$180k Renovation for interior designer’s 5-room BTO on Mount Vernon Road, full of clever design techniques
“I tried to incorporate textures, wood and limewash, and I love travertine.”
By Shannon Osztonits -
Share this article
This home is a celebration. A celebration of textures; a celebration of rich tones; a celebration of warmth. With much to love about the property, which has been so eloquently executed, it’s no surprise that it belongs to interior designer Alex Xie (owner of Inizio Atelier), who self-designed his family home.
Every corner is an ode to stylish design, yet it doesn’t feel like a non-lived-in display. The more you explore every room and intentional space, the more you see the mastery behind it all.
Working in the industry, Alex has encountered his fair share of learning curves, naturally, and it’s with this expertise that he brought into his own home. A wallpapered ceiling here (genius), a beautifully-crafted custom travertine table there…The continuation of forms, textures and colour palette is also much to be admired.
“There was no particular theme, more elements of what I love,” says the interior designer. “I also have a lot of open displays for collections of my toys and shoes.”
A few standout elements of this family home include the continuous warm-LED lit glass display cabinets, which you’ll spot around the house, including the foyer, kitchen and master bedroom; the limestone wash finishes; and the subtle arches seen in doorways and structural wall partitionings. It also showcases Alex’s personal preference for all things neutral.
Who Lives Here: Alex Xie, a 43-year-old interior designer, his wife and their daughter
Home: 5-room HDB BTO
Size: 1,215 sq ft
Interior designer: Self-designed by owner Alex from Inizio Atelier
The 5-room HDB BTO features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen and dining area, as well as a foyer entrance. Alex was fond of this unit because the bomb shelter was close to the main door, and not inside the house, equaling “more space within the space.”
It was a complete gutting, and everything that could be removed, the homeowner did.
“All the room doors have been changed to concealed doors with aluminium and all painted with a limewash,” he details.
The house features a smart home system – which operates all of the lighting (including the displays). Most of the furniture and finishes are custom-designed and crafted.
Kitchen Design
One of the first things you can’t help notice – even without looking up – is the t-bone concrete-like structure, finished with limewash, separating the kitchen space from the interconnected dining area. This pairs beautifully with the kitchen’s upper cabinets, which display a limewash finish textured laminate for cohesion.
The bottom kitchen cabinets are darker, reflecting the same dark laminate shade as the structural wall between the kitchen and the foyer. Kitchen counters are a sintered stone, featuring a stone finish on the kitchen side, and then a travertine finish across the island opposite.
An arched doorway leads to the service yard.
Integrated Dining Area
The dining area and the kitchen definitely feel part of the same room, but instead of using walls for blocking, Alex played around with the ceiling colours to do so. The ceiling above the dining area is marked by a walnut-coloured wallpaper (which continues into the foyer for a seamless effect). However, both spaces utilise the same light floor tiles (from Hafary) for a continued flow.
A customised retractable curved-edge dining table extends from the island, constructed from a travertine sintered stone counter (which you pull and it slides out to make bigger), with a wood bottom and built-in castor wheels, so it’s easy to pull out.
“It’s retractable, so we can cater for more people. We enjoy hosting family and friends,” tells the homeowner.
Not wanting anything too extravagant above the dining table, the couple opted for a simple, slim bar pendant light.
Next to the dining table (on the same side as the service yard doorway) is a small dry kitchen pantry space, where the toasters, dispensary, etc., are kept. On this same wall (next to the fridge) is one of the home’s glass display cabinets, featuring ceramics and some pottery done by Alex’s wife.
Living Room Design
Cascading down from the ceiling to the frontal living room wall is a limewash technique, adding texture to the comfortable-meets-elegant space.
Like many standout pieces in this home, the coffee table is custom-crafted, too. Alex chose a single slab of travertine and then decided to create a coffee table from the slab. He chose wooden legs to hold the rock. The olive green sofa is a custom piece from a furniture maker in Malaysia. Also in this room is a massage chair. “I am always there, on that chair,” laughs Alex.
Across the limewash feature wall is a huge flatscreen, and beneath this, a bottom custom console with a travertine look-alike laminate finish. Shelves on either side of the TV display more of Alex’s designer toys, like some of his sculptural KAWS.
Foyer Entrance Design
Sticking to the home’s seamless flow in between spaces, the foyer entrance boasts the same walnut-coloured wallpaper ceiling as the dining area. The cupboard on one side of the entrance wall matches this colour palette.
On the opposite wall, a display cabinet is lined with shoes and constructed from the same materials as the rest of the display units. The dark glass front highlights Alex’s appreciation for moody settings, and the choice of lights pairs well with this, adding a backdrop of warmth. Next to the shoe cabinet is a built-in arched seat.
Master Bedroom Design
The king-sized bed, with its custom headboard (constructed from fabric, it gives off a bit of a suede finish), pairs well against the limewash wall. This was intentionally chosen so as to bring out the same texture and feeling as the living room. The side tables are from Taobao.
In line with the headboard of four wooden panels, individually sectioned by vertical wooden panels.
The bedroom cabinets are custom with a walnut laminate finish, matching the rest of the house’s carpentry. Floor tiles used in the master are the same as those in the living room and join all the home’s bedrooms.
“For the floor tiles, I chose a large format of 1,200 x 1,200,” says the interior designer.
Clever Curves
Looking up, Alex added a curved ceiling leading into the room from the doorway.
“This was added in, as with the main structure of the house, there was already a dropdown. Instead of leaving it as a straight beam, I tried to put a curved texture over to break up the beam structure,” explains the designer.
Glass French doors with an arched frame lead to the primary en suite. Next to the bathroom door is another display unit, showcasing Alex’s wife’s bags.
Primary En Suite
Within the primary en suite is a vanity, toilet and shower. Half of the bathroom shows off the same tiles as the common bathroom, and then the shower area has a wood-like tile.
“I chose wood-like tiles because it’s for a wet area. With these textured tiles, the water flows more easily rather than with bigger tiles, whereby you’ll have water ponds here and there,” he says.
Extra texture is added to the shower through the chosen wall tiles. The rest of the bathroom walls are travertine-like wall tiles. All bathroom tiling is from Hafary.
Alex added shelves to the shower for bathing perfumes, soaps, washes, etc. Opting for a tinted glass shower panel, this is because a darker glass is less maintenance, as it leaves a lot less obvious sediments on the surface. The vanity counter and sink are built from one sintered stone, so both parts are integrated as one piece.
Daughter’s Bedroom Design
The homeowners’ daughter’s room is soft, playful and decorated in soft pastels. A wallpaper of rainbows and houses is plastered across one wall only, whilst the opposite one is painted light blue.
Overlaying three colours, Alex created a 3D effect (especially thanks to the pink and purple shades) for the bedroom closet door.
Guest Bathroom Design
The guest bathroom highlights the interior designer’s love for neutrals and textures. Mimicking the primary en suite, they used the same floor and wall tiles for this bathroom, featuring a shower, toilet and vanity.
The design process took six months, and construction work took three months. Of course, this is not Alex’s first home renovation rodeo, but he did mention he spent time overthinking this project.
One word that keeps popping to mind throughout this entire home and that’s ‘flow.’ Never underestimate the power of continuous design!