When you have kids, your interiors are inevitably going to shift and change—this homeowner doesn’t let it bother her, working with change instead of against it.

Before

Nothing is quite as valuable when raising kids as having some hands-on help. That’s one of the reasons S and her family (@myoldnewflat) decided to move house after staying in Pasir Ris for a couple of years.

They embraced the change in order to shift closer to her parents, who are the kids’ main caregivers when S and her husband are at work.

After

Another reason? Sheer lack of space. “Our first home was still okay when we just had a four-year-old, but when we were thinking of expanding our family further, we realised that we would need at least three usable bedrooms and a lot more space in general,” shares S.

When they started househunting, they had a practical list of must-haves: at least 1,100 square feet of space, three or more bedrooms and proximity to her parents.

Being non-negotiable, they ultimately found a home that met all of these criteria—a 5-room resale flat that spans 1,399 square feet and has four bedrooms, conveniently located in Bedok.

“Of course, if we could have it all, we would also have wanted a flat with a longer lease, close to our desired primary schools, etc. But those things were less critical to us.”

Once they chose their unit, it was time to dive into the renovation, designer Roy Zhuang from Insight.Out Studio ensuring that their new home would serve their growing family well. We caught up with S to find out a bit more about this journey and how she navigates the ebb and flow of family life.

How did you plan the layout and design of your new space to accommodate your family?

To plan for when our kids are older, we wanted to make sure that each kid would be able to have their own bedroom.

Also, with work-from-home arrangements, we wanted to have one room to be our study. So, we hacked some walls and reconfigured the space in order to build an additional bedroom.

At the time, we had only one kid but the extra bedroom really came in handy, as we have just welcomed our newborn.

Did you have to forgo anything or make special layout tweaks to adapt the space for your kids?

For the kids’ rooms, we do not have any built-in furniture to allow for more flexibility and changes as the kids grow up.

How did you ensure you planned for enough storage space for your whole family? Do you feel like you have enough now or do you wish you’d incorporated more?

As part of the reconfiguration, we had to hack away a small storeroom. To create storage space elsewhere, we built a huge cabinet in the living room comprising half-open shelving and half-closed cabinets. The closed cabinets are our main storage area for all the miscellaneous items.

The open shelving is less practical but a fully closed cabinet would have made the space look too enclosed, and it gives me a place to display pretty decorative items and things we’ve collected from our travels over the years.

I also change up what’s on the open shelves depending on what we need to access more frequently. For example, I’ve recently included baby books and toys on the shelves for when we play with the baby in the living room.

We also carved out a section of the kitchen to form our service yard, where we store bulkier items. In the study, we customised some cabinets to store my husband’s large music equipment, and the cabinets also double up as a bay window of sorts.

Other than that, we just try to add storage space where possible, by having a storage bed for instance, and being more intentional about the items we keep (we do a regular purge of kids’ toys).

What were the biggest challenges with the renovation?

Trying to keep to our budget! Everything is nice to have, but everything costs money.

You brought some furniture pieces over to your new house, including your special dining table. How did you ensure these pieces would fit into the new design?

I think my design preferences and taste have been pretty consistent over the years so I didn’t have any concerns about whether our old furniture pieces would fit into our new place.

I’ve always preferred a warm and natural aesthetic so things like our wooden dining table and rattan chairs fit right in with the new design.

Would you say that your home has changed a lot since you first renovated the space? Which areas have changed the most?

Before

After

Structurally we have not changed anything and each space is still serving its intended use. It’s just a lot more cluttered and filled with things. I don’t really mind it though because, at the end of the day, this is what makes a house a home.

How do you keep your home clean and tidy with kids around?

It is impossible to have a clean and tidy home with kids. Here’s a quote I came across: Cleaning the house when the kids are still growing is like shovelling snow when it’s still snowing.

How has it been having a dishwasher? Do you find it as convenient as you expected?

I love having a dishwasher! It saves us so much time. Especially with kids, the things to wash are endless—milk bottles, pumping gear, water bottles, lunch boxes… for some reason, kids also use so many cups and bowls in a day.

Considering your decision to go without a TV, how do you keep your kids entertained?

We are lucky because my four-year-old loves to read. So, we spend a lot of time reading and he has an overflowing amount of toys to keep him entertained. But of course, for the times we need some respite, he does watch some Paw Patrol on the projector in our bedroom.

Thinking back to when you came home with your newborn, do you feel like you planned this house better with your previous experience and knowing what a new baby needs?

You would think that with a second kid, you’d be more experienced but you always prove yourself wrong because every kid is so different. For example, my first kid had no issues sleeping in his own room from birth.

For our second one, we had set up the nursery with the same intention (feeding chair, baby monitor, etc.) but we ended up having to put her in our own bedroom for the first few months. Even after we moved her back to her room, we still had to reconfigure it a couple of times; we eventually moved the cot right below the ceiling fan because she likes it blasting in her face when she sleeps!

Having now lived in your home for quite some time and shared the space with your family, do you have any reno regrets or things you’d do differently?

I don’t have major reno regrets, just small things here and there that I think about that would have been nice to have. I’d like to have added a tall cupboard for the kitchen appliances like the microwave to keep them out of reach of the kids. This would also be better for my back as they’re currently placed on a low shelf below the counter.

Any plans to update your home and change things up in the future, especially with the new baby?

No major plans for us, it’s really about adapting as we go based on needs that arise. For example, I’m currently trying to find a way to aesthetically place a bulky deep freezer, which will be used to keep breastmilk.

I also foresee that our living area will evolve to become a play area soon as my son has been progressively moving his toys out of his room. I’m not mad about that though as I do enjoy being able to watch him play while I’m busy in the kitchen or doing other stuff around the house.

Do you think you will eventually move house again? How might this future home be different from your current space?

At the moment, we hope that this will be our forever home but you never know!