Stylish in appearance, yet filled with comfort – contemporary-style homes often make for delightful family abodes with their spacious rooms that incorporate up-to-date decor elements, which highlight and communicate their owners’ sense of individuality. Things are no different, at this striking 4-room HDB unit occupied by a young family of four.
The look of every nook and cranny in this apartment was well thought-out by Bowerman Interior Planner designer Chris Huang, who took great care in creating a varied yet complementary visual flow throughout the various rooms.
Taking things to the next level, however, is the apartment’s brand new layout, which plays an important role in giving it a neat and tidy appearance. As per the client brief for a functional and stylish abode, Chris completely transformed various parts of the home by tearing down existing structures and erecting various space-saving solutions in their place for a more spacious look.
One particular example would be the entertainment room that was customised to include a wall of cabinets that fully maximises vertical storage space, while cutting down on both visual and physical clutter. A similar modification was also made to the children’s bedroom, where a row of overhead cupboards was created above the sleeping zone as a convenient hideaway for personal belongings, such as books and toys.
Comfort and cosiness were also chosen as key decor themes to create a hotel-like interior, which the homeowners can retreat into following a hectic day at work.
“For this project, we chose to utilise a variety of construction materials and finishings for a more versatile look. And this is to allow flexibility in decor as well as to accommodate possible revamps of the space, when the homeowners’ children grow older,” says Chris. “For example, concrete was chosen for the main living space as well as the entrance hallway’s flooring, as this would eliminate the need for hacking during future renovations, while giving the house a raw, stylish look.”
Indeed, a cave-like comfort can be found in the living room where dark neutrals take centrestage. In addition to the choice of concrete flooring, an ashen fabric sofa was selected as the primary piece of furniture for the space. Completing the colour-coordinated look of the room is a plush grey carpet, which comes together with its surroundings to create a visually-consistent space.
Likewise, as a way of tying in the overall look of the apartment, wood-effect vinyl tiles that were used for the entrance’s feature wall were also utilised as flooring for the children and master bedroom.
Playing an important functional and decorative role in the living room is a customised television console located close to the main entrance. Dressed in matte blue laminates that add a pop of colour to an otherwise subdued environment, the front of the structure opens up to reveal a concealed recess that is used by the homeowners to store shoes, electronics and other belongings.
Similarly well-coordinated, the adjacent dining space and kitchen blend seamlessly into the rest of the home. The former comes equipped with a white marble lotus table, in addition to a collection of modern wire chairs. Keeping the surroundings well-lit is a large mobile chandelier that also serves as a talking point for the dining area.
In line with the owners’ requests for an open, uncluttered environment, the original storeroom was knocked down to accommodate the current dining area while a utility area was constructed at the rear of the kitchen to take the former’s place. Additionally, a pair of frosted glass panelled pocket doors outside the utility area ensures that things are kept classy, by hiding hanging laundry from plain sight.
Meanwhile, the kitchen’s L-shaped layout incorporates a breakfast counter, sink and stove within a single structure. A host of customised surfaces can be found in this space, and these include the counter’s carbon-grey Dekton worktop as well as a backsplash solely comprised of long glossy-white subway tiles. Of particular note, the space also plays host to a highly-unique origami bird lamp that rests on a metallic “perch” mounted on the side wall of the breakfast counter.
Just like its counterparts, the master bedroom is a thoughtful blend of form and function, thanks to its collection of customised fittings and structures. For instance, a wall of store-bought cabinets framed by gypsum boards takes the place of a conventional clothing wardrobe, while a fixed box-shaped compartment, which conceals the room’s aircon trunking, doubles up as bay window seats.
To address the homeowners’ requests for a more spacious bathroom, Chris had the external partitions of the en suite extended to accommodate a waist-high cabinet that is accompanied by an elegant porcelain sink basin as well as a classy silver mink marble countertop. And to imbue the shower zone with a spa-like ambience, granite stone slabs were installed to create a contrast to the smooth jet-black homogeneous granite tiles of the surrounding walls.
This was adapted from an article originally published in the March 2017 issue of SquareRooms. Photo credits: Wong Weiliang.
