At the centre of the design is a fully glazed display window that took over the entire wall of a common bedroom. This showcases Peishan’s collection of penguin plushies arranged on platforms, which are actually upside-down Ikea coffee tables.

“Leonard gave the first penguin as a gift more than 10 years ago when we started dating,” shares Peishan.

“It became our tradition. We would buy one every time we visited a zoo or an aquarium around the world,” adds Leonard.

The display window in their home does not only provide visual interest and a talking point, but it also serves as a creative medium for Leonard, who loves to change up the decorations according to festive seasons.

One of the priorities in the design brief was to have a sturdy table where Peishan can grade her students’ work. She was also adamant about not having a television in the living area. “We wanted the conversations to flow and real interactions to happen in the living area, undistracted by the television,” she explains.

In the end, they decided to do away with a traditional sofa-and-television-centric living room altogether, assigning the dining room as the social hub of the house. At the centre of this dining room is a $3,000 solid wood dining table by Arthur Zaaro, a locally-founded sustainable tropical hardwood brand. The tabletop was made with a felled angsana tree sourced from the site of the Changi Airport’s future Terminal 5.

The other furniture pieces are secondhand pieces that Leonard bought from Hock Siong. “There was a period where I would come down to Hock Siong and come back with something almost every week. Most of them were impulse buys. I didn’t really know how they all would come together in my place,” he confesses.

These impulse buys range from an art-nouveau style wall lamp salvaged from the refurbishment of The Raffles Hotel and a vintage leather and timber office chair to a giant timber wardrobe. Keith helped to catalogue these and used them to enhance the interior of the new home.

The wall lamp – restored to functionality – and the chair served as an inspiration for a striking barbershop-themed feature wall next to the dining room. The interior of the wardrobe was altered and made to serve as a shoe cabinet.

One of Leonard’s latest impulse buys was a grey British Shorthair cat named Mochi, the family’s newest member. The decision to take Mochi home from the cattery was years in the making as Leonard had always wanted to have a pet cat since he was little.

The living area and the bedrooms are separated by a double door. Behind the display case is the entertainment room, which is also Mochi’s designated room.

At the end of the corridor is the master bedroom. Simple and sparsely furnished, it does away with a wardrobe. “We decided to turn the store into a wardrobe and just have more breathing space in our bedroom,” says Peishan.

This no-fuss approach extends to the bathroom and kitchen. The former features an angled counter that rounds off an awkward corner.

Meanwhile, the latter features open shelves that display their content in the open so the couple can find everything easily instead of opaque storage cabinets.

All in all, this compact home has strategically blended two separate lives together while providing ample room for growth and flexibility.

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