03 May,2026 10:20 AM IST | Mumbai | Sucheta Chakraborty
Yasmine and Dhunrumi Patell with their sons Rushad and Rustom, Rustom’s wife Dilshad and their children Tiyana and Vivaan. The family has restored the ground floor of Tehmi Terrace, a heritage property inherited by Dhunrumi and his sisters Heta and Jena
I initially said no," laughs interior designer Mansi Mehta when we ask her for her reasons for taking up the project to restore Green Gifts Bungalow, an elegant and spacious Parsi home with a plant nursery on Bandra's Turner Road. Officially known as Tehmi Terrace and originally built in 1916, the imposing bungalow has been frequently leased out for advertising film shoots in the past. But when Mehta first encountered it for the purpose of restoration, she found it riddled with structural concerns, including corroded metalwork, compromised walls, and damaged ceilings.
"I saw the space and it scared me. It was in a mess," she recalls. But owners Yasmine and Dhunrumi Patell had faith in the designer and artist who has studied at institutions like the Sophia College for Women and the JJ School of Art, and credits design firm Talati and Panthaky for providing a strong foundation for her career.
About two years ago, Mehta set to work with a structural engineer on what would be her first restoration project, tackling the many challenges it threw up along the way. A space with two bedrooms and no attached bathrooms was converted into three bedrooms with three attached bathrooms - including one with a private entrance - to turn the ground floor space into a self-sufficient unit for the family. A row of bathrooms, after decades of disuse, was adapted for modern living with contemporary amenities and overhead lofts, along with ornate tiles and mirrors for a chic look.
Mehta wanted a grand entrance, "something that would deliver an impact, a wow factor". And so, for the long, wide passageway leading into the house, she chose tile flooring with earthy tones, old Burma teakwood rafters, arches along the corridor, and tasteful light and fan fittings from Australia, while the white walls grace photographs of the bungalow's founders and those of the present owners along with paintings owned by the family.
Efforts were made to retain original proportions, period mouldings, patterned grills, windows, doors and wardrobe furnishings and seamlessly integrate them with newer elements for functionality. "I made sure the family's memories [of an older way of living] were retained and old pieces of furniture were reused," says Mehta, pointing to units such as a wooden kitchen cabinet previously used to store root vegetables now repurposed as a book shelf in one of the bedrooms. Elsewhere, old cupboards were scraped leading to discoveries such as a carving of a set of initials and a delicate arrangement of motifs with flowers and dragonflies.
Mehta studied Parsi homes from the early 20th century to guide the restoration which led to the visible focus on woodwork, ventilation, a feeling of openness and interconnectedness between spaces, and on period details like louvers and arches. PICS/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI
Mehta studied Parsi homes from the early 20th century to guide the restoration which led to the visible focus on woodwork, ventilation, a sense of openness and interconnectedness between spaces, and on period details such as window louvers, arches and long brass door stoppers, along with floral patterns for sofas and traditional door bells. But speaking of her negotiations with the space, Mehta insists that she couldn't "copy-paste despite seeing many Parsi homes. I had to work around the material that was given to me".
The family's love of food and cooking also meant that the kitchen had to be given significant attention. In it, a massive old dining table now stands converted into a smaller table and a sturdy bench, the white walls complement a soothing sap green colour scheme, and there is ample storage, integrated appliances and cabinets stacked with traditional crockery. "Everything is modernised, yet a little traditional," says the designer.
A section of the home has been serving as the Embassy of Luxembourg in Mumbai, a space Mehta worked on in a span of 45 days. As we take a stroll through the Embassy's offices, the designer points to the tile flooring which has pockets of blue, a nod to the Luxembourg national flag, to pinewood rafters and a 125-year-old slab of granite that was reused in the pantry. But in spite of the demarcation, the arches and flooring patterns also serve to maintain this section's resemblances to the rest of the home, a point that we learn was part of the brief given to Mehta.
Although situated in a major thoroughfare, the Patells had asked her to design the home like a farmhouse, prioritising aspects such as leisure, space and a connection with nature. "It took me a while to process that instruction because people generally think of farmhouses as being located outside the city. They trusted me with this whole space which was a massive responsibility," she shares. But Mehta has seemingly met all expectations, a fact indicated by the poster with "before" and "after" images of the bungalow that stands proudly in the front displaying her handiwork.
