My Own Home: Three generations under one roof at Dh2.1 million Damac Hills 2 villa
My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in After a decade of living together in Abu Dhabi, Nafisa Patni and her husband, Zeeshan Razzaqi, decided to make the move to Dubai and purchased a property in Damac Hills 2. Mr Razzaqi was raised in the capital, but is now director at workplace solutions company Bisdesk, in Dubai. Ms Patni, a content creator, also runs her own marketing company, so it made sense for them to uproot. Now, they live happily in their Dh2.1 million four-bedroom villa, which they bought off-plan, with their daughter and Mr Razzaqi's father, Mohammad. While they have no intentions of moving just yet, Ms Patni has not ruled it out. The National takes a look around. We have four bedrooms upstairs, and downstairs, there is a hall, a maid's room, a storeroom, a kitchen and a garden. Technically it was pre-Covid, but it was handed over to us after the pandemic. We bought it for Dh2.1 million and I don't know the current value today. The storage capacity in the house is very poor, so we did renovations to add more storage options. We got the garden renovated and did a little bit in the hall for a showcase, but overall we've done very few renovations. It's very, very cosy with a lot of earthy textures and neutral colours – most of it is white. We have a lot of natural plants in the house. We love plants. My garden area is a small, cosy place where we sit during the evenings inside the cabana so we can enjoy the weather. We have a lot of birds coming because we keep bird food everywhere. So, in the morning and evenings they come for the food and water and the sounds of the birds is very therapeutic and really relaxing. My daughter likes to play outdoors and we have tea time, then after dinner we sit and chat. Then indoors is more of a calming place where we have nice, neutral colour palettes and a large collection of vintage items. My husband loves collecting, especially from Asia. We have some things that are more than 500 years old. We were based in Abu Dhabi for more than a decade, then my husband started his own business in Dubai, and so they decided that it's time to shift to Dubai. When we started the business, the intention was not to go back to our hometown, because life in the UAE is definitely worth living. My father-in-law had settled in Abu Dhabi, so my husband's schooling and everything was done in Abu Dhabi. After all that time, they decided to invest in Dubai. This was our first investment, because earlier we were in a rented house in Abu Dhabi. It didn't make sense to keep paying rent when we have an intention to settle here. So we decided Dubai was the best place to invest in, as this place is definitely developing day by day. The ambience. When we looked at the plans, the entire layout and the community set-up was lush and green. Earlier, the name of this community was Akoya Oxygen, which meant lots of fresh air, water and greenery. So that is what my in-laws and my husband love, because it's all natural. The facilities are also amazing and we liked that it was far from the city. It has a nice, calming effect. We knew it was not going to be like a typical community. That it was going to be different. And it is – it gives us those nice, resort-style vibes. Even though it's far from the city, once you enter the community it's a whole different world. We have an amazing pool. There are several playgrounds around the community. Every cluster has their own pool and play area. There is a basketball court, a gym, a cricket pitch and a tennis court. We have outdoor gyms, as exercise equipment is installed everywhere. We have Malibu Bay, which is a huge pool with the lazy river, slides, kids' splash area and cabanas. On weekends we enjoy the lazy river and sitting by the cabanas, reading books or having a nice time with the family. We also have a barbecue section. We even have our own private boating area in the community. It's a man-made lake where we can go boating. There are several supermarkets inside the community. We have a laundry service. Everything in the community is accessible. It's been three years since we moved in to this house, so we have no plans to move out any time soon. If we have something better than this, maybe in future, inshallah, we will see, but for now this is our home and we love it.
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My Own Home: Feng shui expert loves living in Dh2.75m, Vastu-compliant Dubai Marina apartment
My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in Kanupriya Saraf wears many hats in her career, which encompasses life mentoring and astrology, but her work as a feng shui and Vastu consultant was a guiding force when choosing the home she'd live in. She moved to Dubai from India two years ago and bought her first property here last May. She chose a two-bedroom apartment in Dubai Marina, which she got for Dh2.75 million, and where she now lives with her one-and-a-half-year-old Maltipoo puppy and a house helper. Everything from the style of the building's reception to the communal lounge and her north-east-facing property has created a sense of 'Zen' for Ms Saraf, and she has no plans to move out any time soon. The National takes a look around. I put a lot of focus on the home and everything that goes inside its four walls. It's a two-bedroom flat, and there's also a maid's room. There are two bathrooms and one powder room. There is an open-style kitchen, which I put a glass door over because we Indians don't always want our cooking smell all inside the house. I'm generally sensitive to smells as well. I don't get a straight view of the Palm, but then it's on the 12th floor, so from the balcony I do get a small view of the water body of the Marina. I bought it in May 2024 for about Dh2.75 million. I do not know what it's worth now, but I have done a lot on renovation of the flat, so I don't bother checking its worth. I've changed the ceiling lighting. There was just one lamp in the centre of every room, but I put spotlights and LED lighting to enhance the mood. I also put some chandeliers around the house, and yellow lighting as there was white light everywhere. I changed the bathrooms, especially the wash basin and some of the tiling. I added the kitchen door, and I made more chests of drawers and cabinet storage in the kitchen. I added more storage in the maid's room. I also