How do you decorate your home?

Do you browse through magazines and Pinterest to find home designs you love, and then search all the shops and bazaars in your city to shop (and negotiate prices) for furniture that matches your inspiration? Or, like many Indians, do you show a local carpenter pictures of what you want and hope that he will make an exact replica in the quality that you need? To find that perfect and high-quality piece of furniture for your home from these sources can be costly. Often, you spend so much time searching and end up acquiring furniture and home décor from multiple sources, which usually takes multiple weekend trips and countless hours sorting through all of the options. Even if you find success, would you know how everything will fit and look together in your home? Does the story end there? No! What about the hassle of figuring out delivery and installation, or coordinating how all these different pieces will come to you? Furthermore, what guarantee do you have that there won’t be any damage or recourse in case you don’t receive the expected product!



“Shopping in India is, unfortunately, inconvenient. Shops either have too little or too much inventory and this can be unhelpful when trying to set up a new home. You are eventually relegated to looking through catalogues and tiny swatches and having to 'guess' rather than even seeing a picture of a finished product, as most stores do not have the space required to store every variety of what you may be looking for. This means you will invariably have to visit several shops before completing a single room’s décor,” says Gautam Kitchlu, Founder & CEO of Discern Living.

In addressing these hassles, the Indian home décor market has seen a growing shift from a largely unorganised space into one that allows shoppers clarity, organised retail options, structure, and hassle-free experience. At the moment, about 10% of the current 25 Billion USD total furniture and furnishing market in India is organised. Out of the Indian organised residential furniture and furnishing market, only 16% is online; however, the market is showing a growing preference to online with 75% year on year growth. By 2020, 25% of the organised residential furniture and furnishings market will be online. This push towards the organisation and online shopping for furniture addresses the requirements of those who are strapped for time, lacking inspiration or design expertise, or are overwhelmed by the variety of choices.

And what if you need the help in planning for the styling and remodeling of your home, do you hire an interior designer?

Most Indian consumers are unable - or unwilling - to invest the serious money it takes in hiring an on-ground, expensive design professional, to help them meet their refurbishment requirements. Interior design in the country is a luxury, costing up to 15% of the project value in design fees, with a very high minimum required spend. The process is also cumbersome and time-consuming, taking anywhere from 1 month for small projects, up to 6 months or more for bigger projects. There is a huge lack of affordable, fast interior design service in India. Plus, interior design services are inconsistent with regards to timelines and deliverables. We understand that not everyone can - or wants to - pay huge sums of money on an interior decorator; however, the flip side is having to scour many shops online or offline and coordinate with various sellers to finally find and buy the products you need for your home.

The internet has changed the way we shop and live our daily lives, completely!

Today, we are lucky enough to be able to pick out a new outfit, order groceries, pay our bills and even file our taxes from the comfort of our laptops and smartphones. In India, the online shopping space is expanding exponentially and by 2020, there will be 330 million online shoppers from 130 million today! There is virtually no reason to ever have to step foot into a busy, crowded store again at all!



While we’re seeing the shift to online furniture and décor market, customers are still lost and need guidance. There are too many options, no filter for style, and the various options are fragmented. For urban, young families the online process has mimicked the offline process - searching endless websites for the right products and discounts. The lack of inspiration and understanding of how everything fits together or matches each individual’s aesthetic is missing. At Discern Living, we believe shopping should be inspiring, fun, and easy! We focus on the immersive and social experience, so that you don’t have to spend months finding the perfect solutions for your interiors, and thus, can balance everything else in your fast-moving life. With our approach as a product discovery platform and online design service provider, we aim to be your companion for all of your home needs for life!



Through a clutter-breaking recommendation and curation model, Discern Living distinguishes between the distinct needs of consumers and helps to design personalised living spaces. This kind of approach, we believe, can be found only in the online space.



“Discern Living provides users with an entertaining, 'do-it-yourself' experience with 'do-it-for-me' design guidance to inspire users and simplify the buying process. We focus on inspiring content and design services enabled by great visualisation technology,” says Gautam Kitchlu, Founder & CEO of Discern Living. "On our mobile (and soon web) platform, we provide an instantly gratifying way to shop online for products from multiple vendors, something that could otherwise take months, if done manually - ie: the traditional way.”

Through virtual interior design services, Discern Living aims to democratise access to interior design for all, cutting down the time taken for a project to 2-3 weeks and saving customers anywhere from 30,000 - 1 Lac+ on interior design fees. A quick example: typical interior project to re-decorate a living room would take six weeks with 3 in-person meetings and cost the clients about Rs 1 lac in design fee; the same project completed by Discern Living takes 2 weeks and a standard Rs 20,000 for the Decor Package!

Considering the hassle, expense and inconvenience of shopping for furniture in person, Discern Living has created a solution that works for homes and families of all shapes, sizes and budgets. Read more from our feature - “Welcome to the Discern Living App”!

Download our app today (available on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store) to understand for yourself what the hype is all about! Welcome to the new age of interior design and home decor.