Will an earthy palette make rooms feel dark?

Not if the colours are placed rather than poured. One olive wall, plaster in warm white elsewhere, walnut in the joinery and a terracotta floor in one room give depth without dimming; the light plan does the rest.

Is Earthy Modern the same as rustic or boho?

No. The plan is clean and contemporary and the furniture is tailored; there is no distressing, no clutter and no reclaimed-wood pastiche. The earth is in the colour and the texture, not in the styling.

Which of your projects is in this style?

The Olive Frame Villa, a four-bedroom family home on Sarjapur Road, shown in the portfolio as a folder of six rooms with its finishes listed.

Earthy Modern interior design in Bangalore

A clean contemporary plan dressed in the colours of the ground: terracotta, olive, ochre, walnut and lime plaster.

Earthy Modern living room with olive walls, walnut joinery and terracotta tones, designed by Élara & Co.

The Principles

What makes a room Earthy Modern

The style grew out of a reaction to the grey-and-white interiors of the last decade: the same clean lines and open plans, but in pigments that come from clay, leaf and timber rather than from a paint chart. It sits naturally in India, where those colours have always been at home, and it ages gracefully because nothing in it was ever fashionable.

Colour From the Ground
Terracotta, olive, ochre and sand, in matte finishes — never primary colours, never gloss. A room has two or three of them, not all.
Walnut and Darker Timber
Where Japandi uses pale oak, Earthy Modern uses walnut, teak and smoked oak, for depth against plaster walls.
Plaster and Texture
Lime plaster, microcement and hand-finished walls that hold light differently across the day, in place of flat paint.
Clean Lines, Soft Edges
The plan is modern — open, rectilinear, uncluttered — and the furniture within it is rounded, low and generous.
Planting as Material
Large-leaved indoor planting and an outdoor edge treated as part of the room, so the palette continues past the glass.

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The Materials

What Earthy Modern is made of

The palette is the style. Each of these is specified by grade and named in the quote, so what was drawn is what arrives.

Lime plaster and microcement
Walnut and smoked oak
Terracotta and clay tile
Travertine and sandstone
Cane, jute and leather
Olive, ochre and rust textiles
Aged brass
Handmade ceramics

Where It Suits

The rooms and homes it is made for

Villas With Gardens

The palette continues from the living room into the garden; terraces, courtyards and verandahs belong to the interior.

Family Rooms and Dining

Rooms where people gather want warmth and durability, and the style has both — an olive wall and a walnut table improve with use.

Homes That Should Feel Indian

Without a single carved motif: the colours, the plaster and the planting do it, in a plan that is entirely contemporary.

From the Portfolio

Homes designed in Earthy Modern

In Design6 rooms

Earthy modern family room with a terracotta plaster wall and an arched niche of pottery, a walnut coffered ceiling, a rattan pendant, an olive velvet sofa, cane armchairs and a kilim rug

Earthy modern kitchen with olive-green framed cabinets, a leathered black granite island on a fluted walnut base, cane stools, brass pendants and a terracotta plaster range niche

Earthy modern dining room with a fluted walnut wall, a terracotta plaster ceiling, a long walnut table with cane chairs, a brass chandelier and a walnut sideboard

Earthy modern primary bedroom with a fluted walnut headboard wall and brass reading lights, a slatted walnut ceiling, olive linen bedding with a terracotta throw, a cane bench and a kilim rug

Child's bedroom with a painted terracotta arch on a sage wall, a cane-headboard bed, a study alcove with a walnut desk and a reading teepee

Home bar nook in dark fluted walnut with brass shelves of bottles and glassware, a black granite counter, leather-strap stools and a single brass pendant

The Olive Frame Villa

4BHK villa · Sarjapur Road · Earthy Modern

Walk through every room, priced₹22.4L – ₹41.2L*

See All Projects →

In the Design Boutique

Earthy Modern room concepts, with plans and costs

The Olive Frame Kitchen

Kitchen

Kids bedroom with a terracotta arch painted behind a solid oak single bed in rust and sage linen, a vintage steel-and-oak school desk and chair under an oak-framed cork pinboard by a white sash window, three oak book ledges, a rattan pendant, an oak toy chest and a terracotta kilim over a cream carpet

The Terracotta Grove Kids Room

Kids room

The Verandah Balcony Retreat

Balcony

The Whole Boutique →

Considered Questions

Before you begin

Will an earthy palette make rooms feel dark?: Not if the colours are placed rather than poured. One olive wall, plaster in warm white elsewhere, walnut in the joinery and a terracotta floor in one room give depth without dimming; the light plan does the rest.
Is Earthy Modern the same as rustic or boho?: No. The plan is clean and contemporary and the furniture is tailored; there is no distressing, no clutter and no reclaimed-wood pastiche. The earth is in the colour and the texture, not in the styling.
Which of your projects is in this style?: The Olive Frame Villa, a four-bedroom family home on Sarjapur Road, shown in the portfolio as a folder of six rooms with its finishes listed.