put something to circulate the air on top of the ceiling. That's very important for me with my work in the space of feng shui. I need to put the element of wind in the house, so it allows for the air circulation, especially in the hot environment. I wanted to balance the wind element with the water element of the Marina. There's a lot of wind if you stand on the balcony, if I open the doors, which is great. I also changed the wall colours and added knick-knacks here and there. I believe that if somebody does have the finances in hand, it makes sense to buy a property. You get the visa when you buy a property and if you're looking to stay here, it just makes sense. If somebody does decide to leave, they can always rent it, so I know that even if I ever left Dubai, I can always come back. I will always have some friends living here. I believe a home is something that is owned by me. Even from the Vastu and feng shui concept, a home is a very safe space for me, so I find that safety when I own that property myself and I can decorate it as I please. I like to create a Zen space in the house. I keep my walls and my curtains white, very minimalistic or ivory beige, or a very light brown colour, and then I complement it with a touch of orange colours. The orange represents joy and creativity. In my living room, I've used the orange colour in my cushions and I like to add natural elements as well, because I really like nature. I have some plants and the cushion covers have birds on them. The furniture will add the warmth, add the wood element with the brown colour. It's not very bright, but it's a very aesthetically pleasing environment, very peaceful, very Zen, very serene, but also very luxurious and very classy at the same time. In my bedroom, the bed is a very nice blue colour, and then everything else is white, and the chandelier and the fans are golden. 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It's almost like a five-star accommodation in the middle of the Marina.
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My Own Home: Three generations under one roof at Dh2.1 million Damac Hills 2 villa
My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in After a decade of living together in Abu Dhabi, Nafisa Patni and her husband, Zeeshan Razzaqi, decided to make the move to Dubai and purchased a property in Damac Hills 2. Mr Razzaqi was raised in the capital, but is now director at workplace solutions company Bisdesk, in Dubai. Ms Patni, a content creator, also runs her own marketing company, so it made sense for them to uproot. Now, they live happily in their Dh2.1 million four-bedroom villa, which they bought off-plan, with their daughter and Mr Razzaqi's father, Mohammad. While they have no intentions of moving just yet, Ms Patni has not ruled it out. The National takes a look around. We have four bedrooms upstairs, and downstairs, there is a hall, a maid's room, a storeroom, a kitchen and a garden. Technically it was pre-Covid, but it was handed over to us after the pandemic. We bought it for Dh2.1 million and I don't know the current value today. The storage capacity in the house is very poor, so we did renovations to add more storage options. We got the garden renovated and did a little bit in the hall for a showcase, but overall we've done very few renovations. It's very, very cosy with a lot of earthy textures and neutral colours – most of it is white. We have a lot of natural plants in the house. We love plants. My garden area is a small, cosy place where we sit during the evenings inside the cabana so we can enjoy the weather. We have a lot of birds coming because we keep bird food everywhere. So, in the morning and evenings they come for the food and water and the sounds of the birds is very therapeutic and really relaxing. My daughter likes to play outdoors and we have tea time, then after dinner we sit and chat. Then indoors is more of a calming place where we have nice, neutral colour palettes and a large collection of vintage items. My husband loves collecting, especially from Asia. We have some things that are more than 500 years old. We were based in Abu Dhabi for more than a decade, then my husband started his own business in Dubai, and so they decided that it's time to shift to Dubai. When we started the business, the intention was not to go back to our hometown, because life in the UAE is definitely worth living. My father-in-law had settled in Abu Dhabi, so my husband's schooling and everything was done in Abu Dhabi. After all that time, they decided to invest in Dubai. This was our first investment, because earlier we were in a rented house in Abu Dhabi. It didn't make sense to keep paying rent when we have an intention to settle here. So we decided Dubai was the best place to invest in, as this place is definitely developing day by day. The ambience. When we looked at the plans, the entire layout and the community set-up was lush and green. Earlier, the name of this community was Akoya Oxygen, which meant lots of fresh air, water and greenery. So that is what my in-laws and my husband love, because it's all natural. The facilities are also amazing and we liked that it was far from the city. It has a nice, calming effect. We knew it was not going to be like a typical community. That it was going to be different. And it is – it gives us those nice, resort-style vibes. Even though it's far from the city, once you enter the community it's a whole different world. We have an amazing pool. There are several playgrounds around the community. Every cluster has their own pool and play area. There is a basketball court, a gym, a cricket pitch and a tennis court. We have outdoor gyms, as exercise equipment is installed everywhere. We have Malibu Bay, which is a huge pool with the lazy river, slides, kids' splash area and cabanas. On weekends we enjoy the lazy river and sitting by the cabanas, reading books or having a nice time with the family. We also have a barbecue section. We even have our own private boating area in the community. It's a man-made lake where we can go boating. There are several supermarkets inside the community. We have a laundry service. Everything in the community is accessible. It's been three years since we moved in to this house, so we have no plans to move out any time soon. If we have something better than this, maybe in future, inshallah, we will see, but for now this is our home and we love it.
