Home Tour: A 30s finance couple’s $30,000 Feng Shui renovation for their 3-bedroom condo in Tampines
By Shannon Osztonits -
Share this article
Ever wanted to see how a home plays around with a high contrast colour palette and textures? After consulting with a Feng Shui Master, this Singaporean couple’s 3-bedroom condo in Tampines is the epitome of such imaginings brought to life.
Employing these principles, the home’s most striking features were created, including the bar in the living room, doubling as the dining area.
From the get-go, the colour choices and natural textures are very intentional. A range of neutral colours is scattered across the home, varying in degrees of light and dark. Materials such as stone and wood feature heavily.
Instead of adding bulky carpentry to show separation, the interior designer on this project, Gerry from DISTINCTidENTITY, turned to light to do so. For example, there’s a clear transition from the lighter living room to the master bedroom, where darker shades are introduced via the corridor leading here.
“As you go into the bedrooms, you can see from the corridor design, we even have dark mirrors, and a darker colour paint…” says Gerry, “it feels more intimate.”
The overall ambiance is earthy but still elegant, with modern lines and custom features.
“We’re drawn to a sleek, classic aesthetic — something minimal yet timeless that brings a sense of calm and intention into our daily lives,” explains the homeowners. “Our style is chill and relaxed. We love listening to music, reading, and having a quiet space to clear our minds and focus on the work that needs to get done.”
Who Lives Here: A couple in their early 30s who work in the finance industry
Home: A 3-bedroom condo in Tampines
Size: 936 sq ft
Interior designer: Gerry from DISTINCTidENTITY
The bar-meets-dining area. The corridor leads to the master.
Reconfigured Condo Layout
Focusing on the living and dining areas, foyer, feature walls, master bedroom, and study, the design team honed in on the carpentry and painting works. One of the bedrooms was converted into a yoga and exercise room. This wasn’t a complete gutting. The bathrooms and kitchen were not worked on by the interior designer, and the floor tiles were the condo developers’.
Drawn to the property because of the overall size and floor plan layout, it’s only the couple residing here. However, their two family dogs love to frequently visit.
With the right interior designer, who listened to the couple and helped bring their ideas to fruition in ways even they didn’t imagine at the start, their original style concept — modern luxury with a hint of nature — is echoed through a harmonious mix of textures and finishes.
The choice of colour palette and raw wall textures was a collaborative process between homeowners and their interior designer. Furniture pieces were chosen to complement the home’s theme. Functionality remained an important factor.
Natural light hits the living room.
Living Room Design
Introducing these homeowners’ favourite space — it’s certainly obvious, with a lot of time and thought from the interior designer’s side put into this area. The living room is also the part of the home that the team kicked off the design process with.
“It’s where we relax on the couch, enjoy music through our sound system, and unwind while facing the stone feature wall,” say the homeowners. “It gives off such a calming and comfortable vibe.”
At the opposite end of the living room is a balcony, allowing natural light to filter through. However, instead of the typical bright setting, the homeowners were seeking a space that is a little more moody, adding a real sense of cosiness.
Opposite the custom-built TV wall feature is a brown leather sofa. Adding a pop of vibrancy is a piece of artwork. The backstretch stucco wall adds more dimension as it was redone in a stone finish; softer than the TV wall’s texture. Recessed ceiling lighting was installed for a more ambient vibe.
The colour scheme remains important for Feng Shui reasons, with plenty of brown and neutral shades.
The 3D textured TV wall is one of the home’s biggest standout features.
TV Feature Wall Design
Of all the non-negotiables, these homeowners dreamt of a TV feature that would blend (seamlessly) with their wine fridge coolers and bar pantry.
It’s certainly unusual, and not something you commonly see in a home — whether talking the TV feature’s texture, or the accompanying side fridges.
“This layout isn’t typically seen, but we felt the space could handle it. We took a lot of careful measurements to ensure we weren’t compromising on functionality or design,” details the homeowners, “It paid off—this area is now one of the most talked-about features whenever guests visit.”
The textured wall adds depth.
Intended to represent a mountain-like surface (highlighting the feelings of being in nature), the main feature wall comprises two layers. The 3D-looking part is crafted from PU stone (requiring little maintenance).
“Guests can’t resist giving it a knock,” tell the homeowners.
