Home Tour: A 50s female ceramist’s $200,000 renovation for her HDB terrace house

Formerly working in graphics design and publishing, Maureen Cheng decided to move in order to shorten her commute to and from the office. She has always been drawn to HDB terraced homes for the garden, the space and there is no need to take the lift. Of course, their price point is also more affordable than private terraced properties. 

Who: A ceramist and her mother
Home: A corner HDB terrace home at Jalan Bahagia
Size: 1,600 sqf 

HDB Terrace House

These units were built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), HDB’s predecessor back in 1972, some even earlier. As fewer than 300 units were built, such landed HDB homes are extremely rare. Maureen, who is in her 50s, had her heart set on the Jalan Bahagia enclave and it was by sheer luck, timing and coincidence that she became the proud owner of this corner unit.    

$150,000 to $200,000 Renovation

It wasn’t until after having lived in the home for about ten years before she decided to do a complete overhaul to the tune of about $150,000 to $200,000. She was still working in publishing then and a chance reunion with her former pottery teacher while she was on a sabbatical rekindled her passion for the craft. “In my past careers, I always had to be in control to achieve perfection. I rediscovered that working with clay is a humbling experience where you need to go with the flow and learn to let go,” she reflects. Maureen finally took a leap of faith to become a ceramist full-time and started her own studio, Maison MCeramics. 

S.T.Design & Contrac

With her background in the creative industry and an interest in interior design, she decided to self-design her HDB terraced home and engaged S.T.Design & Contract to execute the renovation works. Her vision was to create a home and studio where she can live and work. Having already lived in the home for a while, she knew exactly what she wanted to do, how the spaces would work for her, and which areas get the most sun, breeze and noise. 

Open-Concept Interior Design

Maureen adopted an open concept design to maximise natural ventilation and views of the garden. Her planning strategy was to locate the living area and two bedrooms away from the boundary wall, which is adjacent to the main road. Aesthetics wise, she went with a modern and timeless look with a black, white and grey colour palette and chose materials and finishes that were low maintenance. “I love grey because it is neither black nor white and it can be feminine or masculine depending on what you pair it with,” she shares. 

Terrazzo Flooring

Even though the entire home was almost completely gutted, Maureen retained the existing terrazzo flooring in the living area. This serves as a nod to the home’s history and gives it a quaint and nostalgic quality. Instead of a sofa, which she felt would take up too much space, she opted for a pair of lounge chairs.    

Vintage Furniture

A vintage teak dining table from a Danish designer takes pride of place in her dining room. In its most compact configuration, it is a cosy table for two right up against the wall. When fully extended into an elliptical form, it can sit up to eight people. Maureen likes that it can be collapsed to occupy less space, giving her more room to move around or even for exercise. 

Kitchen Design

The kitchen is the heart of the home. Maureen knew that she wanted an island as the idea of facing a wall when cooking or baking did not appeal to her. With the oversized island, both she and her mother can bake and cook together, while enjoying a glorious view of the side garden. On occasions, the island also doubles up as her work area. 

Pottery Home Studio

Her home studio is another important space within the home. She had the spot picked out right from the start. It occupies the rear corner of the plot where it opens out to the back garden with plenty of natural light, access to a water point and room to house her kiln. Despite its compact footprint, the various zones within the studio have been meticulously planned according to her creative processes- from a potter’s wheel for throwing and a work top for kneading clay, to a large table for hand coiling or slab work and racks for storing her clay and drying her works of art. 

Bedroom Design

Maureen and her mother’s bedrooms are located beside the party wall shared with the next-door neighbour, furthest away from the road. Her mother’s room opens out to the rear terrace. Although Maureen’s room does not have any windows, she managed to introduce a skylight by replacing a section of the roof tiles with translucent ones that allow natural light to filter in.

The bathroom attached to her bedroom also serves as a common bathroom. She would have loved to have an outdoor bathroom, but that would entail the relocation of the bathroom to a peripheral location along with new plumbing and water points, so she decided to drop the idea.  

The renovation took about a year to complete due to delays caused by the pandemic. There were periods of time when works came to a complete halt. She finally moved back into her home sometime in 2022. Whether it is creating ceramics or designing her home interior, Maureen is drawn to things with a dual purpose or that have a stark contrast, such as between hard and soft, smooth and rough, feminine and masculine.

“For example, I juxtaposed the hard kitchen island with softer rattan elements,” she points out. One of her works- a moon jar- is a perfect circle but made with two halves to form a whole. “This duality, the yin and yang, is what intrigues me,” she shares.