He designs posh hotels and restaurants for a living – check out Warren Foster-Brown's own home!

Leather-clad wall panels and a curated collection of souvenirs give the space a sophisticated feel. 

The home of interior designer Warren Foster-Brown has all the features of a hotel.

As the lift doors open to his condominium unit’s private lobby, eight room keys hang on a board right outside the door, much like those found behind a receptionist’s desk at an old-school hotel. They are part of a decorative piece for the entrance.

When the front door opens, guests are greeted by an ultra-mod living room. With its plush sofa seats, leather-clad wall panels and carefully curated souvenirs perched on display shelves, it is a living room that can pass off as a swanky hotel lobby.

It does not stop there. Right through to the open-concept kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms, Mr Foster-Brown’s two-bedroom apartment in East Coast Road is a picture-perfect example of hotel decor adapted for a home.

For example, the bathrooms sport a clean, minimalist look complete with tiny soap bottles – a common feature in posh hotels.

It is no surprise, seeing that the Briton specialises in designing hotel interiors. But the 44-year-old bachelor, who lives with a domestic helper, says: “At the end of the day, a hotel is a hotel. The designs and looks change all the time. This is my home where I will live for a long time, so I want it to have a timeless feel with classic pieces.”

Mr Warren Foster-Brown

He moved into the 1,755 sq ft apartment almost three years ago but declines to say how much he bought it for. Mr Foster-Brown, who holds a degree in interior architecture from Brunel University in London, worked in Hong Kong for 41/2 years before moving to Singapore in 2000.

Since setting up his boutique firm FBEYE International in 2005, the managing director has worked with big names such as Sheraton – he remodelled the Sheraton Sanya Resort in Hainan. He also designed the interiors for The Westin Singapore, which opened in Asia Square Tower last November, and is revamping the historic Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken, Switzerland.

He says his apartment was a “white box” when he started, as the previous owner did not make any modifications to the white-washed home.

It was a good thingas it gave him “the flexibility to do as I pleased” and he chose a resort theme with lots of blues and neutral colours.

One of the first things he did was to replace the walls between the lift lobby and living room as well as the timber front door with a glass door that had a timber frame and etched patterns. “I thought the original brick walls made the lobby look boxy... like a coffin. The glass opens up the space to let sunlight in so the lobby doesn’t look so dark.”

Another major overhaul was to remove the walls of one bedroom – there were originally three rooms – and turn it into a bigger guestroom. Here, he put in a sitting area, a safe, a coffee machine, minibar and a sliding partition which can close off the toilet for the room’s occupants.

The guestroom, which has a seating area, is luxurious. 

Mr Foster-Brown, who personalised the space with framed photos of him and his friends at his 40th birthday bash, says: “I have guests, such as my parents, who visit for long periods of time. It’s nice to give them their own space. I added pictures to give the room a cosy feel and also because it was a day that I want to remember – many of my friends and family flew in to celebrate with me.”

His room was given the royal treatment too. The four-poster bed, which he brought over from his previous townhouse residence in East Coast Avenue, got a quick makeover in the process: Its canopy was removed and the exposed tips were painted white.

The piece de resistance is a television, which is tucked inside a custom-made decorative cabinet he designed, and comes up with the press of a button.

His favourite spot in the apartment is the huge balcony space. He gushes about the view of the condominium pool and the surrounding leafy palm trees: “I work at home often. When I’m out here, it feels like I’m on holiday. Even though I’m on the third floor, I still get a good breeze.”'

The living room and balcony (above) in the apartment of Mr Warren Foster-Brown.

While he designs interiors for a living, he says doing up his home was not as easy as people might think. The designer, who lived in three other places in Singapore before moving into his current home, says: “Like the hotels I design, I put together many looks and moodboards for my home before I decide what to do. You can’t just jump straight into the design because, then, it will look unplanned.”

Besides items from luxury American furniture label Barbara Barry, he also added custom-made pieces for a personal touch. “When you commission furniture, you can dictate how you want it to look,” he explains. “I’m not out to get a designer piece just for its name. If it fits, great. But if it’s not the right one for my home, I would rather spend the money to get something I can design myself.”

Written by Natasha Ann Zachariah for The Straits Times. Photos: The Straits Times. This article was first published in 2014.