DIYs, Recipes, Furniture, Art - Whatsurhomestory

Your family's story through your home

  • Home
  • My Story
    • Contact
  • Our Home
  • Tutorials
    • DIY & Crafts
    • Furniture Makeovers
    • Sewing
    • Gardening
    • Room Makeovers
    • Home Tours
  • Holiday/Seasonal
    • Christmas
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Halloween
    • Fall / Thanksgiving
    • Parties
    • Indian Holidays
  • Recipes
  • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Features

Home Sweet Home – Kerala Houses

June 22, 2012 By Vidya 8 Comments

I had asked Acha (my dad) to take some pics of the traditional Kerala houses in their neighborhood as I wanted to continue my series on slopping roofs especially the detail that go into roof design/decor in Kerala. Staying true to his over planning self he sent me over 70 pics! That’s my dad, always thinks of having extras for the ‘just in case’ situations. Love you. 🙂

The last time I visited my folks, almost 3 years back, they had not moved into their current home/neighborhood. After seeing all these beautiful houses I just couldn’t help but push the roofing series out for another week. All the greenery, the coconut trees (our state’s name Kerala means the land of coconut trees), the banana plants……….reminded me of home so much. I had to show these to you…

Like I said, all these homes are in my parents’ neighborhood. They are your typical middle class/upper middle class homes that you will see all over the state. Unlike in the US, people over there prefer to build new houses from scratch rather than buying an older home. They rarely work with a builder (though that is changing, we are seeing more cookie cutters there too) instead work directly with a team of contractors/ architects to build based on a customized plan.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

As you are going to see there is an abundance of tiled roofs in Kerala houses, which naturally are sloping; an ideal design solution to deal with the heavy monsoon rains.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

Notice the love of balconies and porches? The roof line designs are variations of the same thing.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

The design details above and below the roof line is typical of the traditional style. In the next pic, the home owners have tried to mix the boxy western style with the traditional roof.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

Oh….and all the homes have compounds walls and gates, a fact that my kids find puzzling. Their usual question is, “Why do they need those”? I retort with, “Maybe they feel safer with a gate”. “How come? We don’t have a compound wall or a gate and we are doing good”? At this point I change the topic deftly. 🙂 Anyways, here is closer view of the compound wall and the fence.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

All these pics are making me so nostalgic. Another one that is a mix of styles; middle eastern arches, western, and the traditional Kerala architecture.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

You can see all the design favorites together in the next one; the roof tiles (they have even found a place on the compound wall and gate posts, a very common sight), the porches, balconies, and intricate iron gates. We even have names for our homes not just a number. Talk about personality! 🙂 The home on the right, ‘Amritham’ is my parents’.

Home Sweet Home   Kerala Houses

All that tropical foliage………..badly need to go home. Time to book the tickets.

Do you like the tropics too? What is your favorite city/town?

← The Easiest Way to Create a Gallery Wall DIY Cork Board Map →
« The Easiest Way to Create a Gallery Wall
DIY Cork Board Map »

Comments

  1. Sunita says

    June 22, 2012 at 1:21 am

    The observation about the fence and the gate is pretty funny. I had never thought about that one. I know what is the point of the buckingham palace gate ha ha ha. But I would definitely feel safer sleeping in a house with a gate in kerala though 🙂

    Beautiful photographs!!! Fathers ahh … aren’t they really cute going overboard with something you ask. Your father did an amazing job.
    A friend of mine had asked her father for a CD of a particular “mapla” song and he send her a pack of CDs full of only “mapla paat” – It was funny.

    Reply
    • whatsurhomestory says

      June 22, 2012 at 8:41 am

      LOL that is funny. My dad does the same thing too with CDs and books. Any utensil that I bring from India I have 2; 2 meen chattis, 2 bowls of each type for the mixer, 2 pressure cookers. Actually almost all the backups have come in handy during emergency situations. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Vandana says

    June 24, 2012 at 1:02 am

    Hi,you’ve written a very interesting post!Loved going through it….What I love about Kerala is the greenery and the houses with the eye-catching red roofs!I’ve been to Kerala on a holiday and have enjoyed every bit of it!My favourite city is Bangalore…..have lived there for a long time and have plans of settling there in future…….

    Reply
    • whatsurhomestory says

      June 25, 2012 at 9:44 am

      Thanks Vandana. Kerala is beautiful, can’t wait to visit. Love Bangalore too. Are you in India?

      Vidya

      Reply
  3. Deepa says

    June 25, 2012 at 11:15 am

    Sooo beautiful!! Love Kerala style architecture! looks gorgeous!
    I love your blog and the cool ideas that you share, I made 2 succulent planters and a terrarium based on your tips :). I will send you the pictures.

    Reply
    • whatsurhomestory says

      June 25, 2012 at 12:42 pm

      Thanks Deepa. Wow that great. Do send me the pics at [email protected]. Would love to share those with everyone. I was just telling someone today that I’m gonna start a reader showcase series soon. Thanks again.
      Vidya

      Reply
  4. Aaroohii says

    June 26, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    This reminds me of my home in India, except there were fewer trees. Houses in India feel so clean due to the shiny white tiles.. ahh I miss living there.. felt like a princess with several servants and all.. Btw the compound wall and gates were made so that stray animals don’t come in.

    Reply
    • whatsurhomestory says

      June 27, 2012 at 9:25 am

      Ha….ha……..:) Good to know about the compound wall. Never thought of that.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi! I'm Vidya, an IT professional by day, a mom to my 2 darling monkeys, a wife, a home maker, an avid gardener and home decor/ DIY enthusiast round the clock, and a blogger in my free time. Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
subscribe img

Categories

Love this outdoor space with a beautiful red and blue outdoor decor with a flamingo pillow, metal tray side table, and loads of green plants

Finally the long overdue post, our new screened in porch reveal. This space has undoubtedly become our favorite room in the house now. To tell you the truth, I was against the idea of ripping apart our good size deck and replacing it with a screened in porch but B insisted that this was the…

Read More »

Archives

Features

Features

Networks

POPSUGAR Select Homemarthabadge1
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

HOME | MY STORY | OUR HOME | TUTORIALS | HOLIDAY/ SEASONAL | RECIPES | TIPS & TRICKS | ADVERTISE | PRIVACY POLICY | FEATURES | SITEMAP
DIY, Crafts, Recipes, Gardening – Whatsurhomestory.com COPYRIGHT © 2020 WHATS UR HOME STORY

Like What You See? Subscribe to Receive WUHS Posts via Email!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.