Home Tour: Canadian husband & Singaporean wife’s eclectic renovation for 4-room HDB in Holland Close
By Shannon Osztonits -
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Stumbling upon a home with character; with a lived-in personality, and stories behind every corner and furniture piece, is like hitting the jackpot among the world of typical Singaporean design aesthetics.
Home of British Columbian-born, guitar-playing Mike, and Singaporean pole sport-loving, creative thrifter, Grace, their family home is anything but boring! And the same can be said for this husband and wife duo.
Family man Mike is a former video game developer who now works for a university and is an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy. Grace, who left her job as a lab researcher, has a serious penchant for vintage and second-hand shopping, restoring antiques to their former glory.
“Our home is not out of the box. It’s just really different,” Mike says. “It’s different from the typical Singaporean home, but it’s really functional.”
Hitting the nail on the head, it isn’t a model, “show off” type of home, straying away from favoured trending themes like Muji and Japandi. Expect quirky spaces, pops of colour, repurposed furniture (many of which hold stories), and an industrial kitchen fit for a professional chef!
The space is a little rock n roll, a little industrial-cool, a little bohemian, and you’ll notice a red and black colour palette used throughout.
“We’re a little bit rugged around the edges. We like the industrial look because it’s low maintenance, it’s kind of a warehouse,” explains Grace, “Our home is not untouchable and perfect. Because, I mean, the kids are all over the place…The cats are all over the place…You’d better accept it. If the house has scratches, it doesn’t matter.”
Functionality is the keyword across the board. The kitchen and living room were the focal points of this home renovation.
Who Lives Here: 50-year-old Canadian husband and 41-year-old Singaporean wife with their two kids and three cats
Home: A 4-room HDB
Size: 1,200 sq ft
Interior designer: Three-D Conceptwerke
Three-D Conceptwerke Review
An interesting thing about this home renovation process is that homeowners Grace and Mike stuck with their original interior designer, Dess from Three-D Conceptwerke, who helped do up their first home in the Holland Village area years back — an area they chose to stay in, simply shifting their homes a few blocks down from their previous one.
“We like Dess a lot. He’s a veteran in his industry,” says the homeowners. “He really understands functionality in a home.”
This husband and wife kept much of the same aesthetic as their previous house, with small changes, for example, a colour theme shift. But many decorative pieces, as well as big functional furniture, like the kitchen counters, were moved from one space to the next. The main reason for the move was the need for a bigger home.
“We love the area we’re in, it’s very cosmopolitan,” tells Grace, “We didn’t want to move too far, so we ended up moving from our original apartment in Block 2, to Block 3A, maybe a five-minute walk from our original place. We just needed more physical space.”
The homeowners describe their style as “random,” but friends and family describe them as eclectic. A lot of the furniture was sourced and brought from platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
Doorways and frames boast a dramatic apple red colour, balanced with the cool materials like cement.
Red Colour Palette
Moving from a blue-rich home to one accentuated by apple red, the colour palette was chosen by Grace, who was inspired by their daughter’s interesting secondhand table and chair set from an IKEA x Hay Collection.
“Previously, we had blue…But then with my daughter’s red table, it made me realise that the red will go very well with what we have in the house,” says out-of-the-box-thinking Grace. “I just felt like the red will be very cool with the grey walls and wooden tables.”
Although it could be a Feng Shui taboo for some, these homeowners weren’t phased.
“If you proposed it to somebody, they might think it’s weird. But it’s not a weird choice for us. Aesthetically, it looks very nice.”
The family repurposed a real fire hydrant, now used for storing their shoes.
Foyer Entrance Design
Hard to ignore, as soon as you open the apartment’s front door, you’re greeted by a cemented, ventilation block-cut feature wall. Its rugged edge complements the industrial-inspired aesthetic of the house.
This was created for privacy reasons, as the space directly behind the wall is the living room.
It also hides the inner home from a walkway directly in front of the apartment, which also boasts large windows.
Entering the home, a painting of Greece (and about a million cats) catches your eye, gifted to the homeowners as a housewarming from their neighbours. Moving on from the foyer, hooks for the kids’ jackets and backpacks hang from a long-stretching wooden window counter, where scooters and bicycles are kept, too.
Walking past the ventilation block wall, the gym is in front, and on the other side of the rugged feature wall is a cosy workspace.
Home Gym
To the right is Mike’s gym, one requisite he was adamant on in terms of home layout. A storage room is behind the black door in front of the gym.
A bright orange bench, which Grace sourced, couples well with the red accents and grey tones around Mike’s music corner.
