Home Tour: An educational therapist and IT engineer’s $70,000 renovation for 4-room BTO in Tampines GreenGem

Step inside this thoughtfully-designed 4-room HDB BTO flat and you’ll find more than just a well-planned layout or cohesive aesthetic. For its homeowners—a young couple who both share a heart for children with special needs—this home is a deeply personal space where intention, empathy and practicality guide every design decision.

Phonics for ADHD & Special Needs Children

Homeowner Dylan Lim, who works in the cyber security field, used to be a swim coach for special needs children. His wife, Denise Tan, still teaches phonics to kids with ADHD and other special needs, right out of their home where they’ve converted one of the common rooms into a classroom.

“I have been in this field for about 10 years,” she shares. “First, during my time in MOE, I worked with many children with special needs, ranging from suspected ADHD to autism, and that’s when my interest in children with special needs was sparked.” Denise explains how her passion was ignited to help special needs children who struggle in mainstream education.

A Home Shaped by Purpose and Care

Building more than just a home, the couple knew from the very start that the space had to serve multiple purposes. It needed to support work, learning, and rest in equal measure, without losing a sense of calm and comfort. Working closely with interior designer Teng Jian Yu from SG Interior Design, the couple carved out a flexible home that aligns with both their professional and personal lives.

To this end, the entire house is kept streamlined and soothing, with minimal distractions and a neutral palette, so that Denise’s students can feel at ease and secure, and Denise can seamlessly transition between teaching and daily life. 

Who Lives Here: A young couple, Denise and Dylan
Home: 4-room BTO flat at Tampines GreenGem
Size: 93 sqm
Interior Designer: Teng Jian Yu, from SG Interior Design

Designing for Different Needs 

“It all started with a little voice that said, ‘Ms Denise, I’m already trying my best.’ That moment broke my heart. Children with learning difficulties often work twice as hard just to keep up, but in a typical classroom, their efforts are often overlooked. I became passionate about giving these children what they need — not just extra worksheets, but a completely different way of learning.”

Denise explains why she decided to teach from home, and her motivations for dedicating a room to her teaching.  “Firstly, I wanted to curate a space that isn’t like any traditional classroom—just tables, chairs, and a huge whiteboard. I wanted to create a fun yet cosy space.”

Phonics Classes in Singapore for Special Needs Children

She wanted to tailor the space to research-based principles (such as the Orton-Gillingham Approach), while adding her own personal touch. “More importantly, having an entire space allows me to adapt everything on the spot to each child’s needs—whether they’re learning English, struggling with dyslexia, or need a little extra help. It’s like a structured class, but with the flexibility and heart of a home studio.”

A Room of Calm

Having worked with special needs children for over a decade, Denise is familiar with how overstimulating environments can affect focus, behaviour, and comfort—especially for children with ADHD, many of whom she now teaches from the comfort of her own home. “So the colour scheme for this room is more on the neutral side,” she explains, “Usually children at this young age, they will be very excited if there is too much colour.”

“One of the four walls is blue, and the ceiling is another light bluish colour—these help to calm the students down,” interior designer Jian Yu explains. His design intentionally avoided any built-ins so the furniture could be easily rearranged for each child’s needs.

The couple then furnished the space with white IKEA pieces that could be easily rearranged or replaced, keeping the classroom versatile and responsive to the changing needs of different learners. Denise also shared how she constantly changes up parts of the open learning areas to keep her little learners engaged.

“Most importantly, I wished to create not just a classroom but a space where children can breathe, feel safe, and know it’s okay to make mistakes.”

Thoughtful Layout 

Denise carefully considered how her students would enter the home, transition into the classroom, and access the toilet independently if needed. That meant the layout had to be straightforward and unobstructed. Everything had to feel accessible—not just physically, but emotionally—so her young learners could feel safe, regulated and at ease in the space.

“When they stand at the door, they can directly see the sink in the kitchen, so they can go directly to the kitchen sink to wash their hands,” Denise explains what happens after sensory play, adding, “Children with needs tend to learn better with kinetic style multisensory learning.”

“If they need the toilet, they will go to the toilet on the right,” Denise adds, “Our toilet seat has the smaller option for children.” “After the lesson is over, they can exit and go to the door, or wait at the living room. Or the little nook—most of the children like to go to that little nook to wait.” 

That Little Nook

“We actually didn’t plan that in our design,” homeowner Denise mused, “When we met the ID, we told him what vibe we were going for. We didn’t tell him we wanted a settee area.” After Jian Yu independently came up with his 3D design and showed it to the couple, they were both surprised and delighted. 

“The funny thing is, we met up with a lot of IDs before we decided on SG Interior. My husband told them we wanted a settee area which is built-in but most of them said our place was too small for a settee. We didn’t tell SG Design—one of the last IDs we met—so we were shocked that he designed this for us even though we didn’t ask for it.” 

Denise particularly appreciated the look and feel of this “wall-carved” seating space because it was round, and not boxy. “Because our dining table is long, some of our friends like to sit there,” she shares, “Sometimes I like to sit there and do work on my iPad.”

Concealed Bomb Shelter

This little nook is in fact Jian Yu’s proudest feature in the house, and he divulged that it also conceals the bomb shelter. Explaining that curves are trending these days in interior design, interior designer Jian Yu shared, “People are doing mainly the cabinets, so we decided to do the settee—which is quite unique.” The light blue also adds a calming pop of colour to the otherwise neutral wood tones.  

