Odel Home

Otara Chandiram is wary of any personal publicity. Seated in her cool, grey toned office, constantly dealing with ringing phones and busy assistants, the lady behind Odel's remarkable success would much rather talk about her new venture than about her own career at its helm.

The Odel board, down Dickman's Road has been known to Colombo shoppers who for the past seven years had been used to checking out its clothes selection. The shop was also known to be somewhat crowded, rather cramped. But in its place now is Odel Home, Otara's latest venture which both in content and interior is nothing like its predecessor.

Odel Home's interior, carefully redone has style and space. A look that encourages relaxed browsing. "People ask me if they can't go and live there," smiles Otara. She takes this as a compliment that she has succeeded in creating the kind of airy, understated elegance that many strive for in their homes. "You see, we are trying to sell a whole lifestyle. So you can now not only wear Odel, but you can live Odel."

The idea for a home decor shop came about through the interest evinced by customers in the selection of home accessories that were available at Odel Unlimited, the big shop at the Town Hall junction. "The few items like towels and linen always moved fast and got us thinking about the possibilities of meeting this demand. 'There's no other shop which provides a complete range of home products."

The 'Odel lifestyle' that she is keen to promote includes the fine things in life, beautiful linen and drapes, cutlery, glass ware and many ideas for outdoor fun, like picnic baskets and huge sun umbrellas. It doesn't take much to guess that Otara, who herself personally makes the choice of what products she sells is an outdoor person. "I love nature but unfortunately now I have very little time to enjoy it. That's why I'd like others to," she says. The hammocks and picnic baskets are fast moving items, so her yen for the outdoors is obviously shared.

While some of the items are made locally, there are also others that are imported. Otara feels that local production is often, sadly constrained by several factors. "For instance the material for bedsheets would not be available in the kind of width we need. Quality can also be a problem and is carefully monitored," she says. "But we are trying to get more products made here."

Did she ever wonder when she started out seven years ago that Odel would grow so big? Not really, she says, adding though that the growth has been gradual. But it's no doubt, turned the once much sought after model, still sylphlike, into a busy working woman. "I work all weekdays and sometimes weekends too," she says. Any spare time is spent with her young son, whose smiling pictures sit close by her desk..

Decorating your home in style

Planning on giving a new look to your home? Or, are you having debates in the family about furnishing and decorating your new home? Whichever it is, it is the time of the decor trek is over.

There's one place in the city where you can discover the ideal vase in glass or ceramics for that very special corner in the drawing room,or classic wooden shelves for your pantry. Odel, which has made many a pioneering move in shopping, has now removed the need for that trek from shop to shop to buy that ornament, furnishing, fabric. It has almost everything of quality and utility for your home.

Situated at Dickman's Road, Odel Home, can help you start your home or transform it.

Whether it's your bedroom or bathroom, dining room or living room, and even the garden, Odel Home, has new concepts in decor.

What strikes one most on entering Odel Home is the range of glassware available . It is a range, which combines both exquisite quality with alluring design. From purely decorative pieces, to vases, coloured shapes that will be enhanced by the glow of a candle inside, to stemmed glasses to serve wine and the extraordinary tumbler, the range here will give you many ideas for use in your home. The designs are European and American. The lines are in keeping with most modern trends in designer glass, and the overall finish can seldom be found in shops in Colombo.

Bedroom decor takes on a whole new trend with the linen, quilts, duvets,throw rugs, in soft shades and good texture. The range is wide enough to give each bedroom its own identity.

The Dining Room has its own possibilities, with everything from the table placing to the serviette holder, table cloths, serviettes, to suit different functions and guests. A candle-lit dinner can have the added lure of the wafting perfume of sandalwood, eucalyptus, or jasmine. The candle stands come in a variety of designs and material, from glass, to ceramics, wrought iron and even reed.

For the living room there are furnishings, ready to hang curtains, cushions, wall hangings, picture frames, and fine decorative pieces in pottery and ceramics.

It is rarely that those who cater to the home decor market would think of the office room. But here great thought has been given to the modern, efficient and functional office room, either in the home or office. Its file organizers, magazine racks,stackable document boxes, note pads, pen and pencil holders give inspiration for a completely new office, without exorbitant cost too. All the material is made of re-cycled paper, making the office an environmentally friendly space to work in.

No home is complete without the nursery or the kiddie's quarters. Much effort has gone into the discovery of the items that Odel Home has for this part of home. From the cot and bed sheets, to quilts that roll up into duffel bags, and chairs that have been specially designed to look like the favourite animals of kids. With a thought at the functional, there are kiddie's chairs where the seat could be raised to discover a box that can stack those toys and all those things children must collect. The wooden toys are safe to handle and also have no toxic paint. The rugs and wall hangings have drawn a lot from those Walt Disney characters that are always endearing to children.

For the pantry that needs some functional fittings, and not what the pantry designer did for his own satisfaction, there is plenty of good and tidy shelf space available, spice jars, condiment containers and the always handy utility boxes.

The fact that apartment living is becoming more the reality, with the lack of garden space, has prompted Odel Home to have an interesting collection of potted plants, which do not need direct sunlight, grow in small lightweight pots and only need some regular sprinkling of water to keep them, green, growing and fresh. Who would not like to see a potted plant inside a home? For the areas that could do with artificial flowers, there's plenty to chose from too, in a range of flowers that do a great job in matching up to nature in appearance.

In all this range for the Home Beautiful, garden has not been forgotten. The extra large garden umbrella, can shade you from the harsh sunlight of El Nino, and the folding chairs are easy to handle and light to carry. For sitting out at night there are lanterns to light up the darkness but not with a glare. The reed canteen complete with all that is needed for a picnic away from home is sure to make one want to travel out more often.

Odel Home is the homemaker's home come true.

It is a place that will make you plan the things you need and help create your own home in a manner you could not do in any single shop before this. It is also the place to drop in when you have to choose a gift for a friend, who does not deserve to be loaded with unwanted trinkets that will have no place in his or her home.

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