Inside The Party Pad — A Duplex Where Calm Meets Celebration

Across the quiet hallway from their main residence, a young couple imagined another kind of home- one that could hold music, friends, and midnight laughter; a place where work didn’t feel like duty and leisure didn’t need a reason. Interior designer Kirti Dodeja understood the brief immediately. She saw it not as an annexe, but as an alter ego to their everyday life, a space that could transform from a work desk to a dinner table, from espresso mornings to champagne evenings. “The clients wanted a space that allowed them to entertain without disturbing the everyday rhythm of their main home,” Dodeja recalls. What emerged is The Party Pad– a duplex that wears its elegance lightly, where refinement meets revelry in effortless synchrony.

Arrival: The Compact Living That Feels Grand

The moment you step in, the home surprises with intimacy. The living room, barely nine feet across, still manages to seat seven; a careful orchestration of custom furniture, measured clearances, and layered seating that turns a compact footprint into a surprisingly generous social zone. Sofas, armchairs, and peg tables seem to float in a perfect rhythm, custom-sized to fit without crowding. The rug anchors the space in warm light; velvet, boucle, and brass set the evening’s tone. A discreet console slips under the staircase, where even small gestures feel choreographed.

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The Jewellery Box Glows

Beyond this lies the heart of the home- the dining area, fondly called ‘The Jewellery Box.’ “Walls were removed to open up the dining area, but a psychological distinction is still created by the bold Parisian red,” Dodeja explains. Under a pair of gleaming brass chandeliers, a honey onyx dining table gleams like molten amber. Chairs dressed in ivory with brass-rimmed backs line its edges, while the monochrome geometric flooring quietly tempers the drama above. Where a balcony once jutted out, there now stands a cosy extension of the dining, dressed in custom-dyed sheer blinds that diffuse the afternoon sun into a golden-hour haze. The effect is cinematic, as if each meal here deserves its own applause.

Where the Kitchen Slips into a Bar

Turn a corner, and the tone shifts. The kitchenette is tiled in small, hand-made squares that are tactile and beautifully imperfect. Cabinets are concealed behind push-open panels, their fronts continuing the same tilework, so the whole counter looks seamless, like a sculpted block.

By morning, it’s a quiet coffee station with an adequate degree of aroma and calm. By night, it morphs into a bar, its surfaces catching the chandeliers’ reflections as the room shifts rhythm but never loses its elegance. Tucked beside it, the powder room reveals the designer’s playful streak: pink flamingo wallpaper from Asian Paints dances across the walls, paired with brass fixtures and Banswara white marble that glows under warm light. It’s whimsical, unexpected, and utterly memorable– the sort of space guests always comment on.

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Climbing Through Green Marble and Golden Light

At the heart of the duplex, the staircase spirals upward, sheathed in Udaipur green marble that feels at once regal and grounded. Along its path stretches a large wall washed in light- where Dodeja and her team co-created a unique artwork using artificial intelligence. “We integrated AI and human creativity to craft a unique piece,” she says. “This approach showcases AI as a complementary tool rather than a competitor, using it for precision and time-sensitive tasks while maintaining creative control.” The mural, inspired by European frescoes, reimagines archangels as party cupids raising glasses under Art Deco skies. The palette created in golds, rose pinks, and pale greens mirrors the home’s own hues, making this stairwell a theatrical pause between floors.

Upstairs: Books, Sneakers, and Serene Corners

The first-floor lounge opens up with a gentle exhale, its wider proportions and soft light creating an immediate sense of ease. A library wall conceals a sneaker-storage cabinet, adding personality without clutter, and a side table carved from leftover green marble grounds the room in continuity, showing how resourcefulness can feel beautifully luxurious.

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The attached balcony opens into filtered daylight, patterned in green-and-white marble checks, lined with soft foliage and sculptural planters. Inside, the layout meanders toward the bathroom, where rhythm returns in stone and water. A raised tub sits against a textured wall, the vanity niche cleverly built before a structural column– turning an obstacle into grace.

Every Corner, a Story

What makes The Party Pad remarkable is how it hides its cleverness in plain sight. Custom proportions and local materials anchor the space, while the mood drifts toward a cosmopolitan blend of Milanese restraint and Delhi exuberance. Every layer, be it the AI fresco, or the recycled marble, or the onyx’s glow- all of it builds toward a single idea: that a home can be playful without being loud. Tucked to one side of the lower level, the home’s only bedroom extends this quiet restorative sensibility. Designed to double as a guest suite and retreat after a night of celebration, it’s wrapped in calm neutrals and soft curves. From the scalloped headboard and arched wardrobe doors to the pale marble floor that catches the first light through sheer curtains. Even the adjoining bathroom continues this rhythm of refinement: swathed in Udaipur green marble and handmade tiles, it’s an intimate yet striking space where craft meets composure, a visual echo of the home’s layered personality.

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In Kirti Dodeja’s hands, this apartment across the corridor becomes not just a second home, but a second self –one that knows when to work, when to dance, and when to drift into stillness behind those golden blinds.