Striking the perfect balance between eclectic and modern? A 50s male wellness practitioner shares his home
“Every curated item is a veritable fabric of a tapestry of my past that created me to what I am today.”
By Shannon Osztonits -
Share this article
A home that tells a story, speaking volumes through its curated design; thoughtful treasures and artefacts collected over the years…An eclectic collection of history, and a residence that oozes colour and warmth…A precious balcony corner for breathing and quiet morning moments…This is the type of home you’d call a retreat of relaxation.
“This required a highly disciplined design approach which my interior designer has cleverly edited without losing sentiment, layering without overwhelming, and creating visual “breathing room” through thoughtful spatial planning, airflow optimisation and circulation,” says the homeowner.
After years of travelling for work, living out of suitcases and spending most of his time in airports, this homeowner eventually swapped careers, choosing a slower-paced, more fruitful way of life.
From burying artefacts in the dark corners, shelves and frames now showcase these in all their magnificence, and the homeowner’s favourite things reflect his personality and taste. Although he has seen the world, from Italy to Hungary to China, he no longer enjoys travelling, spending too much of his life in the air and on the road. Now, it’s about finding happiness at home.
Celine Ng Interior Design
Working with Celine from CelineNg Interiors, there was no set theme for this project. But the wellness expert knew he wanted to create a home with some Asian influences (having lived, worked, and travelled extensively across Asia, including China), while still requiring those modern touches.
“I have very Asian ethnic stuff that pairs very comfortably next to high-end modern Italian furniture, for example,” he details.
Who Lives Here: A Chinese Singaporean man in his 50s, who works in the wellness industry, and his three adorable cats
Home: 1-bedroom private development
Size: 1,300 sq ft
Interior designer: Celine from CelineNg Interiors
The original property shell comprised three bedrooms and a living room, but the homeowner did a complete gutting. Since the apartment is 50-something years old, the wellness enthusiast sought to give it complete new life. Out with the old, in with the new energy.
During the complete overhaul, electrical works were redone, the bomb shelter, too. Vinyl flooring was added throughout. They demolished one bedroom, merging it with the present living room to enlarge this space. The current landscape boasts one bedroom, two bathrooms, a dry and wet kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a balcony, and a foyer.
“I gave Celine a 4-pager brief and the specifics for every room. The technical details, such as how to build, demolish walls, or combine one room into another, I left to her,” tells the homeowner. “Both Celine and I love shopping; shopping for furniture and decor things. In those months, we went together up and down Singapore shopping for the home. It was a whole journey.”
A colourful story
This homeowner has always loved colours.
Funnily enough, it was through this process that he realised his three favourites are green, red and blue. The more furniture, art and decor that he purchased or brought out of his collection, the more he realised that there was this underlying common colour palette.
“I love colour, especially anything watercolour,” he tells Home and Decor. “The big picture is a place with a lot of space. A place to truly call home. A home is where I can feel comfortable in my own skin. I love colours, but I told Celine I wanted the bedrooms and bathrooms to be gentle colours, something a bit more muted.”
A tranquil living room
The natural light that hits the living room and other parts of the home is an exquisite blessing. It lends a feeling of ultimate peace. It’s no wonder it is the homeowner’s ultimate place to be.
Not one for sitting in a bedroom and endlessly doom-scrolling on his phone, he rather enjoys resting and chilling in this comfortable part of his abode. Plus, many of his artefacts and favourite items are displayed across a flexible string system shelving unit that’s now mounted on the wall.
“We decided on how many shelves and their configuration, as you can customise this display shelf. We based it on the wall size and what’s in the home.”
Spot precious items like vintage painted Chinese document boxes, woven baskets, pottery, Balinese handicrafts, and various statues of Buddha.
However, it wasn’t these items that inspired this room. Rather, a set of bright watercolour artworks that the homemaker purchased from an art market in Siem Reap, Cambodia, inspired and anchored everything.
“The rest of the living room is simple, done in beiges, greys, and sand tones.”
The half-moon-shaped sofa was ordered in Singapore (but made in Belgium), and with three kitties, the pet-parent chose scratch-proof fabric for it.
Contrasting the box elements of the display unit is a round carpet. The designer also took into consideration the shape of the couch when selecting the carpet.
An eclectic dining room
A darker dining table and chair set to match offset the pops of colours you see around the entirety of the dining room…A green ceramic stool purchased in Hong Kong; plants (all of which are cat-friendly); a lighter green base lamp.
One of the standout pieces in this room is a specially framed traditional clothing piece: bought in Southern China, the homeowner fell in love with its delicate embroidery. Celine “racked her brains” to find the perfect spot for this piece, and then took the homeowner to an artisanal professional framer in the city. They selected the frame based on the fabric, choosing one that would prevent mould and mildew from seeping into the material.
It hangs above a Tibetan cabinet, which this explorer has had with him for more than 20 years. At the end of this room is a cane wicker daybed, adding a touch of Indonesian flair. It suits its position beneath the window. This section is tiled, matching the balcony next to it.
An outdoor, sun-streaked balcony room
What was once an eyesore area for hanging clothes and safeguarding an AC compressor was converted into an outdoor oasis and an idyllic place to enjoy morning coffees, slow breakfasts and sunshine vistas.
The balcony was completely redone by the design team, creating another room rather than just a place of convenience and cleaning. It’s closed off from the living room by a sliding door. They opted for tiles that add happy splashes of blue and yellow.
There are plants, a gorgeous Indonesian coffee table nook and great views.
“Especially in the mornings after I feed my cats, I have my breakfast here. No rush. No meetings to attend. I am not on my phone. It’s pure moments of enjoyment.”
Modern dry and wet kitchens
Opposite the living room is the dry kitchen, which then leads into the wet kitchen, and was one of the major gutting works that Celine worked on. Previously, there was a common bathroom. Now, the two kitchens are separated by a sliding door–extra convenient for the homeowner when it’s his cats’ breakfast and dinner times.
The kitchen has a distinctly modern vibe to it, decked with light blue, fingerprint-proof laminates in the dry kitchen and lighter ones in the wet kitchen.
A shelf was added in the dry kitchen, utilising more room to display the homeowner’s treasures, and showing more of his personality, even in this room. It’s the same in the dry kitchen, where shelving was added purely for decorative purposes.
“These particular shelves in the wet kitchen are merely decorative. We lose some storage space, but gain some for aesthetics. It displays my recipe books, like Jamie Oliver, ceramics and other artefacts.”
A special foyer entrance
This foyer is unlike many entrances you would commonly see.
Firstly, a pintu pagar door was added before the front door.
“I love Peranakan culture, and I would love to live in a shophouse,” says the homeowner. “I wanted to mimic a shophouse front door. We used this instead of the typical grille doors.”
After you push through the pintu pagar doors and walk through the front door, a tiled pathway (mirroring the balcony and dining room ones) leads to two antique Chinese doors.
“This was one of the top three challenges Celine faced,” he explains. “This was a wall into the kitchen which we tore down and added the two antique doors. The problem was that because it is an old apartment, the ceiling wasn’t level. We first restored the doors to their former glory, and then had to install them. They now sit flush with the ceiling beam.”
This was not the homeowner’s first home renovation journey.
For this current home, design and construction took almost one year in the making from when he signed the dotted line and purchased the place.