Home Tour: A 50s bachelor’s ground-floor 2-bedroom apartment in East Coast

Moving from a landed family home, the homeowner, a bachelor in his 50s who works in the retail industry, was drawn to this apartment in East Coast because it is located on the ground floor and had generous outdoor balconies and terraces. Having grown up in a landed environment, he wanted the design of the apartment to engage the land and the outdoors as much as possible.

In response to the client’s brief, Lawrence Puah, design director of akiHAUS Design Studio started by examining the relationship between the internal and external spaces.

“No doubt the apartment has large outdoor spaces, but they have been designed like external appendages that are totally unrelated to the interior,” Lawrence comments.

Who Lives Here: A bachelor in his 50s
Home: A 2-bedroom condominium in East Coast
Size: 1,306 sq ft
Interior Designer: Lawrence Puah, design director of akiHAUS Design Studio

Ground Floor Terrace Design

He also points out that the living room had a small terrace attached to the side, while the main balcony fronted the two existing bedrooms. This left the main balcony under utilised as occupants typically only spent time in the bedrooms at night.

As a corner unit with only a narrow side terrace, the existing living room was very near the condominium boundary wall. It would be better served by a wider buffer such as that along the existing bedrooms due to the sizeable main balcony.

Living Room Design

Based on this analysis, interior designer Lawrence concluded that some fundamental changes to the layout had to be made, in addition to a complete overhaul of this 16-year-old apartment that was relatively rundown despite some renovation carried out by the previous owner.

The most major move was to swap the locations of the living room and kitchen with the two bedrooms. “The new living room and kitchen are now directly adjacent to the former main balcony, which has been transformed into front and rear gardens and an outdoor lounge. This creates a closer and more direct engagement between the outdoors and main living spaces where the homeowner will spend most of his time,” interior designer Lawrence explains.

Dining Room Design

The shift also positions the new kitchen right next to the dining room, which used to be disconnected from the rest of the apartment.

With the existing wall between the dining room and former guest bedroom removed, the new dining room and kitchen now have a more seamless connection. This almost did not materialise as the construction team discovered steel reinforcement bars in the wall during demolition, indicating the possibility that it could be a structural wall.

“Fortunately, the Professional Engineer studied both the Building and Construction Authority plans and the actual wall on site and confirmed that it was non-load bearing,” interior designer Lawrence shares.

Suspended Kitchen Cabinets

Due to a limited amount of space for kitchen cabinets, Lawrence introduced a suspended cabinet unit above the island that also incorporates a built-in, pull-out hood, as well as recessed downlights. To maximise the efficiency of the kitchen space, he even managed to integrate a kitchen counter and sink into an existing bay window. This proved to be somewhat challenging as there was limited space for plumbing below the sink due to the bay window structure.

The solution that he proposed involved using flexible pipes to connect to the bottle trap that is installed at the space in front of the bay window. A similar bay window in the new living room has been turned into a cosy, light-filled, sitting alcove that serves as an extension of the living room with a view of the garden.

Master Bedroom Design

Much thought has been put into the design of the new master bedroom and guest room. Occupying the space vacated by the former living room, the master bedroom forms an L-shaped layout with the attached master bathroom. It is accessible from a hallway in front of the two bedrooms and also from the living room. The guest room has been designed such that it can function both as a room on its own and also as part of the master suite.

Guest Room

The guest room’s sliding glass doors and curtains facing the master bedroom and the hallway can be closed to maintain privacy for the guest. With these glass doors fully opened and the concealed pocket sliding door at the end of the hallway near the entrance foyer closed, the guest room and hallway become part of the master suite. The guest room can also be used as a study, music room or multi-purpose room.

During design discussions with the client, Lawrence noted that he prefers timber elements and blue colour. The client also revealed that he is a little conservative by nature and appreciates classical designs. Bearing this in mind, Lawrence worked with this palette and came up with a design proposal that is predominantly clean and modern, but with classical accents within each space.

Bathroom Design

In the living room and kitchen, blue is the modern element complemented by wood with simple mouldings. As the master bedroom floor is already timber, interior designer Lawrence kept to a blue bedhead wall and white wardrobe doors in order not to overwhelm the space. Blue wall tiles and white marble in the bathrooms inject a classical feel and an air of opulence. The white cove ceilings throughout the home are not only on-theme, but also help to conceal existing beams arising from the reconfiguration of the layout.

The design and renovation took about six months to complete and the homeowner moved in at the beginning of 2023.