Colours, craft and the history that Jaipur homes add to give them a certain warmth should also be reflected in the furniture within them. In particular, storage furniture is overlooked as just a storage piece, rather than a core part to the overall space's aesthetic.
The solid wood pieces are especially resilient in the dry and hot weather of Rajasthan and they grow older rather than becoming distorted or faded like other, less expensive, options. From heritage haveli in Old City to modern apartment in Mansarovar, Vaishali Nagar, the ideal wooden storage solution will find a place in your home that will make your life easy without distracting from your normal routine.
Let's take a practical approach to the various wooden storage options, what they are ideal for and how to select wisely considering the climatic conditions and interior of Jaipur.
Why Wood Still Wins for Home Storage
It is useful to know the reasons why wood is considered as the material of choice to be used in the storage furniture for Indian houses before getting into specifics of individual pieces. The summer season in Jaipur is quite long and dry, and during the summer, dust is always with us, especially when we are close to the lanes and streets of the city, or the open spaces on the outskirts.
This kind of environmental stress is far less detrimental to good quality solid wood furniture that is properly seasoned and finished than it is to particle board or MDF. It does not absorb moisture in the short term during the monsoons and does not chip and peel the edge of the laminate and deteriorate as cheap units do after a few years. Another design argument is there as well.
In a city where the arts of handicraft are still a tradition, wood carves, panelling and accepting of brass or iron hardware is very good. Wooden furniture can be treated and finished in a manner that is reminiscent of traditional Rajasthani woodwork, or completely kept simple and neat for a more modern apartment. Either way, it's not likely to follow the trends and is actually a true investment as opposed to something you'll want to sell in five years.
The Classic Cabinet for Everyday Essentials
The first thing that comes to mind for most when looking to store in a living room, study or hallway is a wooden storage cabinet. A cabinet is unlike open shelving in that it keeps things out of view, which in an Indian home, requires you to store files, electronics, crockery, linen and more.
If you are looking to buy cabinets for your Jaipur house, choose sheesham wood or mango wood as these wood materials are readily available in the area and are apt for thermal expansion and contraction. For a living room, a cabinet that has both open and closed spaces makes for a good combination, for you can showcase a few special items, such as brass objects or books, and conceal the rest.
A tall narrow cabinet in a smaller apartment will be more useful to store things in than a wide low one because the tall narrow space that would otherwise be wasted. If the cabinet is to be placed in a kitchen or one of the utility rooms, request a water-resistant finish as moisture may be higher and cooking residue might be more in the kitchen near the window than elsewhere in the house.
Bedroom Storage That Actually Holds Up
A solid wood chest of drawers is still one of the best storage options for bedrooms. A true solid wood item will not be plagued by sticking or sagging drawers after a year of frequent use like the budget furniture that is merely sold because of the price.
The best places to shop in Jaipur are the workshops, such as Chandpole, where you find a chest made and the furniture markets where they carry the locally grown sheesham and teak chests and can be customised to the size of your bedroom.
A five or six drawer chest is ideal for most bedrooms as it provides sufficient space to store clothing by type, and a smaller three drawer chest is sufficient for a guest room and/or a child's room. If you wish the piece to sound Rajasthani, you can use brass handles or inlay work.
A handy suggestion – look at the drawer runners before you purchase. Use of wooden runners has a nice vintage feel but tends to wear out more quickly than metal glide mechanisms, particularly if used on a daily basis. Solid wood body with metal runners provides you the best of both the worlds of durability and true material.
A Versatile Piece with a Story
One of the multif-functional furniture pieces is a storage trunk, which is also a decorative piece. A good quality trunk can serve as a coffee table, a window seat, extra seating or a place for linens and seasonal clothes, and even a place for jewellery, depending on the home, as it was traditionally used throughout Rajasthan.
The use of the local metals fittings and sometimes local hand painted or lacquered touches add true local flavour to a trunk for a Jaipur home. Apart from beauty, the use of trunks is a necessity factor and is especially useful for storing quilts and shawls for the season as Jaipur has a highly changing climate with summer heat of nearly 45 degrees and winter of just 10 to 15 days of winter.
Most households in the city change their quilts, shawls, and heavier bedding a couple of times a year. A trunk is a good solution to the rotation problem – place one at the end of the bed, or in a corner of the living room, and you'll never have to arrange bedding or linens again.
If you are intending to use the trunk for sitting as well as storage, make sure that the lid and hinges on the trunk are reinforced as some decorative trunks may be constructed lighter than their utility counterparts.
Dining and Living Room Display Storage
The wooden sideboard serves a variety of functions: it fills in the corner of a dining or living room, provides storage for crockery, table linen and serving pieces and is also used as a display surface for lamps, photo frames or decorative objects.
It is especially handy in Jaipur houses which are typically used to host guests on a frequent basis, as festivals and family get-togethers often require additional crockery and service ware that doesn't fit into every day's kitchen cupboards.
A sideboard with a combination of drawers and cabinet doors offers the most options for the space—you can store often-used items in the drawers and larger serving dishes behind the cabinet doors. In an open living-dining room, a sideboard can also function as a physical barrier between the two spaces, without the need for a wall or a partition, making it suitable for smaller apartments which are becoming popular in newer Jaipur developments.
Choosing What Fits Your Home
Not all four of these furniture pieces will be necessary in the home at the same time and some of the best places to begin looking will be the places clutter forms. A sideboard and a small cabinet may be the better choice for a young couple living in a one or two bedroom apartment, while sideboard and trunk for seasonal rotation might be better for a larger family home with frequent visitors.
Design isn't everything — it's the wood type as well. Sheesham has a rich, dark grain and is very durable, mango wood is lighter, more affordable and has a slightly softer grain, while teak is at the premium end due to its extreme durability and resistance to pests and water. With a dry climate in Jaipur, they all give reasonable service, with teak being the easiest to maintain over time.
Lastly, shop at a workshop or store that has the ability to examine the wood grain or joinery for you from a close distance, and not just by looking at a picture. Solid wood furniture is subject to variation from piece to piece and observing the actual joinery is much more significant than any specification, particularly at drawer corners and cabinet frames.
Bringing It All Together
A well-designed wood storage bed frame serves more than just a function in organizing a residence. It brings warmth, the very essence of craftsmanship that the city of Jaipur is renowned for and, if selected carefully enough, it will last long enough to make it a family heirloom that can be kept for years and years.
Do the first one that will clear clutter problem, focus on the quality build, not so much the decoration and gradually fill up the remaining space.
