Transforming a 510 sq ft HDB flat to accommodate a couple's eclectic passions
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Transforming a 510 sq ft HDB apartment to adjust a couple's eclectic passions
CNA Lifestyle'due south Making Room series looks at minor homes with big transformations. This week, we visit a three-room resale flat with some simple tweaks for their sporty lifestyle, their plants and desire for a retro feel.
(Photo: Happe Design Atelier)
24 Jul 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 24 Jul 2022 07:06AM)
Homeowners Zen and Evie wanted their home to exude a timeless, retro-colonial vibe. They're also fettle enthusiasts who rollerblade and work out regularly, love having friends over, and had merely started a burgeoning collection of plant babies.
That's quite an eclectic fix of factors to consider for their 510 sq ft 3-room resale HDB apartment in Crawford Lane, merely the interior designer they engaged – Ean Chu of Happe Blueprint Atelier – managed to consider all of these.
The very commencement thing he did was to reconfigure the infinite. "Since they love entertaining friends, they definitely need a big communal space," he noted.
One of the apartment'south 2 bedrooms was sacrificed – its walls were hacked, and the space converted to a living surface area.
The wall between the kitchen and the dining area was also removed, resulting in a welcoming, spacious, flowing open-plan 50-shaped layout which connects the living area, dining expanse, kitchen, and even the service thousand where the bathroom amenities are located.
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To create an aureola of timeless elegance, Chu chose a subdued, bawdy colour palette of white, black, grey, teak brown and olive dark-green. Classic colonial-era materials such as drinking glass and brass, likewise as tropical hardwood and rattan, are used equally accents to warm upward the infinite visually.
The same flooring tiles – in medium gray marble, shot through with delicate white veining – were used throughout the living and dining areas, kitchen and principal bedroom for a sense of design continuity, imbuing the entire infinite with a sense of understated calm and composure.
"We chose a marble surface to neutralise the wooden accents of the house," Chu explained.
Enter the apartment through the olive green front door, and one is greeted by a congenital-in shelf stocked with leather-bound vintage encyclopaedias, and a one-half-height cabinet accented with an hour glass and a potted fern, below which shoes (and the couple'south roller blades) tin be rapidly stashed out of sight.
The first thing you discover is how ane side of the entire length of the apartment is dominated by teakwood wainscoting that goes almost correct up to the ceiling.
Aside from giving the flat a posh gentleman's club feel, the wainscoting conceals lots of built-in cabinetry as "sufficient storage was a key bespeak," said Chu. Another row of concealed cabinets in white laminate was built above. They blend seamlessly into the ceiling, while creating an illusion of top.
READ: Zen out with shoji screens in this couple's Japanese-inspired four-room HDB flat
In the middle of the row of wainscoted cabinets is a cosy, recessed alcove. It provides extra bench seating without eating into the flat'south footprint. A combination of open shelves and drawers below the bench provides boosted storage infinite, while a backlit nook behind houses framed artwork and home decor items.
Visually, this characteristic creates a pleasingly symmetrical focal bespeak within the apartment that highlights the dining expanse, which is lit overhead by a row of iii pendant lamps in wood, contumely and blackened steel.
The large oval marble-topped dining table with dark wood legs is reminiscent of the old kopitiam tables found in colonial-era Singapore. Information technology seats upwards to 10 for dinner parties, and performs double duty as a generous work-from-dwelling space for two. Mismatched dining chairs in a mix of black woods and natural rattan are quirky, without beingness jarring.
The living area, which is right abreast the dining expanse, feels cosy, intimate and elegant all at once, thanks to the black half-height wainscoting and bronze-tinted mirror panels that demarcate the space. The tinted mirrors also help bring light (but non glare) into the space, while making it expect twice its size.
READ: Transforming a 759 sq ft HDB flat into a colourful retro-modern wonderland
Fifty-fifty though it's furnished simply, the rich tones and textures of the effects and decor items – the moss-green vintage leather sofa, the round brass coffee tabular array accented by a piece of coral, the long mid-century-styled teak TV console, and the triangular rattan-topped side table – as well as the strategic placement of large potted plants (for their other hobby), make the space feel warm and inviting.
A small, curated selection of decor items, such as a red telephone and leather-bound books, add a pop of muted color and retro amuse.
While the homeowners used to bring their gymnastic rings to the nearby park for their workouts, Chu decided to hang them within the living room instead so they could practice at home if they wished – another design decision to cater to the sporty couple.
"The most interesting characteristic of the firm is the connectedness of the infinite from the communal surface area to the kitchen and grand," Chu pointed out.
Indeed, while the space is mostly kept open, white metal-framed and glass sliding French pocket doors make information technology possible to segregate the dining area from the kitchen when there's heavy cooking taking place, without blocking out the light or impeding visibility.
Too, information technology's also possible to segregate the kitchen from the bathroom/utility expanse at the farthest end of the apartment.
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"The retro-infused kitchen meets the colonial-style yard – both go on to maintain a mod approach with a fresh colour palette and clean simple lines."
The galley-style kitchen, with its pinnacle and lesser cabinets in teak, marble-look countertops and backsplashes, echoes the design elements of the dining expanse.
The bathroom/backyard setup maintains the standard layout of the traditional 3-room HDBs, with separate shower and WC "stalls", and an external sink between the two.
Most homeowners would hide away such a small, functional space, but Chu turned it into a distinct, striking and sophisticated design statement.
The flooring is done upwards in antique white terracotta floor tiles featuring an eye-catching sunburst design in moss green.
An oversized vintage mode sink, black-steel and glass doors for the shower and WC stalls, a row of white shiplap-clad cabinets (for concealing cleaning equipment) and potted tropical plants channel a breezy "onetime earth" charm.
Last but not least, in that location's the couple'due south main bedroom. It was extended to accommodate a spacious walk-through wardrobe on both sides past way of minimalist-looking built-in cupboards in pristine white laminate.
The sleeping area is dominated by a custom-fabricated teak-stained bamboo platform backed by a full-elevation feature wall. A semi-circular bronze-tinted mirror serves every bit the headboard, creating a focal betoken in the room, while bringing more light in.
Two identical wall sconces placed on either side of the mattress are a clever style to provide light and innovate a sense of symmetry to the room while doing away with the need for bedside tables in this cosy infinite.
Chu thoughtfully designed the platform with drawers below it, and a flip-top lip under the mattress, to meet the couple's storage needs.
A pair of delicate frosted glass pendant lamps, and old-school steel window grilles installed over the window, circular up this elegant ode to nostalgia.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/singapore-home-renovation-tips-hdb-bto-interior-design-271496
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