What luxury means in a 1965 building
A Perry Cross Road flat is 1,600 to 2,200 square feet with 2.9 metre slabs, terrazzo floors, deep window reveals and a plan that was drawn when servants had a separate staircase. It is a very good building to spend money in, provided the money goes where the building rewards it.
| Where the money goes | Share of a luxury Bandra West budget | Why here |
|---|---|---|
| Bespoke joinery, veneer and solid timber | 34 – 40% | Every wall is out of plumb; only made-to-measure fits |
| Lighting design and installation | 12 – 16% | Deep reveals and high slabs reward layered light more than open-plan towers do |
| Stone, restored flooring and specialist finishes | 14 – 18% | Original terrazzo and IPS are worth restoring, not replacing |
| Services — rewire, plumbing, cooling | 10 – 14% | A 1965 flat has none of the capacity a luxury fit-out needs |
| Bathrooms | 8 – 11% | Small rooms, high specification, complete rebuild including the membrane |
| Metalwork and hardware | 5 – 8% | Bespoke brass, blackened steel, made locally and fitted on site |
Craft that has to happen in the room
No goods lift is not a footnote at this level, it is a design method. A 3.4 metre veneer panel cannot get up a Bandra staircase, so the way we do this work is different from a tower project.
- Joinery is engineered as a kit. Frames, panels and doors sized to the stair turn, assembled and finished in the room by the same workshop that made them. It costs more in site days and it is the only way to get a continuous 6 metre run into a third-floor flat.
- Veneer is sequenced and numbered at the workshop. A book-matched run installed out of order is ruined, and there is no second sheet. Panels arrive labelled to a setting-out drawing.
- Stone is templated, cut and jointed on site. Counters, vanities and thresholds are seamed with colour-matched epoxy after the carcass is standing.
- Metalwork is fabricated locally to a full-size drawing. Bandra has workshops that will make a brass screen to a 1:1 template. Imported metalwork in a stair-access flat is an expensive way to discover a dimension was wrong.
- Site protection runs for the whole programme. Finished floors, a finished staircase and neighbours' doors are covered from day one to handover, not from the day the finishes arrive.
Worked example: 1,800 sq ft luxury flat, Bandra West
| Package | ₹ lakh | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Design, lighting consultant and full drawing set | 7.2 | Including setting-out drawings for every veneer run |
| Civil, structural framing and complete rewire | 11.4 | 1968 building; new distribution, 36 kW load, CPVC throughout |
| Joinery, veneer, solid timber and bespoke metalwork | 38.6 | Assembled and finished in the room; brass screens made to a 1:1 template |
| Ceilings and lighting installation | 13.8 | Layered scheme, four zones, concealed sources in 2.9 m slabs |
| Stone, restored terrazzo and timber flooring | 9.6 | Original living-room terrazzo ground and polished rather than replaced |
| Paint and specialist wall finishes | 6.4 | Lime plaster in two rooms, fabric panelling in the principal bedroom |
| Three bathrooms, complete | 9.2 | Rebuilt from the membrane; stone vanities templated on site |
| Audio-visual and lighting control | 2.8 | Concealed speakers, scene control, no visible rack |
| Project management, protection and contingency | 1.8 | Full-programme protection of the common staircase |
| Total, ex-GST | 100.8 | ₹5,600 per sq ft on 1,800 sq ft carpet |
Add 18% GST. Excludes art, loose furniture and rugs. Restoring the terrazzo rather than replacing it saved approximately ₹4.2 lakh and produced a better floor than anything we could have laid.
Material depth in a building that cannot be enlarged
Metal, salt and the Bandra air
Luxury interiors use a great deal of exposed metal and Bandra West is not a neutral environment for it. Two streets from the water the specification genuinely changes, and the answer is usually to choose metals that age well rather than metals that resist ageing.
| Metal | Behaviour near Carter Road | Our position |
|---|---|---|
| Unlacquered brass | Patinates evenly to a warm brown within 18 months | Recommended — it improves and needs no maintenance |
| Lacquered brass | Lacquer fails unevenly, then it looks neglected | Avoided on anything within reach of sea air |
| Polished chrome | Pits and spots within two to three years | Avoided entirely on this side of the suburb |
| Blackened or oiled steel | Stable indoors; needs re-oiling annually near the water | Used, with the maintenance stated at handover |
| Stainless 316, brushed | Stable | Used where a bright metal is needed and it must not change |
| Powder-coated aluminium | Stable for 8–10 years | Used for all window and screen framing |
For the suburb generally see interior designers in Bandra West; for standard full-home work see residential interior designers in Bandra West. Our approach to high-specification projects citywide is on luxury interior designers in Mumbai.
High-specification residential work by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth spending ₹5,000 per sq ft on an old Bandra West flat?+
If the building is good and you intend to live there, yes — these are generous, well-proportioned flats in the most desirable residential pocket in the western suburbs, and the specification holds its value because the location does. If you are fitting out to resell, the ceiling is set by the building's own condition and lift, and we would advise a considered rather than a fine specification.
Can you restore the original terrazzo or IPS floor?+
Usually, and it is often the best decision in the project. Grinding, filling and polishing an original mosaic or IPS floor costs a third of replacing it with stone and produces something no new floor can imitate. The test is whether the screed below is sound and whether there are more than a handful of patches from old plumbing work.
How do you get large bespoke pieces into a building with no lift?+
By not making them large. Joinery is engineered as a kit sized to the stair turn, then assembled and finished in the room by the workshop that built it. A continuous six-metre veneer run arrives as seven numbered panels and a setting-out drawing. It adds site days and it is the only method that works in these buildings.
What metals should we avoid near Carter Road?+
Polished chrome and lacquered brass. Chrome pits within two to three years in this air, and lacquer fails unevenly, which looks worse than bare metal. Unlacquered brass is the better choice — it patinates to a warm brown within about eighteen months and needs nothing. Brushed 316 stainless and powder-coated aluminium are the stable alternatives.
How long does a project at this level take?+
Twenty to twenty-six weeks for 1,500–2,000 sq ft, longer than a standard fit-out mainly because of site-assembled joinery and a full rewire. Within a conservation precinct add time at the start for scoping what is and is not permitted, which we do in writing before any drawing is issued.