- I wanted something that was masculine. I wanted something that was a bit urban, but also a bit of the kind of Bali vibes. And so that's kind of
the different elements that we aimed to bring together. I also wanted the space
itself to have a bit of a kind of artistic element to it. And so one example of that is we've got this beautiful feature
wall in the living area where we've actually kind of chipped away and you can see some of the exposed brick and some of the kind of raw materials from the original unit. And so I think that's a
good example of kind of how, both with the preservation
of the original unit and then how we've kind
of like adapted that to kind of stay with this kind
of modern and masculine vibe. Hi, I'm James and I work
in the tech industry. So I was really drawn
to the Tiong Bahru area, given it's sort of mix of
old and new in Singapore. So I think you have a lot of the sort of traditional Singaporean vibe or you've got a great hawker centre, you've got some of the old HDB estates. And then you've also got some of this kind of unique cafe culture, nice shops, great places to grab brunch. And so I think the kind of mixed old and new is really nice for me. This is a four room walk-up
apartment in Tiong Bahru. It's 998 sqft. And I've been living here for three years. This home was built
more than 50 years ago. There were two key elements
that actually really drew me to this home and this space. Number one is the unit itself, the very unique shape of the unit, sort of a wedge shaped, almost like a slice of
pizza or a slice of pie. And also the size, a
lot of the newer units in Singapore are actually a bit smaller. And so the fact that
some of the older units are a bit larger presented
a really unique opportunity to sort of play with the space. Thinking about the uniqueness
of the neighbourhood, sort of the old meets new,
you've got the cafe culture, you've got the hawker culture. And as I thought about that, I also wanted to bring
some of that into the home. There was an opportunity
to kind of modernise it through the renovation that we did, but there was also an opportunity to keep some of the more historic elements and some of the character of the home, which I think made this
particularly unique space. The entryway was heavily inspired
by the wrought iron gates that you see on the front of
a lot of Tiong Bahru units. So we took that inspiration and actually used it for the front door. We removed the gate entirely, but instead we sort of
imprinted that design on the door itself. So the material is a corten rusty steel. And what's really interesting about it is it actually kind of ages
and weathers with time. So it maintains that character over time. I also loved in the original unit, there's a curve when you enter. And so if you were to go straight, you enter the study. And if you were to turn, you enter sort of the master bedroom and then the main living area. So I wanted to preserve
that original curve as part of the layout. That was, I guess, another element that was really important. So the base of the curve
is actually concrete. And in order to make that curve
more visually interesting, we also added wooden dowels to the front. And then those were painted with sort of a concrete grey colour. On top of that, you've then
got this beautiful tube light sort of in the centre of the curve as well as a backlit space up top. And so I think that
really kind of amplifies the curve itself and makes
that part of the home more visually interesting. When I walk into the home, I immediately turn right and there's a bench against the wall where I can sit down
and take off my shoes. This bench also doubles as a storage unit for the shoes themselves. I wanted the corridor to kind
of present a nice opening into the broader living space. From that point of view, there's a nice design element to it. And in particular, you
see this display niche on the left-hand side. You have raw travertine part of that, which really gives you
this unique character and also kind of reflects
the light behind it. And then you've got some storage space above and below there as well. In the main living room, the display shelf took its
reference from scaffolding and therefore has a open structure. The open structure is really interesting because it allows you to see
the wall behind the shelf. And that wall is an
interesting design element in it of itself, in the way that it has been stripped down and you can see some of the original brick and some of the design of the wall itself, which I think adds to the
character of the unit. Another element that's really interesting and really fun about this
shelf unit is the swivel TV. So the swivel TV can
rotate all the way out. And the purpose of that is so that when I'm spending
time in the kitchen, as I like to do when I'm cooking, I can still catch my favourite shows. And then as I'm eating
my dinner or finishing and having a glass of wine on the couch, I can move the TV into a new position and continue to watch from all angles. Before I became a homeowner, I didn't think much about lighting. And then when I was going
through this project, I realised that lighting
is really, really important and can sort of make or
break how a home feels in terms of kind of the mood
and the overall sentiment. There is this sort of
backlit cove lighting that runs all the way
from the entry corridor all the way through the living room. The sofa itself was custom
made to fit this space. It's quite large and I was
unable to find something without actually having
it designed for the space. So it's four metres on the longer side. It's about two and a half
metres on the shorter side. I wanted the sofa to be
placed against the window in order to create a more open kind of fluid concept with the space. And so by having it
placed against the window, number one, I think it
accentuates the windows behind it and really like allows that
natural light to flow in and serves as a nice backdrop. And then secondly, I think it creates a nice
open space with the kitchen. I really like to cook. And so I wanted an open concept kitchen so that I can bring the kitchen together with the living space, as opposed to being sort of tucked away in the corner of the house. And I also wanted the dining space and the kitchen space
to be together as one, because when I entertain
guests and when I cook, I think it's all part
of the same experience. And so from that perspective,
in terms of the design, what we did is put the
travertine table and island right in the middle of the space, which doubles as both a dining table as well as a food preparation space. Because of the layout of the unit itself with the curve at the front, having a normal sort of
rectangular kitchen island wasn't really a good option. It actually looked very
awkward in that unique space. And so what we did is
created the travertine island in such a way that it was
a bit tapered at one end and a bit wider at the other end. The dining table has a few
different purposes for me. Obviously I eat at the dining table. I sometimes use it to prepare
