Some homes impress with grandeur. Others, like Aparshakti Khurana and Akriti’s Mumbai residence, invite you in and hold you there with their warmth.
Named ‘Arzia’, the home is a tribute to their daughter Zoe, whose arrival marked a new beginning for the couple. As Aparshakti shares, “She came into our lives and within one month we had this house, we got it registered.” To which Akriti added, “It’s all of our wishes clubbed into one and hence the name of the house.”
The man behind this stunning setup is Interior designer Rupin Sachak. “Even when we were talking on the phone, I could really sense the vibe. He was already family,” Aparshakti recalls.
“I love combining stories,” Akriti explains. “Stripes happening here, floral happening there… You have to combine leather with wood, overlap carpets, and bring it all together with plants, which all of us love.”
Among the many conversation starters in their living room, one feature always stops guests in their tracks. “Out of all the things, I love this wall the most,” Aparshakti beams. “Most of the people who have come in, everybody just stops there and looks at the wall.”
This room also houses their blue chandelier, which Aakriti had spotted long ago in Delhi. “I insisted on buying it,” she said, to which Aparshakti said: “Ghar ki registry baad mein hui hai. Ye bhai sahab pehle aaye hain.”
What truly makes this house a home is how it reflects their roots. Childhood photographs, scattered across walls and passages, narrate untold stories. “We just want to give everybody who comes into our house a slice of our childhood—who we were, where we came from, and where we’re headed,” says Akriti.
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One wall even features a framed poem by Rudyard Kipling, “If”, that holds special significance. “There will be days when things will not be hunky-dory… The crux of it is that no matter how hard the situation is, you need to get up every day and go out for that battle,” Aparshakti tells Architectural Digest. “That’s life.”
As any couple knows, cohabiting peacefully is an art, and one of the hacks Aparshakti swears by for a happy marriage is having your own space to get ready. “This is where I do all my drama baazi,” he laughs, pointing to her get-ready area. “One hack I want to give you for a happy married life is that you should have your own spaces to get ready.”
His most surprising discovery during the home setup? “I really didn’t know I had so many shoes! I had no idea at all. Thank God Rupin Bhaiji made this!”
