Temple Town's Design Handbook

An apartment is not a small house. Light from one side, a lift that decides what can come upstairs, salt air through the windows, and an open plan doing the work of four rooms. How to furnish one properly.

Some furniture is divided among grandchildren. Most is put out with the rubbish inside fifteen years. Five things decide which — timber, joinery, finish, proportion and repairability — and all five can be checked before you buy.

Ready-made, imported or made to order. Three genuinely different products with different costs, timelines and lifespans — and the right answer changes from room to room within one house.

Imported design, premium factory manufacture, curated reselling and workshop manufacture are all sold under the same word, at overlapping prices. Where the money actually goes in each, and how to tell them apart.

Before style, finish or price, there is a quieter decision that determines how long a piece of furniture will last: what it is made from. Teak, rosewood, mahogany and the value hardwoods compared — and the one question that matters more than species.

Kochi has no shortage of furniture shops. It has far fewer selling furniture that will still be in the family in fifty years. How to tell them apart, and the seven checks to make before you pay.

Teak is the most forgiving timber there is for a humid climate — but forgiving is not the same as indestructible. A practical guide to keeping solid teak furniture beautiful through a Kerala monsoon, and for generations after.

Cane breathes; upholstery comforts. In a humid climate the choice between them is not about taste alone. How to decide, room by room — and why the best Kerala homes use both.

A bespoke piece is made once, for one room and one family. What the process of commissioning handmade furniture actually involves — from the first conversation to the day it arrives — and the questions worth asking along the way.