate the construction.



Guests are greeted by this stunning custom rug in the foyer which was actually the last of the twelve rugs commissioned to "brighten the place up." "My wife came up with the suggestion of putting ornaments on her, " says Ali. "She has nail polish color matching her eyeshadow, " adds Shelina. She's not crafted in the likeness of a particular Bollywood actress though she looks the part.



The view from the living room sofa hints at the spacious floorplan of the home that made it a perfect fit for the lifestyle of the Chunaras and their growing teenagers.



The formal living room, set to the left of the foyer, also has a striking visual art display set beneath furniture sourced from Huff Fine Furniture and Design.



Shelina and Ali Chunara agree: There's a youthful spirit captured and reflected in their furnishings. Shelina sourced this fashionista lamp online and placed it near an entrance to the living room.

By design, no two rooms are to have the exact same color scheme, though the formal living room (pictured) does sit well opposite the formal dining room which is in white and gray and also completely furnished and designed by Huff.



Among the fun fixtures adorning the foyer and hallway is this lamp for which a rug was custom-designed to rest it on.



In 2006 the Chunaras hosted 100 guests at their home for a re-election fundraiser for Governor Sonny Perdue. "He was here for an hour-and-fifteen minutes, " recalls Ali. Perdue departed before guests sat down for the catered dinner.



"We came across these tables at Bova Furniture in Gwinnett and couldn't stop looking at them, we bought this breakfast dining table, then saw the coffee table and said, 'if they're alongside the same area we could flow them together', " recalls Ali. "At the same time we were doing rugs, we took a picture of the table ... we wanted the squares and balls on the table in the rugs as well."



The living room in the home of Shelina and Ali Chunara is fitted with a wall-to-wall custom rug fashioned after the coffee table which was sourced at Bova Furniture.



The coffee table in the living room influenced the custom wall-to-wall rug that bears circular inserts crafted with leather.



The sunroom, set near the living room, offers a panoramic view of the groomed grounds that encircle a nearby pond.




We do entertain several times," offers Ali sitting in his kitchen, "guests usually come from out of country, out of state at least once or twice every two or three months. Everything is catered, we barely cook here."

Guests usually help themselves to supari which the Chunaras have 14 varieties of stationed near their formal dining room. "After a good meal back home," says Ali, "people in a restaurant would offer you this kind of mint, people do have it in their home as well, and you can buy it on the streets in India. Basically it's a mouth freshener, there are several different varieties: the hard kind, Milan, and disco [which] has colorful seeds that are sugar-coated."

A bronze and gold leaf wall treatment adds punch to the cheetah room and an illuminating backdrop to an assemblage of animal replicas.

The "cheetah room" is set in the middle of the four upstairs bedrooms and is the family's favorite room. The cheetah motif started with the sofa, shares Ali, then grew to include gold and bronze leaves on the walls.

A plain black table was enhanced with a hand-painted portrait of a cheetah done by the same artist who crafted the home's many custom rugs.

"We're not that crazy about wood and oak, " shares Shelina, who insisted that the mirror motif on the bed she sourced from Huff Furniture would be echoed by throughout her master suite.

Mirrors are not just for the walls, they also adorn the tray ceiling, nightstands, headboard and ceiling fan in the master suite.

A guest room on the first floor is delicate and whimsical. A custom rug in the shape of a rose rests at the foot of the bed.

My husband said people go to India to see the Taj Mahal, I'm going to make one right here for you, that's how we came up with the idea of [crafting] a Taj Mahal for me [in the master bath], " explains Shelina. "It took about a month," she adds.



"When we bought the house most of the wallpaper was chosen for us, " says Shelina, "the master bath wallpaper had leaves on it so I asked the [rug designer] if he could do rugs in the shape of leaves."



"I'm crazy about purses," admits Shelina. She began collecting them 8 years ago. "The first one I picked up was the cheetah design (pictured in her hands). I bought some from New York and Bombay. The most expensive cost $400, I use them when I go to church and special occasions when I wear my saris and shalwar kameez."



At last count Shelina has roughly 225 saris. "Every year I go to India I need to bring in 20-25." She has "more than 250 shalwar kameez, every color, name it and I have it, from black to red to orange to blue to green, I have it color coordinated in my closet." Her shoe collection is so vast it's stored on three shelves in their two-car garage.



Window treatments in the game room are playful yet mature.



The game room contains ice hockey, ping pong and pool tables, the Chunaras applied the striped black wallpaper and the room wouldn't be complete without a customized wall-to-wall floor covering.



Shehzaan demonstrates how to play on the carrom board in the game room. "In India, it's a recreation for millions of people, it's the cheapest pastime, " shares Ali. "We bought it from Bombay, it's got a few wooden round coins and a striker, you try to hit the black and white wooden coins into one of four holes in the corners of the board."



A tasteful portrait of Aga Khan, like this one in the game room, hangs in every room of the home. Ali shares: "He's our spiritual leader, by having the picture in front of us it keeps us calm and emotionally balanced."



The deck overlooking the manicured backyard and a communal pond frames a serene setting on a picture-perfect day.