Interior Vastu

Interior vastu looks at what happens inside the walls: furniture placement, room use, colours, lighting, storage and the fit-out. It is for spaces where the structure is not going to change, but the interiors are being designed, redone or rearranged, in a home or a workplace.

The best time to call is when the interior designer has a draft layout but nothing has been ordered. At that stage, moving a wardrobe, a bed or a work desk to a better zone costs nothing. We read the plan against the VIDS 16-zone grid, measured from true north, and give the designer a clear zone brief that sits alongside their own work.

What an interior vastu review covers

This is a lighter scope than a full property assessment. We do not re-examine the plot, the entrance position or the structure. We focus on:

• Which room is used for what, and whether that suits its zone
• Bed, desk, sofa and dining table positions, and which way people face
• Wardrobes, lofts and heavy storage
• Kitchen fit-out: stove, sink, fridge and the cooking direction
• Colours and finishes by zone
• Lighting, mirrors and where clutter tends to collect
• The centre of the space and whether it is kept open

If the entrance or a toilet position is the real issue, we will tell you that a full residential vastu review may serve you better.

Working with your interior designer

We are not here to replace the designer. They handle function, style, budget and execution. We hand over a one-page zone brief: what should sit in which part of each room, which colours suit which zone, and where to keep weight and storage. Most designers find it easy to work with, because it gives them constraints early rather than changes late.

If you prefer, we can join a short call with the designer to go over the draft before drawings are finalised.

Room-by-room interior vastu guidance

A few examples of how zones shape a fit-out:

• Master bedroom in the south-west: bed against the south or west wall, head towards south, heavy wardrobe on the south-west side
• Kitchen: stove in the south-east part of the kitchen, cook facing east where the layout allows, sink kept apart from the stove
• Living room: heavier sofas on the south and west, lighter seating and open floor in the north and east
• Study or work desk: facing north or east, with a solid wall behind
• Children: west or north-west rooms, desks facing east
• Puja corner: north-east, kept simple and uncluttered

Our guides on the kitchen and the bedroom go deeper into each room.

Colour, light and materials

Colour is one of the main correction tools in interior work. Each direction is linked to an element, and each element has a palette that suits it. Earthy yellows and creams sit well in the south-west, greens and light blues in the east and north, warm tones in the south-east. A dark colour on a large north-east wall, or a fiery red in the north, is something we would usually change.

Lighting follows the same logic. The north-east and east should be the brightest parts of a home. Mirrors are kept to the north and east walls and away from facing the bed.

Common interior issues we see

In a typical apartment fit-out we often find a full-height wardrobe filling the north-east corner of the master bedroom, a television wall placed in the centre of the home, or the heaviest storage in the north because that is where the empty wall was. In offices, the senior cabin ends up in the north-east because it has the best view.

Each of these can be fixed on paper in minutes, before carpentry starts.

How the review works

In Bangalore we visit, take our own readings, and walk each room with you, usually in a couple of hours for a home. Outside Bangalore, or for a single room, it works online: you share the plan and photographs and take phone compass readings while we guide you. Compass readings are corrected from magnetic to true north using the NOAA magnetic declination calculator. You can read the online vs onsite comparison to choose.

Corrections without demolition

Interior work is where the zero-demolition approach is most natural. Everything we suggest is placement, colour, lighting, room use or decluttering. Swapping two bedrooms, turning a bed, moving a desk, clearing a corner, changing a paint shade. We do not sell any product and do not ask you to buy objects. See zero-demolition corrections for more examples.

Single rooms and small changes

Sometimes only one room is being redone: a kitchen, a home office, a child’s room. A single-room review is possible. We still orient the whole home first, because a room is read by its zone in the house, then focus on the one space.

What you receive

A written report within 48 hours, with the plan, the 16-zone grid, a room-by-room note and a short list of changes in order of priority. For designers, the zone brief is set out so it can be dropped straight into their drawing set. See the sample report.

Fees

Online review anywhere: ₹5,000. In Bangalore, an apartment or row house visit is ₹15,000 and a villa or independent house ₹25,000. Offices and commercial interiors start from ₹51,000. The full list is on our pricing page. An online assessment uses traditional Vastu only, the 16-zone map and the 3×3 grid drawn on your plan; geopathic stress readings need a site visit.

When to call

Before the designer finalises drawings. Before you move into a new home and start placing furniture. When you are renovating, see also vastu for home renovation. And for workplaces, before the fit-out tender, alongside vastu for office.

Why Vardhini Vastu

Raghavendra Hebbur has practised Scientific Vastu for over ten years and studies the Aparajitaprccha, a classical text on architecture. We use a degree-accurate 16-zone method, no astrology, nothing to buy and no commissions. More on our methodology.

Modular kitchens and wardrobes

Modular units are ordered weeks before they are installed, and once they arrive they are hard to change. That makes the kitchen and wardrobe drawings the most important ones to check. In the kitchen we look at where the hob sits, which way the cook faces, how far the sink is from the hob, and where the fridge and the tall unit go. In bedrooms we look at which wall carries the full-height wardrobe and whether lofts are loading the north-east.

A small shift on the drawing, such as swapping the hob and sink runs or moving a tall unit to the other wall, usually costs nothing at this stage.

Home offices and work-from-home corners

Many homes now have a desk that is used every day. We look at the zone it sits in and the direction the person faces while working. North and east facing desks, with a solid wall rather than a window or a door behind, are the usual starting point. A desk squeezed into the south-west corner of a bedroom, facing the wall, is common and easy to improve.

If the same room is also used for sleeping, we keep the work area and the bed visibly separate.

Workplace interiors and fit-outs

For offices and shops, the interior layout decides where the owner sits, where cash and records are kept, where the team works and how visitors move through the space. The owner or director cabin usually suits the south-west, accounts the south-east or north depending on the layout, and reception the north or east. Our guides on the CEO and manager cabin and on the complete office layout cover this in more detail.

What interior work cannot fix

We are honest about scope. Interior changes cannot move a main door, relocate a toilet in the north-east or change the shape of the building. Furniture and colour can soften these issues, and we will suggest how, but if a structural item is the main problem we will tell you that, and suggest a full Vastu assessment or a renovation plan rather than leave you thinking a paint colour has solved it.

Rental homes and short stays

Tenants often assume Vastu advice is not for them because they cannot change the building. In practice, a rented flat is exactly where interior work helps most. Which bedroom you choose, where the bed and desk go, how the kitchen is used and what colour the soft furnishings are, all of these are in your hands. We keep suggestions to things a landlord would not object to and that move with you when you leave.

Decluttering and storage by zone

Clutter is not only untidy, it is weight in the wrong place. Before any colour or furniture change, we usually ask for one round of clearing: the north-east corner of each room, the centre of the home and the area just inside the main door. Storage that has to stay is moved to the south and west, where weight is welcome.