This project garnered the Gold award for Best Residential Design (Apartment ≤ 1000 sq ft), at the IDCS 2020 Design Excellence Awards.

Downsizing your home requires impeccable design and planning, especially when you are cutting the square footage of your home by half. The owner of this three-bedroom condo in Yishun area moved in with her parents from an HDB unit twice its size.

She liked some of the original design elements built by the condo’s developer but wanted to renovate some areas to ensure the home could seamlessly cater to the family’s lifestyle. Tasked with renovating the home was design studio D’Marvel Scale.

Two of the owner’s main considerations in the design brief were: ample storage and harmonious material palette between the existing and renovated design elements.

“With the shrink in size, every inch and corner had to be maximised for optimum storage capacity,” says D’Marvel Scale design team. “It was important to harmonised our design with the existing kitchen to create a cohesive space – modern contemporary style.”

“We wanted to adhere to the existing darker, cooler tones and further enhance it in our design for a modern but composed look. Our intent is for the overall colour palette to elicit a calming and laid-back feel – a relaxing place to unwind after a long day,” adds the team.

The layout of the space is kept simple and linear to balance the dark material palette that tends to make the space feels intimate and closed in.

AT A GLANCE

Who lives here: homeowner and parents
Size of home: 82sqm
Type of home: 3-bedroom condo unit
ID: D’Marvel Scale
Website: www.dmarvelscale.com