Guitar Station
Meandering around the corner from the entrance, a guitar station is set up, featuring Mike’s electric guitars and amp. These are stationed around a bright orange bench. Four framed posters of jazz and 70s funk artists decorate the wall, showing off the husband’s love for the genre.
Mike plays progressive rock and jazz.
“I’ve been playing some songs for 15 years, like ‘Autumn Leaves.’”
Many furniture items have been collected over the years, each one with a story behind it.
Living Room Design
A focal space for their home renovation brief, this is where the family convenes, and they are close to each other when Mom or Dad is in the kitchen cooking and the kids are playing in the living room.
“There’s a flow of going from a meal cooked in the kitchen, through to the dining table,” says Mike.
A lot of the furniture you see in the living room is second-hand gems, given a new life by Grace.
A mid-century coffee table has been a part of the family since 2013, as well as the chrome overhang standing lamp. With its marble base, it’s a timeless collectible. Grace bought it second-hand, with just a bit of rewiring work required before it was given a second chance. Covering the sofa is an animal character throw. A shaggy rug is thrown over a brown leather butterfly chair — purchased off Facebook Marketplace — adding texture and warmth.
In front of the privacy wall is a small desk area, like a little office space.
“Grace gets the urge to switch things around all of a sudden,” jokes Mike. “Out of the blue. Like a lightning strike. Maybe next year the TV console may not even be against the same wall.”
The massive gas stove is from Bertazzoni with fun red knobs. The extra deep basin, counters, shelves, and cooking hob are all restaurant-approved.
Kitchen Design
Both this husband and wife love to cook. It’s a no-brainer once you step inside the industrial-esque kitchen.
Interestingly, much of the stainless steel equipment is that which serious chefs use, and which Mike and Grace sourced from Ah Seng Stainless Steel (a stainless steel warehouse playground stocking pre-used industrial style kitchen equipment).
“We found the sink, and somehow, the dimensions worked out. Then we realised we needed a rack,” recalls the homeowner. “We went back to the pile of racks and found one that fits the dimensions of the sink.”
All of the kitchen setup was moved from their previous home to this one. The entire scene is something you’d expect to find in a fully operating professional restaurant kitchen.
“At the time, people thought we were nuts. Like, why would we want a hawker kitchen in our house? Only Dess was the one to say, ‘Let’s go look at the secondhand stainless steel shop and hunt for your kitchen sink,’ explains Mike. “He wasn’t saying you have to make it brand new. He was willing to work with what we wanted.”
Space was taken from the kitchen and the service yard was enlarged.
Mini White Subway Tiles
This husband and wife didn’t feel the need to have a big fancy kitchen with an island and all. It feels less cluttered for them. The white mini subway tiles are easy to clean after cooking.
“The kitchen to us also doesn’t have to be a very big space, right? As long as we have what we need, you know, everything is within reach,” says Grace. “We don’t really need a very fancy kitchen island as well, just sufficient drawers. We don’t want clutter to happen. So we just want a good amount of space, no hoarding of things.”
The boys’ bathroom feels super masculine thanks to the choice of a darker colour palette.
Boys’ Bathroom Design
The home boasts two bathrooms: one for the girls (Mom and daughter), and the other is the “boys’ bathroom” for Dad and son.
Mike and Grace’s previous home only had one bathroom, and so the new two-bathroom setup is a dream for this family.
“We now have a boys’ bathroom and a girls’ bathroom, which I think is the secret to a happy marriage, to be honest,” Mike laughs.
Dark navy and black mosaic tiles decorate the floors and walls. Even the sink is black, and the colour palette is something Mike insisted on, lending that masculine edge. That, and a rain shower.
“If Mike could have a black toilet bowl, he would,” recalls Grace, “We just couldn’t find one.”
The sink and mirrored vanity are intentionally kept simple and are Japanese-made.
A stainless steel key box, adorning the wall between the music station and gym, adds to the industrial-esque aesthetics.
3 Months’ Renovation
The design process was one month, and construction works were completed in two months.
For Grace and Mike’s second home renovation, they encountered no obstacles. A huge part of this was due to sticking with the same interior design firm, who understands the couple’s aesthetic and vibes.
“We are very freestyle, flexible types of people. My belief is that if we propose something, it doesn’t work, and your designer has an alternative which is still functional, we change it,” Grace says. “We are not overly obsessed with wanting a certain style.”
Many could take a page out of their book to avoid headaches during the renovation process.
“It’s normal to have an expectation, but of course, if you understand the process, you have good communication and great chemistry with your designer, I don’t think there’s anything that would be a shock because it will be well communicated.”
Can’t get enough of this home? We spoke with the homeowner to understand more about their design thinking and favourite home pieces here: