Nestopia: here’s where you hire your interior designer, and a home tour!

Good morning! How’s the week treating you folks? I’m hoping you are reading this post on feedly or some other reader. How did you find the transition? As much as I like feedly, I miss Google Reader.

So anyways, early last month, after the numbers slowly started receding from my head, I spoke with Harsh Jain of Nestopia one afternoon. How about some prettiness first before we get down to business?

Doing up one’s home, or even constructing an independent house is still largely an unorganized space in India; largely done by word of mouth. There’s no credibility before you hire a contractor, or be certain you’ll see a home at the end of the year. Oh yes, the horror stories of contractors fleeing with lakhs after gaining your confidence are not fables.

So wouldn’t it be nice if someone can put a stamp and guarantee the person before we invite them into our house to dress it up? And similarly, not expect a mansion on a shoe string budget. It’s nice for the designers, too, to work with customers that match their sensibilities best.

Nestopia is one of the early players in this space trying to bridge the gap between home owners and professionals. As a customer, you don’t have to pay anything. This is how it works: you fill in details, budget and what you want to get done and Nestopia will respond with a list of possible interior designers that suit your needs best.  With its growing repository of real homes, you also get interior ideas (just like Houzz) but ones that are more appropriate for Indian homes.

Take this one for instance. I loved the restoration of this beautiful heritage home by Saurabh Malpani.

Let’s begin the conversation. Forget about Nestopia for a minute. Would you be convinced to find your designer thr a portal, or is there any apprehension, or would you rather go the traditional who-my-friend/neighbour-went-with route?

Image courtesy:

Pooja & Arbaysis Ashley

Saurabh Malpani