An IIT Bombay and IIM Bangalore alumnus, Alok, in his career spanning over two decades, has held key positions across an array of companies that include Mondelēz International, Unilever, eBay and GSK, to name a few.

Owning a home for oneself today presents a host of challenges that previous generations never pondered. With property prices increasing causing spaces to become smaller, to choosing the right materials, there’s plenty to disturb the modern homeowner’s rest. There are many ways to make small spaces look bigger. Brighter colors can make spaces look drastically big. This applies to the ceiling as well using a light colour or a white helps to open-up the space above. This also helps to increase the appearance of the size of the room.

In less-than-ideal space conditions, every inch helps. Small things that help make a big difference, which involves keeping your window to-wall ratio high, installing floor to ceiling bookshelves, getting items off the floor by decluttering often, and using semiopaque materials to allow light into windowless rooms. The best solution to this is to add mirrors and overhead lights to create an illusion of space.

A significant part of the day is spent in the bathrooms. However, this tends to be the most overlooked space of the entire house. In this scenario, using super gloss tiles helps, as light gets reflected on it, which in turn makes the space look larger. One can even incorporate large format tiles in the living room. Using a large format tile is the easiest way to make a room look larger while giving it a seamless look. The ideal size for this would be to use a 1200x2400mm due to the lack of grout lines. The less textured, the less busy your floor is and the more expansive it appears.

The key is to provide access to information and trusted solution to every home maker to realize their dream and provide them with well informed choices

One can also opt for modern trends to cope with space issues. Book match tiles are a versatile and modern approach to dealing with space crunch. Book match tiles are distinct tiles that when put together give a mirror effect and take-on the look of abstract art. Another way is by using 3rd fire tiles which have intricate designs of silver and gold on them on the signature walls of the bathroom. This helps in playing-up a space without having to do much. Incorporating multicolour planks and large scale pattern also help in making the most of the square footage by tricking the eye into seeing an expanded space and in turn help the bathroom to look larger than its actual size.

There’s an everyday struggle in each homeowner’s mind to better their quality of life and extract the best value out of every expense. Trying to solve all their problems themselves, the ‘we know it all’ syndrome is limiting the canvas basis which decisions are taken. The world needs better source of information, better guidance and better hand holding.

The aim is to serve customers who are progressive and indulgent, constantly striving to extract the best out of life and out of their money. Their perpetual struggle revolves around if this was that the best decision. The modern day homeowners do have many hurdles in finding a place to call home. But today, the key is to provide access to information and trusted solution to every home maker to realize their dream and provide them with well informed choices.