food when I need more space, but I often use it as a workspace as well. So I think this room with
all the natural light and the open concept is
a really pleasant place for me to work. I do like to entertain. And when I have people over, I like to make cocktails as well. And so I wanted the entertaining space to be a focal point of the kitchen. And so I opted for the open bar look in order to display the
spirits and the glassware as a broader part of the kitchen space. Because I spend a lot
of time in the kitchen, I needed to balance how
I could make this space very practical with
also how I could make it very design focused. And so for me, having
the induction cooktop was very important. And the only option for
the induction cooktop was kind of as part of this
broader far wall of the kitchen. The back wall of the kitchen is constructed of fluted walnut panels, and it also acts as a sort of concealer for all of the appliances
and other kitchen storage. I wanted to make this
space visually interesting, and that's why I opted for
the fluted wood design. At the same time, going
with the minimal concept and the very clean concept of the home, I wanted to make sure
that I could hide away some of the storage and appliances that you would normally see in a kitchen. The balcony is separated
from the dining area via a set of bifold glass doors. Those doors can be totally closed, which allows the balcony
to act as a separate space, or you can open them entirely so that the balcony sort of flows into the kitchen and dining space. In order to conserve some
of the original design and sort of retain the elements of how the building has always been, we designed the windows along the facade in sort of a grid-like
or lattice-like structure with a matte black metal kind
of cutting through the glass. The original unit had
this beautiful balcony with these really unique mosaic tiles as part of the original design. However, they were very
dirty, very weathered, and so they needed to be restored in order to be retained
as part of the new design. The balcony has two
beautiful wooden chairs. There's a woven aspect to them as well. These are Scandinavian designed, and so they were actually
imported from Europe. There's also a beautiful planter
at one end of the balcony, and I chose to have this planter because I really wanted to
bring some of the greenery and the tropical vegetation
inside the unit itself. Behind the planter, we
have a sort of glass panel with the matte black wood
lattice design as well. The common bathroom is
located behind the entryway and has two access points,
one from the master bedroom and one from the corridor
for easy access for guests. So we chose a micro-cement sink countertop to get a little bit of that raw and industrial look into the bathroom, and we also wanted to keep
things clean and minimal. And so there's a storage space that's actually hidden behind the mirror in the bathroom as well. As we were going through
the design process, we realised it wouldn't be
feasible to add a second toilet or to relocate the existing toilet. And so I wanted to make sure
that the toilet was accessible from the master bedroom. And for that reason, we
added a pocket sliding door so that the toilet can be
accessed both from the bedroom as well as from the hallway. As you enter the study, there's this beautiful metal
grate structure above the door. This was actually part
of the original unit. And so I wanted to make
sure that that history and that design was preserved
as part of the renovation. So we restored that metal grate. It was painted, it was sort of restored and then placed behind glass to create an interesting
pathway into the study. In the original unit, this
room was actually the kitchen, but because I relocated the kitchen to the front of the unit, I decided to make this
room into both a study as well as a guest bedroom. So it currently serves as both. The study connects to a
spiral staircase in the back. And this is actually a
very iconic design element of many of the older Tiong Bahru units. The spiral staircase entrance
is currently concealed so that you don't actually know it's there unless you remove the concealed
door and head to the back. When you enter the master bedroom, you will notice that there's
a cutout for the door so that when you open the door, it actually fits very
nicely into that space. The king-sized bed has a
beautiful stone headboard that's built into the room. And it's the same stone that's used in the master bathroom
and the shower behind. So it brings the two spaces together. There's also a beautiful walnut cutout in the middle of the headboard. That sort of serves two purposes. Number one is from a design purpose. It allows me to display items in the room. Number two, it also
acts as a storage space and has hidden electrical outlets for me to charge my phone at night. In the master bedroom, I also really wanted to
create some symmetry. And so in order to achieve that, we installed these matte black metal poles on either side of the bed. This space was originally the living area in the original unit, but it was quite small and quite dark. And so as we redesigned the layout, I actually wanted to
extend the master bedroom and create a full walk-in wardrobe. So this space doubles as
both a walk-in wardrobe as well as a shower area for the master. At the top of the wardrobe, I also wanted to install an aircon unit because it gets so hot in Singapore and I wanted to stay cool when I was getting ready in the mornings. And so we have a fluted
walnut texture at the top, which allows the air con to come through and then also fits in
seamlessly with the design. So as I thought about the
design of the master bathroom, one thing that I really
wanted to incorporate was a large, beautiful sink. And so we found this beautiful
sort of white and grey stone that we were able to use
to construct that sink. And below the sink, we were also able to
kind of hide the piping and create a nice storage area for some of the other bathroom items. If you look behind the sink, there's also sort of a narrow niche that doubles as a storage area for some of those smaller toiletry items. So the bathroom itself has a large window, which opens up to a light well. And that light well also
faces the neighbor's unit. So these units are in
very close proximity. And although it lets in this
beautiful natural light, it also creates a lack of
privacy in the bathroom. So we created a folding
mirror above the sink. I think the way this space was designed in terms of having both
kind of traditional elements as well as having modern and new elements, I think it's really well positioned to kind of age alongside me and as I continue to spend time here. At the same time, this is the first property
that I've ever owned. And so for me, I think it will always
hold a very special place in my heart as first
place I've really lived in and called my own out here in Singapore. For me, a home should be a place where you feel comfortable, where you can relax, you can entertain, and it should also be a reflection, in my opinion, of who you are as a person.
