Home Tour: $20,000 Retro renovation for a young couple’s 1-bedroom condo in Bukit Merah

When the homeowners purchased this 1-bedroom condominium, they decided to keep the renovations works to a minimum since the unit was brand new. The couple in their early 30s, who work in the marketing and creative industries, were more inclined to do up the space using furniture and styling, steering away from bulky built-in’s as far as possible to avoid occupying more floor area.

Working with founder, Rashi Tulshyan and lead designer, Melissa Wan from Home Philosophy, the home is a fun, quirky and eclectic take that brings the colourful 80s pop culture to life. “The interior design is full of personality and incorporates some of the clients’ hobbies as part of the décor. Ultimately, it is still an inviting and cosy space that they can unwind in at the end of the day,” says Rashi.

Who Lives Here: A couple in their early 30s
Home: A 1-bedroom condominium at Silat Avenue
Size: 527 sq ft
Interior Designers: Rashi Tulshyan and Melissa Wan from Home Philosophy

Orange Open Shelves

Instead of the usual built-in storage cabinets, the entrance foyer features a row of low and slim open shelves in an eye-catching orange that provides ample storage and display areas without encroaching into the circulation space. It also offers a sneak peek into the homeowners’ interest in graphic novels, wine and vinyl records with funky bottle labels, interesting book covers and a turntable on display.

Living Room Design

In the living room, the interior designers managed to achieve just the right balance of neutrals and colours. An off-white sofa and armchair from Castlery is juxtaposed against a palette of electric blues, pinks, yellows and oranges from the coffee table, rug, lamp and cushion. Even the day curtains are an unconventional shade of yellow, an idea that the couple really embraced. “The goal is to provide a nice pop of colour without being too overbearing,” interior designer Melissa emphasises. “We also introduced decorative ceiling mouldings to tie the space together, adding to the eclectic design that the clients were after,” she adds.

Study Area

Part of the clients’ brief called for a dedicated study area as they were not keen on having the dining table double up as a work desk. This proved tricky given the space constraints, but interior designers Rashi and Melissa rose to the challenge. They proposed relocating the existing dining area to the balcony. This solution not only frees up space for a small study corner in between the kitchen and living room, but also fully utilises the balcony as a dining area. A customised flip-down study desk from Rooma is mounted against a blue backdrop, complemented by two pink shelves above that give the study area a whimsical touch.

Balcony Dining Area

The dining area in the balcony is a bright and cheery space with an unblocked view of the neighbourhood thanks to the apartment’s high-floor location. The blue dining table, orange dining chairs and matching sideboard with reeded glass, a framed yellow-and-white print and the green from potted plants is a riot of colours, but executed in a restrained manner that prevents it from being too overwhelming.

Master Bedroom Design

For the master bedroom, the strategy was to tone it down a notch by keeping the main elements such as the walls, bedframe, pendant lamp and curtains white. However, the room is far from being monochromatic and incorporates accessories in striking colours such as orange, yellow, pink and green. The existing wood flooring injects a degree of warmth that gives the space a cosy and inviting ambience.

One of the challenges that interior designers Rashi and Melissa encountered was how to deal with the existing dark grey marble flooring. “The show flat had lighter toned floors, so the clients were not expecting this. We wanted to avoid hacking and changing the flooring, so what we did was to distract from it through the interior design and carefully curated furniture pieces,” Rashi explains.

$20,000 Renovation

The design took four weeks, and another four weeks for the on-site works before the couple moved into their new home in March 2024. The interior works were kept to a minimal, with only painting and electrical works, installation of decorative ceiling mouldings and curtain pelmets that cost a modest $7,000. Almost all the furniture and furnishings were purchased off-the-shelf and there is no built-in carpentry save for a few customised shelves and the flip-down study desk. These came up to about $15,000 to $20,000.