Full Circle

Dubbed as a back-to-basic retirement home by its owner-designer, this flat in Tampines is anything but. Asih Jenie takes a tour.

- Asih Jenie

WHO LIVES HERE

A couple in their 50s and a dog named Snoopy

HOME A two-bedroom

HDB SIZE 1,196 sq ft

Homeowner Calvin Ho has moved places 10 times in the last 15 years. A businessman and a creative multi-hyphenate, he renovated the homes he lived in himself. ‘Quirky’, ‘unusual’ and ‘out-of-box’ are the words he uses to describe his design approach. “If someone walks into the space that I designed and doesn’t ask about or comment on it, I consider that a failure,” Calvin says. Calvin’s first home, which he designed himself, was an HDB flat fashioned in Antonio Gaudi’s style featured in Home & Decor more than a decade ago. “Everything was either angled, curved or decorated in that home. There was nothing that did not catch the eye,” he shares. It couldn’t be more different than his current home.

Completed in February 2020, the two-bedroom HDB flat in Tampines features open spaces, linear lines, and mostly a crowd-pleasing modern contemporary look. It took only four months from Calvin’s first viewing to completing the renovation and moving in. He had no plan to move in from his last home at the nearby Waterview Condo, but then he just reached his retirement age of 55 and has a convenient window to use his CPF for a retirement home. “My first home was an HDB flat, and I have lived in all types of homes in Singapore since. So, I thought to myself, why don’t we go back to HDB? Pay and settle everything and retire,” he says.