The interior designer then installed a flat laminate for the TV to sit on, as well as a space for cable management, leading to the custom-built TV console below. Placed on top of the PU stone, this is constructed from plywood and laminate, with the same materials and colour scheme used between the living room and dining/bar area.
“This design detail flows into the living area, where the TV wall feature’s textured paneling ties in with the home’s earthy theme,” says interior designer Gerry.
A customised island is also a unique dining table.
Dining Area Design
Directly next to the TV console is a small wine cooler fridge, as the homeowners do a lot of hosting — and it also shows off their booze collection.
The same materials for the custom-built bar/dining table island are reflected in the living room and its wine bar. A harder sintered stone countertop was selected as it’s more durable for drinking glasses, and the bottom half is laminate.
Next to the living room is the dining and bar area, near the front door. When entering through the main door, the first area you see is this part. Here, a built-in bench was added opposite the compact bar pantry, utilised as a small seating area-meets-shoe storage.
In the early stages, the homeowners were set on having a big dining room table. Their ID suggested the lower, customisable island. Requesting extra storage, Gerry came up with the clever concept of combining both needs into one with this movable dining table.
“At the base of the island table, you can actually open it up,” says Gerry, “where you can put your wine glasses, small cutlery, and all that stuff.”
Unusual and unconventional, the low kitchen island table seats eight.
All of the carpentry was built by the design team.
Master Bedroom Design
As the walls get darker, and a mirrored ceiling with LED lighting adds more depth and direction, one is subtly guided to the bedrooms; the private areas of the home. The interior designer created a keen separation between the two.
Calming and simple were the two keywords for the master bedroom’s brief. This refers to the general ambiance as well as design. This was achieved by making a custom headboard, as well as the side tables and bedframe for the couple’s queen-sized bed, to match the home’s natural details.
Constructed from laminate, the material choice is intentional, creating symmetry from the living/dining/bar area to the master bedroom.
The two-tone wall features a darker taupe colour on the bottom half with a little bit of black detail added to the paint. The upper half is a lighter grey: Great Fortress from Nippon Paint. Opposing the bed is another wall done in the same dark grey as the corridor area: Stone Bench, also from Nippon.
LED lights were added as mood lighting.
The study includes a custom-built desk.
Study Room Design
“Since the owners work from home, one of the bedrooms has been turned into a home office,” says interior designer Gerry. “The desk faces the windows to make the most of natural light, creating a bright and comfortable place to focus.”
Featuring a lot of woodwork, every last detail is custom-built. Very much in line with the rest of the home’s distinct furnishings, a slate structure encapsulates the desks. These are made from a combined, very dark grey laminate with matching fluted panels. The panels are WPC (wood plastic composite).
The idea was to mirror something relative to the living room, yet still show contrast. Darker colours (as used in this room) are also easier to maintain compared to very glossy laminates, which can easily outdate.
Their bespoke desk was constructed so that it is big enough to comfortably seat two people. When conceptualising the study, Gerry was inspired to keep things modern, but still play with very sleek lines.
“We have to introduce some curves to the corner of the shelves for safety and to soften up the space a bit,” explains the interior designer. “This is also shown on the shelf near the entrance.”
Built using the same materials as the desk area, this small floating corner display is for their trophies and memorabilia.
Above the wine fridge are shelves displaying the drinks collection.
2 Months’ Renovation
For this couple’s first home renovation, the entire process (including design and construction) took about eight weeks to complete.
“This has been a learning experience from start to finish. We knew what we wanted in terms of space and vibe, but actually making those ideas come to life taught us a lot,” recalls the owners. “We learned that great design only works when there’s close collaboration with the ID. Gerry was able to translate our ideas, understand our creative input, and execute with precision. Without his expertise, we would’ve missed out on some important design details that truly elevated the space.”
Luckily for the interior design team, there were not many restrictions from the homeowners.
Providing the design team with three main colours, greys, browns, and off-whites, the interior designer decided to distribute colours by area. For trimmings, they opted to go darker for contrast, but just as a finishing touch, not overwhelming the space with a darkened palette.
“They really let us pick what we think is suitable, even in terms of warmth and textures,” recalls interior designer Gerry. “They trusted us to choose the right pair and type of textures that go well with the overall scheme for the entire home.”