The design of this 1,000 sqf, four-room HDB BTO flat in Telok Blangah Heights is inspired by colonial black and white houses, with added Peranakan-style touches, and decorated with vintage-look furniture.
Designer Chong Su Min of M3 Studio kept the floors and walls of this HDB BTO flat plain, using concrete screed and white paint, so the loose furniture and decor pieces could take centre stage.
A bedroom was removed to cater for a more spacious, open-concept living and dining area, furnished with vintage-look furniture and a built-in storage daybed below the windows.
The renovation, which cost $51,000, included built-in structures, such as the streamlined peninsula counter in the dry kitchen area. Jade green subway tiles and terracotta-look floor tiles, purchased from Hafary, make the open-concept kitchen a cheery space.
In the master bedroom, the bed frame is a second-hand find from Expat Auctions. Made of dark-stained wood, it features a woven cane headboard.
The original tiles in the bathrooms were overlaid with new tiles in patterns and solid colours. Shower screens with black frames were also installed, emphasising the space’s clean lines.
At the flat’s entrance, colourful patterned mosaic tiles from An Huat Trading are set into the concrete screed flooring. Nearby, a wooden table sourced at the International Furniture Fair Singapore was given a twist with a stone tabletop featuring a mother-of-pearl inlay, purchased in India.
Looking into the rented home of Elizabeth Acland, the co-founder of E&A Interiors, and her fiancé gives us a rare glimpse into the insides of the pretty, quaint and well-known conserved shophouses on Emerald Hill. Elizabeth retained some of its original Peranakan fixtures and architectural features, and complemented them with some of her tasteful decor picks.
The living room is spacious, bright and airy with its high ceilings and light-coloured finishes.
An original feature of the shophouse, the beautifully-carved display cabinet built into the wall, now stores the couple’s stemware collection.
The homeonwners' study under the staircase proudly displays her favourite photograph of her grandmother, taken during her modelling days.
The large master bedroom is made cosy with the use of plenty of soft furnishings, such as the high upholstered headboard and long beige drapes.