Home Tour: $95,000 Renovation for architect couple’s 4-room resale HDB at Dawson Road

Who Lives Here: An architect couple and their dog
Home: A 4-room resale HDB at Dawson Road
Size: 893 sqft
Interior Designer: PORTU.PURA @portupura
Main Contractor: Majestic Construction Engrg @mjstc_sg

Architect Carnation Kng and her Portuguese husband, Lourenço Vaz Pinto, who is also an architect, have moved houses several times since becoming a couple in 2020. They started out sharing a home with their housemate while they were studying in Los Angeles and subsequently rented homes in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Singapore.

This 4-room resale HDB flat is the sixth home that the two have shared, and it is the first one that they own. “Back then, we were moving at least once a year, hence purchasing this flat was a huge milestone and a sigh of relief as we finally have a place to settle down together long term,” says Carnation.

With every home, the 29-year-old couple learnt something new about themselves and about each other, whether it be a lifestyle habit, a quirk or an aesthetic preference. All these trials and errors eventually culminated in the design of the flat. Since they are both architects, they came up with the design and prepared the drawings and renders themselves and worked with PORTU.PURA and Majestic Construction Engrg to execute the project. 

Going through the entire process together allowed the couple to develop an even better understanding of one another. “The fact that we are both happy with the final result showed us that we were able to resolve our design without compromising our happiness,” she reflects. They had fun working together on their home and from a professional point of view, it also gave them firsthand insight on what their clients go through when faced with budget constraints.

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Home as a timeless sanctuary

As architects, Carnation and Lourenço have always prioritised the spatial qualities and the natural lighting of a home. Furniture is a means to making each unit feel like home, working within whatever budget they had at the time. Keeping decorative elements to a minimum allow the furniture and art to shine as the real centrepieces in the home. 

Their brief for this home was to create a “timeless sanctuary”. “The idea of ‘sanctuary’ is self-explanatory. We lead busy and active lives in a dense and intense city, so the feeling of arriving home to serenity is absolutely priceless to us,” she explains. 

Timelessness was something that the couple prioritised when putting their home together. Trends come and go, but as a long-term and possibly forever home, they needed it to grow and evolve without looking dated by the next interior design cycle.

“Hence, we decided very early on to have minimal built-ins as they are expensive and can age poorly in Singapore’s humidity. This affords us great flexibility to adjust the decoration and furniture - and by extension the character of our home - in tandem with our growth as individuals and as a family,” she elaborates.

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Living Room

With the walls to the third bedroom hacked, it is now the new living area while the former living room becomes the new dining space. Together, they form a seamlessly connected space that feels open and welcoming and which enjoys plenty of natural light from the generously sized windows, not to mention a view of the lush Dempsey Hill greenery.

“We organised the layout to orientate people towards the majestic views, turning the outdoor greenery into a backdrop for home living,” Carnation points out. This is her favourite space to lounge on the sofa with their mini Dachshund, Bean, watching the view transform with the changing weather. 

A pair of navy blue linen curtains frames the windows on either side of the space and add a touch of luxury. But there is more than meets the eye. One set of curtains actually conceals the television set behind as the couple loathes the sight of a television set in what is supposed to be the most social space in a home.

The finishing touch lies in the automation - the curtain retracts when the television set is switched on, adding to the cinematic experience. The pre-loved nesting coffee tables were adopted from their friends and the television console was an Ikea buy that they DIY-ed using silver vinyl. 

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Dining Room

While they were mindful about furniture expenditure, they did splurge on a few pieces, such as the teak dining table set from Soul & Tables and two rattan chairs from Chun Mee Lee Rattan Furniture. This is without a doubt their favourite furniture in the entire home.

“We have always felt that a good dining set is an essential anchor for any home and we finally have the space to invest in our own set. The rattan chairs also add a nice tropical flair to our space and we love that they were handmade using traditional methods from the region,” shares Carnation.

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Kitchen

The existing kitchen walls were demolished and the yard door replaced with a fluted glass one to let in more natural light. A new quartz peninsula island separates the open concept kitchen from the dining and living areas, which allows the couple to serve food while interacting with guests or easily load up the dishwasher after a meal. 

The rest of the kitchen was designed and planned with practicality in mind, maximising storage and countertop space for some serious meal prepping on weekends. Frequently used appliances have dedicated compartments in the built-in kitchen cabinets, ensuring that they are kept out of sight when not in use, yet remain easily accessible when required.  

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Home office

The design of the home office - Lourenço’s favourite space - demonstrates the element of flexibility in the layout. It is conceived as an open study where the original dining room was, right beside the main entrance. The open concept allows the home office to be used by one person, whether for working or relaxing, while the other is doing something else in the adjacent kitchen or living room, and still technically be sharing the same space together.

“The idea of arriving home and going into separate rooms to do our own things does not appeal to us, thus the open concept for our home in general. However, it is also nice to have the option to just slide the curtains and have a very comfortable study space on the days where we want some truly alone time,” says Carnation.

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Master bedroom

A calming and restorative space, the master bedroom is a clean and uncluttered room that is conducive for winding down after a busy day. It is softly illuminated by concealed LED light strips that give it a warm and cocooning ambience.

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Bathrooms

The couple dedicated the most time and effort in designing the two bathrooms to create a luxurious and spa-like experience as they consider showers an important ritual.

Each bathroom has one distinct feature wall - the one in the master bathroom is tiled in black, while the common bathroom’s is blue. The rest of the bathroom walls are clad in faux travertine tiles.

$95,000 Renovation cost

The renovation cost came up to about $95,000 including furniture and appliances. It took about six months to complete - three months for the wet works, and another three for installations and touch ups.

Carnation and Lourenço moved into their new home in January 2025, about halfway into the renovation process as the lease to their previous apartment ended. To accommodate this, the main contractor ensured that the master bedroom and master bathroom were completed first.

“The rest of the flat was still a construction site. It was definitely a fun (albeit very dusty) experience watching our home literally come together during those few months,” she recalls. 

Home as a solid foundation

Despite the common Singaporean obsession with the next “upgrade”, the couple see themselves living here long-term because they love the neighbourhood. They are also very pleased with what they have done with the home, which gives them a “solid foundation” upon which to build their lives.

The process of creating a home never truly ends as the occupants’ lives and needs are constantly evolving, but good design and good built quality helps to eliminate a lot of unnecessary issues down the road.

“As designers, it is impossible not to constantly look for areas to improve, but we know we did the best we could within our current means,” says Carnation.

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