Penthouse design has often been directly connected with luxury interior design because the property type resembles luxury in many ways. It is incredible to see how popular penthouses have become among homeowners, that even the most luxury apartments are being termed as penthouses. 

We have loved designing penthouses ourselves, having recently completed one in Hyderabad. The expansive spaces, the scope of experimentation and the luxury quotient is ultimately high, taking everything to a level above. 

Hence, we’ve gone ahead and curated some of the best penthouse ideas, straight from the studio head. But, before that let’s quickly understand why we really need these ideas at our disposal. 

What Is a Penthouse?

Penthouse design usually comes with a good understanding of what a penthouse is, which is really the topmost floor of a high-rise luxury apartment building. In simple terms, any penthouse is a great amount of privacy, large floor plans, luxe amenities, mesmerising views and more.

Being the trending style of residential design, penthouses have become very popular within India. It is a type of that will instantly give you a feeling of luxury unfolding, with ample amount of outdoor space which your generic apartments considerably lack. 

Designing larger-than-life Penthouses

With penthouse design, there will be large open spaces to cater to, which is why it is important to understand how to achieve a balance of many ideas, materials and colours. 

1. Neutral Base Palette

Whether it is materials or colours, with enormous penthouses, neutrals have to be at play to tone down the entire space and allow little highlights to create a statement. One could allow the same wallpaper to run through the entire home walls, the ones not being highlighted, and create a seamless-looking canvas. 

2. Go, Marble

Marble is a beautiful material to play with, and penthouse design India can really benefit from its use in order to achieve the luxury scale that is expected. There will be double-height spaces, with large walls to clad in marble completely. Just that in itself will do a lot for your room and make designing a fun task. 

3. Use Tall drapery

Lining the tall windows of a penthouse, when you see long drapery hanging from the ceiling itself, it gives you a new meaning of luxury. The idea is to use the height available to us in the best possible way and add our design elements to it. Sheer curtains coupled with blackouts in a balanced way add to the larger-than-life element. 

4. Add Custom Furniture

With penthouses that have a great footprint, the goal is to not just fill them up with any furniture piece. Custom furniture instead will allow making way for a more comfortable environment that is clearly making a statement accentuating the look of the already amazing penthouse. Most pent house designs in India will do really well with statement furniture. 

5. Let the light in

When you have such tall windows that make up many of the exterior walls of a penthouse, you have to let in all of that sunlight. Often while designing a penthouse, adding more walls is not suggested. As a team of architects and interior designers in Gurgaon , we aim to understand the light play in the home and then work with it. 

Here’s how you can design small penthouses!

With time, the terminology has moulded itself into that many luxury apartments are also being called penthouses, even when they might not have square footage which would qualify them. Even the top apartments sometimes don’t have a huge floor plan, but they do deserve the luxury that pent house designs in India are all about. 

1. Pick only statement pieces

Given that you have limited space, cluttering should not be on the map at all. Pick your favorite pieces in terms of lighting, styling, and furniture and curate them in a manner that the apartment in no way feels closed in. 

2. More open plans

Something we always suggest is having the living and dining next to each other. This doesn’t make the space feel cluttered, but rather more open and you come to see a major part of the home in one go. This is the idea with any small penthouses design, to make it feel more airy, open and less focussed on furniture or walls. 

3. Only lighter colours

Lighter and airy colours mean there’s less that catches the eye instantly. A breezy palette lets you explore slowly, which is something we aim to achieve with smaller penthouses. Neutrals go a long way in terms of the longevity of the design and just putting together a space that is easy to be in. 

4. Seamless materials

It might be easy to just put on materials in one go and have a bunch of them lined up around the penthouse, but creatively working with one material often is usually what we work with. Wood, for example, is a great material to seamlessly flow around the home, without it feeling like closing on you. Lighter colours often work best in a scenario like this. 

5. Functionality above all

While you might not have to have amenities with dual functions, functionality will have to be a priority when it comes to small penthouses design in India. Every design element to be added has to make sense of the habits of the occupant, what works with their daily life and more. Every piece of furniture or accessory is there to complement the lifestyle already in place. 

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Design Ideas for Penthouse Exteriors

As important as the interiors of a penthouse are, the outdoor spaces like balconies or terraces accompany the beautiful views. Think of these as private spaces that will be your sanctuaries while you are many feet in the air, away from the city. 

1. Add plants, and then some more

Greens, plants that flower, and seasonal ones even do wonders to terraces or balconies based on the space you have. If the available area allows, a live wall would be great to add. Otherwise, simply adding your favourite plants will help you have a breathing space just overlooking the city, a mini jungle of your own. 

2. Think of private spaces

Quite often our clients say we would wish for more privacy around the terrace to really be able to enjoy the views. This is when we recommend completely redoing the terrace with tall plants, and a pergola even to achieve all of the privacy in one go. 

3. Lounging furniture

When the views are amazing, you would wish to sit down and enjoy the view. This is why you will need furniture to lounge on. It could be a couple of chairs, or outdoor chaise, or both if the space allows. Add plants to this scenario and you’ll have a haven right outside your room.

Including Vaastu in Penthouse Design

Vaastu has had a great influence on penthouse design in India because it is equally relevant as any other design element that we put in. It is beautiful how well it blends with the design sometimes. 

• East and north are directions where you can leave open spaces, which aren’t covered by any room or even a furniture or decor piece. 
• The northeast part of the penthouse is a good location to have a small garden. This would increase positivity and help you plan a small penthouses exterior design. 
• Any plant that bears flowers but has no smell or ones that have thorns should be avoided across penthouse gardens. 
• All Vaastu principles that one would follow while designing an independent home are valid for penthouses as well. 

How Can You Benefit From a Well-Designed Penthouse?

The cost of owning a penthouse is extremely high since the property rates have also gone up. While it may seem tempting to go ahead, we always suggest our clients have their homes designed to their needs for these reasons. 

• The Interior Design of a penthouse will only add to the experience, rather than elevate it in terms of comfort, look and functionality. 
• Penthouses are often large spaces that need custom furniture, filling them up will need an expert’s work for it to look organic. 
• Most of our clients who come for penthouse design already have an idea of a luxury lifestyle in mind. This is why it becomes important to design a penthouse well, to get to the goal of a luxe lifestyle. 

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Penthouses are the new favourite, for sure!

Look at any images of penthouses in India, you will see them looking expansive, filled with elements that define their style and a touch of what the homeowners wished to have. This is what penthouse design is all about for us at Alive Studio. We believe in creating opulent homes that not just define a style, but a lifestyle.