Is the Élara Signature a farmhouse look?

It shares the framed joinery and panelled walls, and leaves the rest behind: no barn doors, no distressing, no signs with words on them. The colours are muted, the profiles are flat, and the plan is an Indian family's, not a farm's.

Does painted joinery hold up in Bangalore?

Matt PU on IS:710 BWP plywood does; it is the same finish the studio uses for every kitchen. Panelling is HDHMR on a ply ground, primed and sprayed, and a scuff is repainted rather than replaced. No MDF anywhere.

Which of your projects are in this style?

Two so far: The Sage Shaker Home, a three-bedroom apartment in HSR Layout in olive, greige, aged brass and honed marble, and The Whitewashed Brick House, a rebuilt four-bedroom house in Jayanagar in whitewashed brick, black and cream joinery and black iron. Both are in the portfolio as folders of six rooms with their finishes and bands.

Élara Signature interior design in Bangalore

The studio's own language: framed cupboards in olive, greige, cream and black, walls with panelling on them, one honest wall of brick or plaster, and a bench at the door for the shoes.

Élara Signature living room with a full-height olive-sage shaker library wall, an aged brass swing-arm lamp and a deep linen sofa in late sun, designed by Élara & Co.

The Principles

What makes a room Élara Signature

Every studio ends up with a way of working that is its own, and this is ours. It borrows the framed joinery and panelled walls of an English or American country house, takes the ornament out, and plans it around an Indian household: shoes off at the door, two cooks in the kitchen, grandparents at the table, cupboards for a year of things. The colours are muted so the rooms stay calm in Bangalore's hard light; the materials are the ones the factory makes best.

Framed, Not Flat
Cupboard doors with a frame and a recessed panel, in matt PU, so a wall of storage reads as furniture rather than a laminate box. Cup pulls and knobs in one metal throughout.
Walls With Architecture
Board and batten, beadboard and grid panelling give a plain wall proportion and take the knocks of a family home. Painted the wall colour, they read as one surface.
One Honest Wall
Every room has one wall that is what it is: lime-washed brick, plaster or timber planks. It carries the picture light and the art, and it is where the room's warmth comes from.
Colour, Muted
Deep olive, greige, black and one navy wall against cream plaster, with plum and rust kept to the textiles. Nothing that shouts in the afternoon light.
Built for the Door
A bench, hooks and lockers where the family comes in, with shoe drawers under the seat, so the foyer holds the day's bags and the living room does not.
Lanterns and Picture Lights
A lantern over the table, a picture light on the honest wall, a swing-arm by the sofa: light that belongs to a place, warm throughout, with the downlights kept to a few.

All Styles →Browse the Design Boutique →

The Materials

What Élara Signature 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.

Framed matt PU joinery in olive, greige, cream and black
Board and batten, beadboard and grid panelling
Whitewashed brick and lime plaster
Reclaimed oak, pale oak and dark oak veneer
Aged brass or black iron, one per home
Honed beige marble and travertine counters
Oatmeal linen with plum and rust, jute and vintage rugs
Black lanterns, brass picture lights, amber glass

Where It Suits

The rooms and homes it is made for

Family Apartments

A 3 BHK with children and visiting parents gets storage that looks like furniture, walls that forgive, and a foyer that does its job. The Sage Shaker Home in HSR Layout is one.

Rebuilt Family Houses

An older independent house keeps its brick and its proportions and gains the kitchen, the light and the joinery it never had. The Whitewashed Brick House in Jayanagar is one.

Kitchens That Cook

Framed shutters, honed marble counters and a plaster hood over a concealed chimney: a kitchen that handles a daily tadka and still looks like the rest of the house.

From the Portfolio

Homes designed in Élara Signature

In Design6 rooms

Living room with a full-height olive-sage shaker library wall of books, stoneware and cane baskets, an aged brass swing-arm lamp lit beside it, a deep linen sofa with a knitted throw, a thick reclaimed oak coffee table, a jute rug and an olive tree in late sun from a steel window

Compact apartment lobby with a warm-white four-panel main door on brass hinges, a whitewashed brick wall carrying a brass picture light and a framed sepia landscape, an olive shaker bench with shoe drawers, brass cup pulls and cane baskets, brass hooks with a jute tote and a linen jacket, a jar of eucalyptus, a fern, a striped dhurrie runner and the living room through the doorway

Apartment kitchen with mushroom-greige shaker cabinets and aged brass pulls, beige marble-look quartz counters and splash, a plaster hood over the hob, pale oak shelves, a breakfast peninsula with two cane stools, a brass cone sconce by a black sliding window with a grille and the utility balcony beyond

