Home Tour: $230,000 Renovation for an advertising & sales couple’s penthouse at Still Road South

39-year-old advertising creative director, Loo Yong Ping, and his wife, Fannie Chua, who is 41 and who works in sales, moved into this condominium penthouse as they needed more space for the family. With two young daughters aged five and three, they were outgrowing their former walk-up apartment, which was about 1,200 sqft.

The penthouse’s 2,174 sqft is spread over two floors. Apart from its larger floor area, the couple was also drawn to its sizeable roof terrace. As they both lead very active and social lifestyles, the outdoor space on the rooftop allows them to chill out over drinks in the evenings, host friends and family over barbeques and movie screenings, cool off after exercising, and store their bicycles and camping equipment. 

Who Lives Here: A couple and their two daughters
Home: A penthouse at Still Road South
Size: 2,174 sq ft

20-Year-Old Penthouse

Although relatively well-maintained, the layout and aesthetics of the 20-year-old penthouse unit did not suit the family’s needs, which was why they decided to gut the apartment and reconfigure parts of the floor plan. The open-concept plan and the use of colours are aspects of their former home that the couple love and they wanted to carry these elements into their new home.

Homeowners Yong Ping and Fannie both have colourful personalities and they see the house as an extension of them. “Colours add life to the home. Different parts of the home and different rooms have different colours, so that you can identify with them as you walk through the spaces, which also makes the home feel bigger,” says Fannie.

They went about selecting pops of colour that match the vibe of the respective spaces, such as cheery yellow for the kitchen, calming deep green for the master bedroom, and feminine pink for the girls’ bathroom.

Private Lift Lobby

In contrast to the rest of the home, the private lift lobby is decked out in a dark, monochromatic palette comprising dark wood flooring and cabinet laminates. This was partly to blend in with the existing lift finishes that could not be changed, as well as to create a hotel-like ambience for the entrance to the home. 

With the removal of a few existing walls and some reconfiguration, the main entrance leads directly to the kitchen across the corridor. The galley layout is an efficient use of space. The frosted wire glass on the kitchen cabinet doors above the counter makes the space feel less claustrophobic and allows a glimpse of what is inside the cabinets without fully exposing any potential clutter.

Levelling out the kitchen and former yard floors makes the space feel bigger. The green doors of the bathroom, household shelter and garbage chute provide a striking contrast with the yellow walls. Even the pipes have been given a coat of sunshine yellow. 

Home Office

As Fannie works from home most of the time, one of the three bedrooms has been converted into an open-concept home office that is separated from the living and dining rooms by sliding glass doors. The couple opted to go with a dark theme for this room as Fannie feels that it helps her to focus better. The dark colours are balanced out by the natural light from the window, which also filters into the adjacent dining and living areas. 

Dining Room Design

Taking pride of place in the dining room is a Petite Friture Vertigo pendant light that Fannie specially selected to complement the 2.2-metre long, custom-made marble table. Instead of paying an exorbitant retail price, the resourceful couple managed to locate a supplier and had them customise the dining table to the exact design and size that they wanted.

On one side of the dining table are three dining chairs from their previous home. On the other side is a concrete bench that extends all the way to the living room. It serves multiple purposes - as a dining bench, for storage, as a television console, and as a low desk for the girls who even use it as a catwalk.  

Master Bedroom Design

The master bedroom has an exceptionally high ceiling of about five metres. When removing the false ceiling during renovation, the contractor discovered a pitched roof above, which further adds to the vertical expanse of space.

Yong Ping and Fannie saw the possibility of adding a loft within the master bedroom to house the sleeping area and freeing up the space below for a walk-in wardrobe. Elevating the sleeping area up on the loft enhances the privacy and the exposed rafters juxtaposed against the deep green walls and sloping roof add to the coziness of the space. 

Daughters’ Bedroom

The girls’ share one bedroom and Mum and Dad chose a neutral palette that can adapt and grow with the girls. Platforms and steps have been built into the room to mitigate the relatively high bay window. The two beds are staggered on two tiers, with storage below.

Another interesting feature in the bedroom are the climbing ropes that dangle from the ceiling. “It is a fun, age-appropriate element that allows the girls to interact with the space. It also trains them to be more adventurous,” Fannie comments. 

$230,000 Renovation Cost

The cost of the renovation came up to about $230,000, which exceeded the couple’s initial budget. However, this was also where their personalities and strengths complement one another.

“As a creative, I tend to get carried away with what we can do with the space. Fannie helps us keep track of the budget and rein me in when necessary,” shares Yong Ping. They both agree that it is money well spent as they see themselves living in this home for many years to come. 

6 Month Renovation

The family moved into their new home in January 2024 after a six-month renovation. It took longer than expected due to various reasons, including delays on site. Yong Ping confessed: “Amidst the renovation mess and chaos, there were moments of buyer’s remorse when we doubted whether we made the right decision to move. But now that it is all done, we have no regrets. We love the house a lot and are proud to call it home.”