Home Tour: $69,000 Curved interiors for a family's 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines
Every home has a unique narrative and the homeowners are the starring characters.
By Lynn Tan -
Homeowners of this 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines, quality manager Marcus Loh and his accountant wife, Jamie Koh wanted their new home to be light-filled, spacious and possess a clean, minimalist aesthetic. The result was a beautiful home with curved interior design.
Who Lives Here: A couple in their 30s, their three-year-old son and a baby on the way
Home: A five-room BTO flat in Tampines
Size: 1,216 sq ft
Living room in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Open concept kitchen
As the couple hosts guests from time to time, but do not usually do any heavy cooking, they feel that an open-concept kitchen with a kitchen island counter and built-in storage would be ideal for their needs. With a growing family, they chose to retain most of the flat’s original layout comprising three bedrooms and provision for a study instead of hacking walls to combine rooms.
Cream and white kitchen cabinets and sink in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
By: Dan & Co Interior Designer
The couple engaged the interior designers at By: Dan & Co based on the recommendation of Marcus’ childhood friend, whose home was also designed by the home-grown firm. From his discussions with the clients, interior designer, Daniel, gathered that functionality and spatial flow were two of their key priorities, which he bore in mind when coming up with the interior design for their home.
Curved cabinets along the entryway in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Curved shoe cabinet
Shoes, keys and items to be displayed all have designated places at the entrance foyer within a custom-built shoe cabinet with an integrated niche. The door and frame of the DB box beside the main entrance were replaced with a built-in cabinet that cohesively blends in with the rest of the cabinetry at the entrance foyer.
Curved cabinet conceals the bomb shelter in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Concealed bomb shelter
To the left of the entrance foyer, the household shelter door is concealed within a feature wall. This turns the corner and continues into a row of built-in cabinets with curved edges that are cladded with the same laminate for consistency.
Study room in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Study room
Further along, the provisional space for a study has been enclosed to create a workspace and recreation room for the homeowner Marcus as part of his renovation wish list.
The absence of a feature wall in the living was a deliberate move. To conceal the television cables, Daniel introduced a partition wall with a rounded corner detail. This curved form helps to soften the design, as well as make the home more child-friendly.
Rounded edges for this kitchen island in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Curved carpentry
It is also applied to other parts of the home, such as the built-in carpentry around the entrance foyer, the kitchen island and even the master bathroom.
“Although the couple does not do much heavy cooking, we made it a point to design a very functional kitchen with ample storage and room to manoeuvre,” Daniel points out.
A cream, curved kitchen island runs along the kitchen in a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Kitchen island
The star of the kitchen is without a doubt the kitchen island counter. “It is fabricated from a semi-circular piece of solid wood with a quartz countertop and it is the talk and marvel of many visitors to our home,” shares Marcus.
The dining room is next to the kitchen island and the dining table is arranged perpendicular to the counter, which makes for an efficient and practical layout.
The door frames for the bedrooms, which came with the flat despite the couple having opted out, were something that they wanted redone.
A full-height wardrobe serves as a privacy partition in the master bedroom of a minimalist 5-room HDB BTO in Tampines.
Concealed aircon trunking
Homeowner Jamie says: “We intended to keep the corridor clean and free of any air-conditioner piping. With the headroom limitation and a four-inch pipe trunking beneath the air-conditioner unit, the original bedroom door frames would have been a nasty clash.”
“As a result, the height of the doorways to the bedrooms would be lower, but this is a trade-off that the couple was more than prepared to accept as it allows them to maintain a clean look,” interior designer Daniel comments.
Master bathroom with a frosted glass door.
Curved glass shower panel.
Curved bathroom design
A walk-in wardrobe comprising a pair of His and Hers closets in the master bedroom not only provide sufficient storage for the couples outfits, but it also serves to separate the sleeping and changing areas in order to preserve the restful quality of the former. The attached master bathroom has a frosted glass door that allows more diffused light into the adjacent walk-in wardrobe.
White and teal two-tone coloured walls for the son's bedroom.
Wooden children's bed frame.
Son's bedroom
The couple wanted a fun and age-appropriate room for their son. To achieve this, interior designer Daniel used two colour tones for the walls. The decision to go with loose furniture rather than built-in cabinets was in anticipation of the son out-growing the furniture in a few years’ time. Loose furniture gives homeowners Marcus and Jamie the option of redecorating the room and replacing the furniture more easily.
$69,000 Renovation cost
The renovation cost around $69,000 excluding furniture and furnishings. It took about 10 weeks and the family moved into their new home in July 2023. Marcus and Jamie consider the renovation close to a perfect 10.
“It encapsulates what we were seeking for in our new home and it reflects experiences from our growing-up years, as well as what we desire,” the couple concludes.
For interior designer Daniel, the project is about translating the clients’ inputs about what they want in their home in order to create a home that is unique to their lifestyle.
“Every home has a story to tell. Beyond aesthetics, good design should be functional and complement the lifestyle of the owners, not the other way round,” he emphasises.