We spoke to Sadhana Vipat, owner of an Import-Export Company based in Italy. Her company deals in “Made In Italy” Furniture. She can be reached at furniture@vipatindustries.com

Question – Let’s say we have to furnish a 2BHK apartment in India. How would you plan to go about it.

Ms. Sadhana – Let’s assume that an Architect has a budget of Rs.15-Rs.16 lacs for 2BHk apartment and that we wants to furnish the apartment with Italian Furniture. Firstly I would suggest him to keep 40%-45% of total budget aside for other costs that involve transportation, duty charges and other paper work.Therefore a 15 lac budget come down to 10 lacs only. Now the Architect needs to further divide this 10 lacs into 2 , one for day-zone and for night-zone for 2BHK apartment.

For Day-zone we usually suggest professionals to have 70%-65% of budget kept, while

For night-zone we suggest them to have 30%- 35% kept aside.

For Day-zone

Firstly I would like to say this that these are just approximate figures taken into account. The budget and figures may vary asper client’s requirement and choice.

Living room- We suggest to have around 4 lacs budget for Living room which includes a 3-4 seater-sofa, 2 armchairs, 1 coffee table and 1 TV unit or wall unit. Let’s give a further break up like,

For Sofas – 1.2 lacs
Armchairs – 1.2 lacs
TV unit – 1.2 lacs
And finally the table – 40 K (40,000/- for A table for 2-3 people)

Kitchen – For kitchen we would suggest you to have 1.2 lacs to2 lacs o budget planned. This will include a modular kitchen set-up.

Dining Room – We ask our clients or professionals to have 2 lacs budget kept aside for dining areas. This budget would include a 6 seater dining set up i.e. the dining table with 6 chairs. Well here I have given a higher cost. But the true cost will vary as per clients budget, what kind and style and also finish of dining table he chooses. He could get a decent looking dining table within a lac of rupees where chair would cost around 15,000/- t 16,000/-.

Night-Zone

Bedroom–Let’s say we keep a 3 lac budget for 2 bedroom where 1 bedroom is master bedroom and other as kid’s room and bathroom.

Master bedroom – Master bedroom furniture will include a Queen size bed , 3 door wardrobe, 2 night lamps and a dressing table. Let’s say all of this for Rs. 1.5 lac.

Kids Bedroom – Kids room too will have 5 elements like a single bed, a small wardrobe, 1 night stand or lamp, a writing desk or study table and additional cupboard for storage purpose.And all of this for 1 lac rupees.

As I said before all the above figures are just approximate values given to have a rough idea. The figures may vary from room to room and projects too as per client’s budget and requirement.

Budget for different style of Italian Furniture.

Italian furniture (as discussed before) is categorized as

• Classic style Italian furniture –for those with no budget issues
• Delicately stunningItalian furniture – for those with budget of Rs.10 lacs and above
• Soberly stylish Italian furniture – for those with budget of less than 10 lacs.

Here architects could club in two different styles of furniture, best suited for interiors, what we call as mix-n-match style depending on budget firstly and client’s requirement.