Kitchen layouts may vary wildly, but one measurement remains surprisingly consistent across most homes: the standard counter height.

There's a particular kind of frustration that comes with admiring beautifully timeworn interiors while sitting inside a brand-new home with magnolia walls and very little character. 

Buying bar stools should be simple. Yet it usually ends with a tape measure in hand, rechecking dimensions for the tenth time and wondering whether those stools you’ve finally settled on are about to arrive ridiculously low or awkwardly high.

Traditional Scandinavian interiors have long been admired for their simplicity. White walls, clean lines, uncluttered spaces and an almost gallery-like sense of calm.

But what happens when that minimalism begins to feel a little too polished?

Not everyone wants a home that looks like a showroom. Some people want texture, atmosphere and a sense that a space has actually been lived in. That’s where grunge-inspired interiors come into their own.

It seems everyone’s doing it lately. The brave ones, anyway. The people with “the vision”. The ones confidently abandoning white walls in favour of deep greens, charcoal greys and almost-black blues.

Running on little sleep and even less food, our driver eventually pulled into a motorway service station somewhere between Jaipur and Jodhpur. “Finally,” we thought. “Food.” Reality was slightly less glamorous.

I’m sitting, one hour into a six-hour taxi ride from Delhi to Jaipur, while my wife, Abs, sleeps soundly beside me. Outside the window, Delhi unfolds in a blur of headlights, scooters, dust and relentless horns.

The roads feel lawless. Cars drift between lanes without warning, motorbikes appear from impossible angles, and our driver seems entirely unbothered by any of it.

The industrial look is huge, and it’s showing no signs of diminishing any time soon.