Daylit dining room with one black board-and-batten wall holding a lit shelf niche with a trailing plant, cream plaster elsewhere, oak box beams, a black iron linear lantern, a thick reclaimed oak table with a linen runner, lilies and rust foliage, oatmeal slipcovered chairs, a jute rug, an olive tree and a sliding door onto a balcony of potted plants with rain trees and neighbouring rooftops beyond

Primary bedroom with a honed limestone headboard wall in stacked courses, a floating reclaimed oak ledge with a stoneware lamp and books, aged brass wall lights, a low oak bed in oatmeal linen with plum cushions and a chunky knit throw, cream shaker wardrobes, an olive tree at a black-framed balcony door onto tree canopy and a jute rug in morning sun

Children's room with one continuous built-in of cream shaker frames and woven rattan cane panels: wardrobes either side of an oak-lined reading arch with shelves of picture books, a grey seat cushion with olive and charcoal pillows over brass-pulled drawers, a cream tongue-and-groove ceiling with a rattan pendant, a built-in oak study desk with a brass lamp and a cane chair under a black-framed window onto trees, a single bed in oatmeal linen with a knit throw and a wool rug

The Sage Shaker Home

3BHK apartment · HSR Layout · Élara Signature

Walk through every room, priced₹14.5L – ₹27.2L*

In Design6 rooms

Daylit living room with a television set into a whitewashed brick wall above a pale oak ledge with a fern, a wall of true black shaker cabinets with shelves of books, stoneware and a trailing pothos, oak ceiling beams, a black iron picture light over a landscape oil, an oatmeal linen sofa, a caramel leather armchair, a walnut coffee table, a fiddle-leaf fig in a basket and a jute rug before black steel garden doors

Daylit foyer with a full-height navy board-and-batten wall, a reclaimed oak console bench with books and a white vase of hydrangeas, a round oak mirror, a black iron lantern pendant, a grey stoneware urn of branches, a fern in a terracotta pot, a cream wool rug, black shaker shoe lockers and the glazed front door

Dining corner at dusk with greige panelled walls, a tufted oatmeal linen banquette with houndstooth and check cushions, a dark-stained oak trestle table with a coffee cup and a book, a black iron lantern sconce glowing, two black-framed sepia sketches, a gold pot of greenery and a tall black steel window onto autumn trees

Daylit kitchen with cream shaker cabinets to the ceiling and black iron cup pulls, beige marble-look quartz counters and splash, a plaster hood over the hob, an arched plaster coffee-bar niche with lit oak shelves, a coffee machine and grinder, a stone urn of white hydrangeas, black iron lanterns and a black steel window

Primary bedroom with a deep olive grid-panelled wall, a solid oak bed in olive and grey linen with a white knit and a charcoal throw, oak bedside tables with stoneware lamps, a framed hills landscape above the bed, an olive tree at a black steel window, cream shaker wardrobes, a seagrass pouf and a cream shag rug

Family room with a wall of dark-stained oak veneer panels in a grid holding a recessed television, taupe-grey built-in shelves of books and stoneware, a recessed ceiling cove with a three-blade wooden ceiling fan, a large framed landscape oil beside a black steel window, a taupe linen sofa with grey cushions, a walnut coffee table, a monstera in a basket and a dark jute rug in daylight

The Whitewashed Brick House

4BHK independent house · Jayanagar · Élara Signature

Walk through every room, priced₹18.6L – ₹33.9L*

See All Projects →

In the Design Boutique

Élara Signature room concepts, with plans and costs

The Cream Shaker Kitchen

Kitchen

The Olive Grid Primary Bedroom

Bedroom

The Sage Library Living Room

Living room

The Black Batten Dining Room

Dining

The Whole Boutique →

Considered Questions

Before you begin

Is the Élara Signature a farmhouse look?: It shares the framed joinery and panelled walls, and leaves the rest behind: no barn doors, no distressing, no signs with words on them. The colours are muted, the profiles are flat, and the plan is an Indian family's, not a farm's.
Does painted joinery hold up in Bangalore?: Matt PU on IS:710 BWP plywood does; it is the same finish the studio uses for every kitchen. Panelling is HDHMR on a ply ground, primed and sprayed, and a scuff is repainted rather than replaced. No MDF anywhere.
Which of your projects are in this style?: Two so far: The Sage Shaker Home, a three-bedroom apartment in HSR Layout in olive, greige, aged brass and honed marble, and The Whitewashed Brick House, a rebuilt four-bedroom house in Jayanagar in whitewashed brick, black and cream joinery and black iron. Both are in the portfolio as folders of six rooms with their finishes and bands.