Home Tour: A 58-year-old Executive Director’s $100,000 Oriental renovation for 4-room HDB in Bishan
It’s giving antique meets modern.
By Shannon Osztonits -
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When you love something so dearly, it’s often hard to let it go. For homeowner, Doris, downsizing from a very large apartment to a smaller stairless one in preparations for her future, one of her biggest concerns was space to display and keep safe her treasured oriental furniture and collection of Chinese antiques — many a rare ornament, with aeons-old stories to tell…if they could speak.
“I used to stay in China for a few years, and then when I got any furniture, I’d ship all the furniture here back to Singapore,” says Doris.
Employing Zach from Lush Interior, with whom the Executive Director was already friends from her church community, her transition was a breeze. Rarely did Doris feel the need to check in with her interior designer; instead, she placed full trust in him and his capabilities as a designer.
He understood her needs: enough room to accommodate her “chunky” furniture, an unusually large master bedroom, as well as a private dining area.
“My main concern was storage — I need a lot of it. With this unit, I had to do away with the storeroom,” Doris explains. “I was used to staying in a bedroom that was the size of two bedrooms in my old place, so I told the designer I wanted the same concept here; to accommodate myself in my original room size. Another thing was a proper dining space. I don’t want to have it in the living room where everybody walking past the corridor can see me eating.”
Zach proposed keeping the design simple, balancing her furniture, and pairing this against an overall modern concept home. An “East-meets-West” kind of scenario.
A glass cabinet was built to display Doris’ collection of vases, figurines and Jade carvings, mostly from China, but also with a few others from different countries she has travelled to.
Who Lives Here: A 58-year-old Executive Director with her cat Duan Wei, and her helper
Home: A 4-Room HDB Resale
Size: 1,000 sq ft
Interior designer: Lush Interior
Homeowner Doris lives here with her tabby, a former stray that she rescued as a little kitten, naming it Duan Wei, meaning “short tail” in Chinese.
The renovation was a complete gutting.
A powder-coated mild steel divider with a glass-fixed panel allows you to see through from the dining area and kitchen into the living room, and vice versa, when the kitchen entrance’s three-panel transparent glass door is closed, whilst cooking, containing the smells within the kitchen. Zach took inspiration from Chinese restaurants for the slated partitioning.
Opening up space
This 4-room HDB comprises two bedrooms (originally three, but one was converted to provide more space). Half reserved for a huge master bedroom, and the other half of this third bedroom was partitioned off for the dining area. The property has two bathrooms, a dining spot, and an open-concept kitchen and dining space.
“My first proposal was to open up the whole area to be a larger dining area and also to make the house look bigger as you walk in from the main entrance,” explains Zach.
“But the owner preferred the master bedroom to be bigger. Thus, I reduced the dining area size and proposed a see-through divider with a clear glass fixed panel to maintain the open, spacious look of the house when you walk through the main door.”
Instead of accessorising her home with contemporary artwork or decorative lighting, it’s Doris’ curation of peony, crackle glaze, dragon, and classic blue and white vases that take centre stage.
Oriental Flair
Rich mahogany accents and other hardwoods add solidity to each zone, equalling out the Andes Light Hafary tiles throughout the living room, kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and corridor. Symbolic motifs are carved into furniture — an art design in itself. Framed amulets hang from the walls.
Like a museum safeguarding treasures, many of the homeowner’s collections aren’t out on display.
“I have a wide range of brass cattle. I like to buy one when I go to a new country. But I couldn’t display it all here.”
On either side of the corridor end are the two bedrooms: the master bedroom and the second bedroom, where Doris’ helper stays.
Corridor Artwork
Travelling back a couple of centuries to imperial China, you might spot a lady wearing a detailed embroidered collar around her neck if ever they were to meet the emperor. Each collar was a different style, depending on which dynasty was in power.
Above a Chinese antique table, two cow bone horses stand in mid-gallop. Above this is an eye-catching frame, where one’s eye is instantly drawn to the stylised material and pattern within.
This extremely special piece is, in fact, an original embroidered Chinese fabric, worn by women during the Qing Dynasty.
“I’m actually looking into the embroidery. It’s really good workmanship, and with this kind of embroidery, they don’t do it anymore in modern times,” Doris tells.
The living room is blessed with natural lighting. Opting for white semi-sheer curtains doubles as a light filter.
Living Room Design
Bright and spacious, the living room is the first place you enter via the front door. Zach was in charge of the layout. Custom-built cupboards (constructed from African Wood and Almond Milk Panaplast) line the TV unit wall, as well as the one directly opposite it, where enclosed glass shelves were added for Doris’ antiques.
Zach suggested a TV wall indent, and the in-built console below it has a flip-down door to access the power points. This is done in solid ply laminates. Keeping the overall look sleek, minimalist and fuss-free, smart recessed lighting was installed across the ceiling.
The all-white kitchen setup isn’t just easier to clean, but helps maintain a neat and organised look and feel.
Kitchen and Dining Area Design
Like a flume of white powder, the all-white kitchen design is refreshing, pairing wonderfully with the dining area toward the back space of this room, where an oriental themed dining table sits.
Quartz-laid countertops (a 15mm from iQuartz) glisten below back lights, and all of the homeowner’s kitchen appliances follow the same cream and white neutral colour palette — Nespresso machine and four-door Samsung fridge included.
Keeping things streamlined, the top kitchen cabinets are done in the same African Wood and Almond Milk laminates as the living room, and the lower cabinets are Almond Milk, too.
As someone who loves to cook, Doris specifically requested an induction cooker. Her previous home only had a gas burner, which she couldn’t use her special pots and pans on.
A soft closing track, slim profile aluminium frame glass sliding door is used to section off the service yard with the washers and dryers.
As you can see from the structural pillar to the right-hand side, the cupboard area was formerly part of the third bedroom, which was knocked down completely to create a bigger master (and dining area on the other side).
Master Bedroom Design
The enormous master bedroom boasts these gorgeous custom-built cupboards and black circular handles, which Zach was inspired by from Chinese cabinet furniture, carrying out that oriental flair Doris appreciates so much.
“My cupboard is 80% clothes, and 20% other things like my bags,” Doris says.
One of my personal favourite pieces in this home is the glass hanging pendant lights, hanging delicately from the ceiling next to Doris’ king-sized storage bed. Ornate and fluted, they remind one of a prized present, waiting to be unwrapped.
A dark tea colour fluted glass door, with a powder-coated aluminium frame, leads to the primary en suite.
Favouring a lighter colour palette for both bathrooms.
Bathrooms’ Design
Avoiding any sort of heaviness, and instead, continuing on with a contemporary design, both bathrooms comprise the same materials, albeit the layout differs slightly.
Wall and floor tiles are from Hafary (code QP8324GMB), and the shower area floor is a White Onyx tile, also from Hafary.
The vanity counters also follow suit from the home’s kitchen counters, finished off in a 15mm quartz surface from iQuartz.
The design to fabrication process took around three months.
“During the entire renovation process, I rarely came for inspection. Only when Zach needed me to be around, I dropped in,” recalls Doris. “I appeared here less than 10 times, which I know is unusual. I felt comfortable enough to leave things in Zach’s hands and trusted him. I left everything to him and the contractor.”
Perhaps it’s a piece of advice other homeowners wanting to renovate can take a page from. Release control and allow things to flow, probably saving you half the anxiety and stress during a home renovation. That’s if you think you have the willpower to do so.