Home Tour: Rithu's beautiful apartment from New York.

Hey everyone! I hope your week has started off well. Are you ready for some Monday inspiration?

Today I am featuring a cute little apartment of a dear friend, Rithu from West New York, who recently moved out of this apartment. I wasn’t surprised at all when I had a look at her crisp minimalistic home through her pictures as she is a lady brimming with creativity. Her décor is casual and not too pretentious. Rithu is an aspiring fashion designer who recently completed her course, passionate about her art and a food blogger.

So quickly grab a cup of tea or coffee… and let’s hear more from Rithu herself and have a look at her old beautiful apartment.

“Greetings everyone! I am Rithu, and I am the food blogger of ‘Gastronomy Illustrated’, where I share easy, yummy recipes and about my little adventures in life.  I am beyond excited and thrilled to be a part of the honorable home tours’ feature from ‘Tickled by Inspirations’. And so I would like to start by saying thank you, thank you to my lovely family friend, Rachel, for this wonderful opportunity!

I was born and raised in Muscat, the lovely capital city of Oman, and went on to reside there for 22 years. In the 22 years, I did most of my schooling in Indian School Muscat and completed 4 years of Biotech Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology. Although I have Malayalee roots, I studied and practically lived in Kerala only for 2 years, to complete my high school in Kottayam.  But the rest of my life so far, has been overseas of India. After my Bachelor’s at BIT, I was fortunate to pursue my Master’s in Bioinformatics at King’s College London. Learning with some of the brightest at KCL was an honor in itself, just as much as making it through the difficult course and finally being awarded with the Master’s degree. But behind all the years of science and engineering, the actual truth was that I have always been an artist at heart. The obsession began when I was just about 11 or 12, when I started doodling some of my earliest fashion illustrations, on whatever paper I could find, even if they were pages of my school notebooks and texts! After getting married to my wonderful husband of 4 years, I moved to the US in 2012 and a year ago, I was so happy to finally fulfill my dream to attend fashion school! I enrolled for a short program of 6 months in Brooklyn, New York, but in those few months, I gained so much knowledge that I will forever be so grateful for.

In December, my husband and I bought and moved into our very first home, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and each day we are excited and working on doing up our new residence. But until December of 2015, we lived in a cozy little apartment in West New York. My requisites for a home space have always been the same and very simple – no clutter, functionality and chic with a little quirk! I also like contrast and hints of bold color. Me being a cleanliness freak and a bit of someone who strives for perfection, everything in my space has to be placed just right, and sometimes in exact right angles! But apart from my strange OCDs, I like bringing the outdoors, indoors, if that makes sense. Especially when living in a concrete, boxy space like an apartment. I like greens around me, lots of natural elements like wood, … At the entrance of the apartment I even placed a watering can on the floor, just because it gave me a cozier and homelier vibe. Even to this day, it is very important to me that every piece of furniture my husband and I decide to invest in, has to have more than one function. For example, the sofa in our living room was a futon that could easily be converted into a large sized bed for two. Another dual functional piece was the red ottoman that provided seating in the living room and had so much space for storage, inside! Convenience is also definitely a requisite. Whether it’s the sleek console table at the entrance to hold keys, or the patio chair by the shoe rack for people to sit and wear shoes. I like knowing that there’s something to make things just a little more convenient, and I especially like having things contained, rather than keeping them out in the open and adding to clutter. I only like to showcase the knick knacks my husband and I have collected on our travels, which I would mostly display on the quirky book ladder in the living room. My favorite space in the apartment was the living room seating by the window. We had an Ikea rattan chaise lounge that was so comfortable to lie down on, and it’s where I used to read or have a nap on some afternoons. And in the evening I could catch a view of the Manhattan skyline from the same spot… This apartment will always have a special place in my memory, as it’s where I developed a love for cooking and baking, started my food blog, made a few paintings and put them up on the walls, and studied more about fashion designing whilst doing the course in Brooklyn.

To all those who are reading, a humble thank you for taking the time out… “

 

 



 

her artwork

 

 

 

 

 

love the fabric of her storage

 

Thank you so much Rithu for sharing your old apartement with us and wishing you a happy stay in your new one... And we hope we get a home tour of your new home as well!!

 

 

All images are clicked by Rithu