Home Tour: A Project Manager and Financial Analyst’s $170,000 80s-Inspired Renovation for their 4-room BTO in the North-East
By Shannon Osztonits -
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It all started with an idea: homeowner and wife, Jolene’s vision to be exact.
Drawn to the concept of having a living room large enough for meaningful social connections among family and friends, once this notion was set in place, the rest tumbled down with a little thanks to social media algorithms.
Whilst this husband and wife duo did use an interior designer from Bud Studio to execute the final processes, it was Jolene who self-designed her and her husband, Brandon’s, first family home, with some help from our good ol’ friend, Instagram.
“I was thinking about 1920s to about 1980s kind of homes, and I think we are just really drawn to the concept of these,” says Jolene. “We really liked the idea of how everyone would sit together and chat instead of how things are right now, where people are just focused on the TV. That’s the base of our interior theme choice. In the 70s and 80s, conversation was still very popular.”
Settling on an 80s modern vibe, with bold colours and striking geometry, spaces are carefully thought-out, every room has an intention, and guests always feel welcomed when walking into their home.
“It’s sensual and playful,” describe the homeowners. “With a bold palette of pink, brown and burgundy, balanced by secondary tones like olive green and blue.”
Bold accents are used throughout the home, creating a sense of flow, as seen in the Master Bedroom.
Who Lives Here: A 31-year-old Project Manager and a 32-year-old Financial Analyst husband and wife duo
Home: A 4-room BTO
Size: 1,001 sq ft
Interior designer: Bud Studio
Born and bred in Singapore, the couple put in an offer for this BTO four years ago, whilst they were still dating, but with their plans for starting a family and getting married were very much a go-ahead. Fast-forward to the future, their application was approved, and the apartment became theirs.
Choosing the location as it’s within a couple of kilometres radius from both their parents’ homes, their apartment overlooks a castle-shaped pink and white condo — which just happens to match the retro-esque vibes of their home surprisingly.
Currently, there are two bedrooms (a secret garden room was recently converted into a nursery) and two bathrooms, including the en suite in the primary. The living room is a focal area, and the dining area and kitchen flow seamlessly from the living space.
Doorways to a Secret Garden
Ever heard of a secret garden in a home before?
Jolene’s design ideas were very much about concealing spaces, creating an element of surprise for guests, as well as eliminating any clutter around the home, resulting in a super sleek end look. This is how the idea for a hidden room came about.
“Two things we love most about our home are the entrance and the living room,” Jolene and Brandon recall. “The entrance is clad in Alpi California burl veneer and features two hidden doors — one to the bomb shelter (storage room), and another that opens into a secret room lined with vintage meadow wallpaper, evoking the feeling of stepping into a hidden garden.”
The foyer area is where two Tic Tac doors are located, decorated in deep tones and organic patterns. Guests always feel grounded in this space and are drawn to the complexity and rich textures of the veneer walls.
The inspiration behind it all?
“We needed another room in case we were going to have a baby, and also wanted to close off the entryway,” Jolene says. “The wallpaper wrapped around the entire room, and the mirror position in here creates an immersive experience for guests.”
The living room was formerly two small bedrooms, which were knocked down and converted into one room.
Living Room Design
A focal point in the home, and Brandon’s favourite space, is the living room. It’s now the heart of the home, where it’s all about engaging with friends and family who pop over to visit in a cosy “conversation pit.”
“What we noticed in most Singaporean HDBs is that when people have gatherings, because of the typical small living room size, half the family sits in the living room, the other half separated in a dining room,” explains Brandon. “This creates two groups that are split up. We realised this is something we wanted to sort of fix. We wanted our setting to be different.”
Not only is their velveteen seven-piece Hay Mags Soft modular sofa in Lola Rose a very 80s aesthetic, but the homeowners intentionally selected the low makeup to create a spatial illusion. The ceiling appears higher this way.
The separate pieces allow the couple to move the sofa around into different shapes and parts of the room, depending on the crowd or gathering.
Forgoing a built-in TV console, the couple opted for a television stand instead, so they can easily move it around the room.
