Vastu in an existing flat, without demolishing anything

The requests that come up most often in Indian homes are a kitchen in the south-east, a north-east that stays light and uncluttered, a head-south sleeping position, and a bathroom that does not share a wall with the pooja space. In a flat you did not design, some of those are fixed.

The ones you can change without civil work are worth doing first. Sleeping orientation is a bed position. Clutter in the north-east is a storage decision. A pooja niche can be relocated to almost any wall that is not shared with a bathroom or placed under a staircase.

Where the kitchen is in the wrong corner, moving it is a plumbing and gas decision that is rarely proportionate. The common accommodation is the hob position within the kitchen — placing the cooking point on the south-east side of the counter run — which satisfies the intent without relaying services.

Decide early how literally the household wants this applied, and tell the designer at the briefing rather than at the drawing stage. Vastu constraints introduced after the layout is set are the most expensive kind of change.

Vastu constraints introduced after the layout is set are the most expensive kind of change.