Arrow-Shaped Dining Table

Proudly taking centre stage in the heart of the home, the arrow-shaped table’s striking silhouette draws the eye even in a space filled with gentle curves and calming textures. Fittingly, this was the couple’s first major furniture purchase—though not without debate. 

“My husband always wanted a wood slab table,” Denise recalls. “I was against the idea at first. I thought they were all very big, long, and a fixed rectangular shape that I could buy from any shop,” Denise didn’t see the sense in spending thousands on something that could be bought off the shelf. After visiting about nine different shops in Johor Bahru in search of the perfect piece, this table caught both their attention. 

Priced at about RM8,000, the table wasn’t a small investment, but its sculptural, arrow-like shape and rich wood grain stood out from the rest. “We felt this was the most unique, and the size was just right for our home,” says Denise. They bought it that very day. Jian Yu wasn’t involved in sourcing the table but adapted the entire dining layout to accommodate it seamlessly. “We just sent him a photo and said: ‘We bought this because we really liked it’—and he integrated it into the design,” Denise adds. Today, it’s more than just a dining table; it’s a centrepiece for meals, conversations, and memory-making.

Living Room Design

“For our living area, we used a lot of soft colours and soft textures. For example, our sofa is made of fabric. They can lounge at the sofa area while waiting for their parents to pick them up. The furniture in the living room has a lot of curves and is very child friendly,” homeowner Denise explains how the room feels more spacious because they use a projector instead of a TV and don’t have a TV console. “When the kids are outside, I’ll push the coffee table against the wall to create more space for them. The furniture in the living area is modular so they can be pushed around to accommodate the children’s needs.”

Flexibility and multi-functionality were two key design principles interior designer Jian Yu adhered to. “The spaces were designed to adapt to multiple scenarios—for example, the living room can also function as a classroom, and the study supports various activities—making the spaces more durable and responsive to changing lifestyles,” he shared.

The lounge area is also where Dylan and Denise spend their free time together at home. “We’ll lounge at our living area and watch Netflix or YouTube together, on weekday evenings,” Denise shares, “Weekends, we will take our time to tidy up the place, do some light cleaning and explore new recipes together.”

Kitchen Design

Dylan likes to cook and is always on the lookout for new recipes. “He usually cooks at home over the weekdays when he’s free, but over the weekends we’ll try new recipes together as a couple.” Denise smiles, “Because I brew my own kombucha, sometimes I like to take a look at my kombucha in the kitchen. I guess we spend a lot of time in the living, dining and kitchen areas outside of our work.”

Design-wise, interior designer Jian Yu shares about the spatial-planning challenges he experienced with the kitchen. “Even though it’s a 4-room BTO, there was no service yard. Also, there was half a concrete wall in the centre of the kitchen,” Jian Yu recalls, “This concrete wall was in quite an awkward position, so we decided to use carpentry to cover it up.” 

As a result, when you look inside the kitchen now, you don’t see the wall anymore. Instead, the tall built-in unit houses a sleek built-in oven. Behind that wall, Jian Yu also etched out a mini service yard so the couple could install a Steigen for their laundry. Next to the Steigen, in the built-in shelves above the sink, Jian Yu added a special “secret” touch for cohesiveness—incorporating the laminate from the round settee area and the coloured tiles from both bathrooms. “We included parts of the house into the kitchen,” he proudly revealed—It’s all In the details.    

Bathroom Design

While the rest of the BTO flat leans toward muted tones and child-friendly textures, the bathrooms offered an opportunity to introduce a little personality—specifically Dylan’s. “My husband is more of a colourful person in all aspects,” Denise laughs. While she preferred a Scandinavian look with no pops of colour, he wanted something bolder. 

Their interior designer, Jian Yu, proposed a solution that balanced both sensibilities: using vibrant mosaic tiles and colour-matched vanity tops in the bathrooms. In the master ensuite, vertically stacked red and orange tiles are paired with a rich, dark red laminate countertop, while the common bathroom features cool blue tones and green mosaic walls. Both bathrooms also play with curvature in unexpected ways, adding sculptural interest and softness to the space. These gentle arcs echo the rounded settee in the living room, creating continuity throughout the home. 

Denise admits that the bathrooms weren’t something they had initially envisioned in such detail, but they’ve since become standout features. “We chose a teal and a terracotta for our toilet, but it was not too overwhelming,” Denise admitted, “It’s surprisingly nice.” Of all the design elements in the flat, she’s confident about one thing: “I know my husband’s favourite feature would be the toilets—the master toilet!”

$70,000 Renovation Cost

The renovation cost approximately $70,000 and took almost three months—a fairly modest budget considering the extensive layout changes and thoughtful detailing throughout. Yet it’s not the custom carpentry or layered textures that Denise values most—it’s the feeling the space evokes, both for her students and for the couple themselves. Their home isn’t just lived in; it’s actively shaped by the rhythms of their daily lives, the children who learn and grow within its walls, and the couple’s quiet moments shared between work and rest. 

“It’s the way we’ve filled the space—not just with furniture, but with care, softness, and warmth,” Denise concludes proudly, “We built this space with intention, creating a space where we both feel at ease. Every little detail—from the scent when you walk in, to the quiet corners, to the silly laughter that fills the rooms. This home is truly ours because it holds our stories and our hopes for the future.”