“It gives us the flexibility to actually shape the room around how we want to host people,” say the homeowners.
Contrasting the pink-hued sofa is an olive green carpet, purchased on Etsy. A chrome Arco standing lamp from Flos adds a retro touch, but still feels contemporary. Bringing in softness is the U-shaped rail with lightweight curtains, wrapping around the window and parts of the wall.
Kitchen conceptualisation is all on Jolene for this one.
Kitchen Design
As a “low-cooking household,” the kitchen isn’t overly massive, but it’s equally impressive and a wow design factor of this 80s-inspired casa.
A wet and dry kitchen in one, there is no cooker hood; to maintain symmetry, and everything is well-camouflaged, with a service yard to one side, accessed through a door. The fridge is at one end of the back counter, and the other side is cabinets where appliances are housed.
Every last inch of the kitchen, including the 1.8-meter-long x 0.8-meter-wide island, is custom-crafted from hairline-finish stainless steel. Beneath the island is where the cutlery, pots and pans, dry food and snacks are kept. Even the triangle Alessi kettle matches with its chrome finish (a common shape you’ll notice throughout the entire home).
In front of the kitchen island is the dining area, which then flows into the living room.
Dining Area Design
The eight-seater dining table is from Cartel. Jolene intentionally wanted mismatched chairs, deciding on six Vitra Panton Chairs: four in deep wine and two in pink. Matching the Panton chairs is the bold, two-triangle cherry red pendant light above the dining table from Flos. Its glossy effect pairs well with the matte-finished chairs.
Adorning not just the dining area wall but a few other spaces in the home are artworks by New York-based artist and light painter, Mary Royall (@maryroyallstudio). It just so happens that this painting matches all of Brandon and Jolene’s colour palette, and Jolene especially loves the bit of blue in this artwork.
There are blackout curtains in the master bedroom.
Master Bedroom and En Suite Design
Drenched in dark chocolate brown paint, this husband and wife wanted a bedroom that felt restful and cosy, like a “cocooning effect.”
Entering the space, a strip of Alpi California burl veneer greets you from the doorway, set up on the side of the closet, tying in the various rooms and design elements throughout the home. Another triangle-shaped chrome wall sconce from Artemide is placed on this strip.
A velveteen-textured headboard from King Living lends a very luxurious feel, along with a contrasting burgundy carpet, also from Etsy. Same tiles from Hup Kiong are used across the entire home, including the primary.
The brown marble bedside tables are custom-made, constructed from a marble slab that the homeowners purchased from Hafary.
A shower, vanity, and toilet comprise the en suite setting.
Initially, the marble slab was bought to create the sink and basin for the primary bedroom’s en suite. (However, with so much leftover marble material, their ID suggested utilising this elsewhere, hence the side tables came about.)
Instead of the typical front-facing vanity cupboard, the couple opted for a vertical storage cabinet, next to the sink, in a chrome finish.
Bathroom Design
The common bathroom feels rich and luxe, thanks to the dark verde green mosaic tiles used across the floor and walls. This creates dimension and cohesion, but also feels like something different from the typical contrasting floors and walls you classically find in a bathroom.
“We were leaning into a moody, jewel-box vibe, so we went with dark green glass mosaic tiles on the walls and floor, and painted the ceiling to match for a fully immersive look,” Joelene details. “We specificallychose a pedestal sink from Kohler and a shower set from TOTO’s Curio series to bring in a bit of old-world charm.”
A light painting by Mary Royall marks the Tic Tac door to the bomb shelter.
$170,000 Renovation Cost
The total renovation cost clocked in at $170,000. Interior design costs came to 100k, with the rest spent on finishes and furniture.
As most of the design ideas were from Jolene and not proposed by an interior designer, the couple experienced a few learning curves.
“I think a lot of the technical specifications and making sure that things actually work the way we need them to in the house was a lesson for us,” says Jolene. “These are the things that the ID really helped us to understand.”
At this point, Brandon adds in his sharing: “Sometimes we found that certain things were not feasible, so we had to switch around what we sort of went for.”