Home Tour: $140,000 Minimalist renovation for young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan
An overhaul of this condominium apartment transforms it into a spacious and cosy home to meet the current and future needs of a young family.
By Lynn Tan -
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The homeowners are a lawyer couple in their 30s who purchased this new home because they wanted more space for their growing family. Although the 18-year-old unit was in relatively decent condition when they took over from the previous owner, there were some parts of the existing layout that did not quite suit their lifestyle.
Who lives here: A couple in their 30s and their young son
Home: A 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan
Size: 1,226 sq ft
Dining area in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Narrow entryway
The long and narrow entrance area had no storage space for their son’s stroller or bicycle. There was also no possibility of introducing a privacy screen to prevent passers-by from looking directly into the unit when the main door is opened.
As the couple often host friends and family, it would be ideal if they had a more spacious living and dining area rather than an overly large kitchen, so the proportion of the spaces had to be tweaked.
Living room in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
3 Bedrooms for growing family
The couple was open to the idea of reconfiguring the entrance foyer, kitchen, living and dining areas. However, with one young son and plans to have more children, they wanted to retain the three bedrooms in order to make provisions for a larger family.
Their online search led them to interior design firm Lite Design Collaborative. Having established the inherent shortcomings of the existing layout, interior design principal, Lim Kar Kwang proposed some reconfigurations that would make the home better tailored to meet their needs.
“We overhauled the unit and demolished a number of walls. The flooring and carpentry were all new. We also reworked the false ceiling, lighting and electricals,” he says.
A timber partition that partially screens the dining and living areas from direct view from the door in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Wood partition by main door
The kitchen wall beside the main entrance was demolished to make way for a wider foyer with new built-in storage cabinets and room for parking a stroller and bicycle.
Straight ahead is a partition that partially screens the dining and living areas from direct view. Vertical timber slats offer glimpses of what lie beyond while still offering a sense of privacy.
Curved carpentry and designs are prominent in this young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Curve interior design
Curved elements feature prominently in the design, which can be regarded as the spatial equivalent of a physical embrace that evokes a sense of cosiness befitting a home for a young family. The curves are immediately apparent from the entrance foyer.
All wood kitchen with a kitchen island dining table in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Curved wall
The privacy screen has a curved profile, so does the new kitchen wall to the right of the main entrance. In the living room, the ceiling curves down to the curtain pelmet and the curved corners of the beam above the television console echo a similar form.
Marmorino Italian lime wall
A grey Marmorino wall adds texture and depth. The top of the wall appears to vanish beyond the curved ceiling, which gives the illusion of space that extends beyond the four walls and the ceiling.
A 8- to 10-seater dining table in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Dining Area
A generous, 8- to 10-seater dining table allows the couple to host larger groups. Beside this, the former dining area has been converted into a dry kitchen with a kitchen island where guests can gather while still interacting with those in the dining area.
Close up of the kitchen island dining table in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Kitchen island dining table
The kitchen island is a versatile addition to the home where food preparation takes place and it also serves as a breakfast counter. Its curved corners are not only consistent with the rest of the rounded elements, but child-friendly too.
Most of the demolition works centred around the kitchen area where the existing kitchen and yard walls were hacked to create separate dry and wet kitchens and to open up the yard area. While the dry kitchen has an open concept, the wet kitchen can be enclosed using a sliding door.
“The family cooks often, so the enclosed wet kitchen helps to contain the grease and fumes,” Kar Kwang explains.
Master bedroom in a young lawyer couple's 3-bedroom condominium in Bishan.
Master Bedroom
The master bedroom epitomises peace and tranquillity with its light wood laminates and light grey colour wall colour pairing. Floor-to-ceiling built-in wardrobes maximise storage and hide clutter. Due to the seamless design and absence of protruding wardrobe handles, the wardrobes appear to blend into the wall.
$140,000 Renovation
The renovation took about three months and the family moved into their new home in September 2022. The cost came up to about $140,000 excluding furniture, fittings, electrical and plumbing works.
“Reworking the layout was the most challenging part of the project. There were a lot of things to consider, such as the mechanical and electrical aspects, which have to work with the new layout,” Kar Kwang comments. But ultimately, for him and the studio, it is about not overdoing things and making sensible changes that have a significant impact to the end result.