A guest-room headboard in Arambol gets leaned on with wet hair, sun cream and sandy shoulders, a different guest every few nights. It needs a cover that wipes: leatherette, or a tight synthetic weave, in a mid-tone. Skip buttons and deep channels, which hold sand, and keep the outline a plain rectangle so it can be re-covered easily when it finally wears. Fix it a little off the wall. The air is very humid and rooms are shut for the monsoon, and a board tight against plaster grows mould behind it. Seal the backing ply on both sides. Making one design for every room keeps the look consistent and repairs straightforward.
- Budget guest rooms: a flat leatherette panel fixed to the wall with a gap behind, one size repeated across the rooms.
- Mid-range rooms: a panelled headboard in tight synthetic weave, with flat seams that sand brushes off without catching.
- Rooms in family homes: a headboard fixed to the bed frame, so it moves with the bed when rooms are rearranged.
Arambol is the northernmost of the well-known Goa beaches, in Pernem. It is a long beach with a fishing village behind it, a freshwater lake beyond the northern headland, and a busy traveller scene of guest houses, cafes and workshops.
Accommodation is mainly budget and mid-range: guest houses, rooms in family homes and seasonal huts. Owners need low-cost, hard-wearing furnishing in quantity.
The beach is open to the sea and very humid. The monsoon shuts most of the village down, and salt and sand wear everything quickly.
Visiting Arambol
Arambol is about a hundred minutes from the showroom, the furthest we travel in North Goa. We measure free of charge, on a day planned for Pernem.