A self-made home

Better known by his online persona @mayiduo, Kelvin Tan also moonlights as an interior designer, and now he's taken the next step and designed his very own abode. We caught up with the multitalented ID, talking bold design, compromising with your partner and financing a dream home for your family.

- YUEN YI YING

You may recognise homeowner Kelvin Tan from his comedic skits posted on his popular TikTok and Instagram accounts as @mayiduo. But what you may not know is that he's also an accomplished professional interior designer. After understudying at an interior design firm for just nine months, Kelvin branched out to set up SG Interior KJ in 2020, and in just a short span, his firm has been lauded as one of the nation's top 50 interior design firms by the Singapore Prestige 100 Award 2023/2024.

His private dwelling, which he shares with his wife and young son, is a 1,001 sq ft home chosen for its waterfront locale. "We had no money to buy a seaside bungalow, so we bought a seaside HDB," he tells us. "This was the best option we had for our queue number, avoiding the west sun." Just like his online personality, Kelvin wasn't afraid to be bold when it came to designing his flat.

He wanted a fully black colour scheme, while his wife wanted to go all white. "We came to the middle and did full grey," he reveals.

"The toughest client for an interior designer is their own partner because there are definitely conflicts when it comes to making joint decisions," the designer admits. "Eventually, I let my wife have her way for some items and vice versa."

Warming up the interiors

Since the overarching grey hue can come across as "quite cold," Kelvin decided to use paint with a limewash effect on all the walls and ceilings. For further dimension, he added curved elements throughout furnishings and surfaces to avoid making the space "feel like a morgue."

"There was no particular inspiration from anywhere," he tells us about the concept for his home. "I knew exactly what I didn't want because as an interior designer myself, I have designed quite a number of houses over the years so I know my likes and dislikes."

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