Home Tour: A 30s couple’s $50,700 eclectic renovation for their 4-room HDB BTO SBF in Eunos
By Brenda Lim -
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Singaporean couple Keshav and Priya’s marital home is anything but the monotonous beige interior design aesthetic that we see all around social media these days.
Their 4-room HDB BTO Sale of Balance (SBF) in Eunos strikes you immediately as colourful and spacious, perhaps as a reflection of the homeowners’ characters. In fact, they had to dial down their charming personalities a little when designing the house. “I think one of the themes that we stuck with was a pop of colour. We didn’t want it to be umm... like an overwhelming kaleidoscope when you enter the house,” the couple recounts.
Who Lives Here: A therapist, and travel manager couple
House: 4-Room HDB BTO SBF in Eunos
Size: 93 sqm
The living room.
Eclectic Interior Design
Kaleidoscope of colours is the phrase to describe this couple - they (and their house) are warm and inviting. They aimed for eclectic interior design with earthy tones, including greens, oranges, yellow, and wood feels.
Priya is a therapist who spends 5 days a week in the hospital while Keshav is a travel manager who spends his day on-the-go dealing with sales. Their $50,700 renovation concluded in September 2023, and the couple has been living in this home for almost 2 years.
Looking back at the two years past, the couple noted that their stay has been smooth. While there were the usual minor issues like unreliable air conditioning vendors and neighbor renovation fiascos, these were not significant issues.
The living room is covered in heritage-themed decor.
Singapore DINK Life
Their flat is a 4-room HDB BTO, and they decided to knock down the third bedroom to create a more spacious living and dining area, as the couple thoroughly enjoys hosting their family and friends.
Their spacious living room is flooded in natural lighting, brightening up the space.
While they plan to have children eventually, homeowners Keshav and Priya’s current priority is entertaining and traveling. “I think that use of that space made more sense for us at this time than having that spare room that we wouldn’t really have done anything with right now,” the couple explains.
This flat’s location is highly convenient, being central to both Keshav and Priya’s workplaces and their parents’ homes. It is also less than a 10-minute walk from Eunos MRT station. Situated close to the main road, they can sometimes hear the train go by from their window.
Artworks hung throughout their home pay tribute to Priya's Indian heritage.
Indian Chinese Heritage
Their home has minimal built-ins, aside from the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom carpentry. “We wanted to acquire or inherit [furniture] from our families and our parents’ homes,” the couple says.
Many of their furniture were inherited from family, giving the home a traditional touch.
The homeowners proudly display their heritage throughout the house.
You’ll find a mix of precious and inherited items from their parents and grandparents, reflecting their combined Indian and Chinese heritage, as Keshav is half Indian and half Chinese. This includes oriental vases, a mother-of-pearl cabinet, telephone tables, and elephant tables, which effectively blend their backgrounds into their living space.
The peranakan tiles fit their desired theme of colourful and eclectic decor.
HDB Entrance Design
Priya particularly loves the entryway bar area for its compact design and striking colourful tiles that separate it from the rest of the house.
The dining area looks into the living room.
Dining Area Design
Keshav also enjoys the bar area for its warmth and inviting atmosphere, and additionally highlighted the dining area, which features mismatched chairs and a wooden dining table..
“I love the bar area as well, it’s very warm, it’s very inviting,” Keshav quips as he calls to the mismatched dining chairs, and the wooden dining table with grains that remind him of a moving river. “I think what we did was really nice.”
The dining area’s Philips Hue lighting allows them to adjust the ambience for different occasions, such as brighter settings for parents and dimmer, cosier lighting for friends.
The kitchen features patterned tiles that give it a calming yet fun ambiance.
Kitchen Design
Keshav and Priya spent considerable time choosing their tiles, especially the colourful ones. They were particularly fond of the “Bali tiles” along the kitchen counter, drawn to their natural look, cool colors, and floral patterns.
Keshav, described as the “wilder” and “daring” one, often suggested more boundary-pushing ideas, which Priya and their interior designer sometimes reined in. Their interior designer, formerly of Voila Design Pte Ltd, was very meticulous in mapping out the placement of each tile, using a grid to ensure proper arrangement.
The second bedroom.
Study Room
The second bedroom is currently used as a study, which Keshav and Priya admit is the “least nice room” as it also serves as a storage space for items that don’t yet have a place.
The master bathroom.
The bathroom tiles are relaxing and repeated through the home.
Master Bathroom Design
Moving further into the master bedroom, and one may notice that the master bathroom shares the same tiles as the home bar’s feature wall. This tile design, chosen for its nature-inspired, relaxing qualities and pop of color, contributes to the home’s cohesive interior design theme.
What’s next? There’s a next chapter to this house, says Priya. “The next chapter looks like paintings in the house. That’s something I really want to work on - I really want to do more, and put more art on the wall.”