Outdoorsy Fun

A modern home with interior styling that blends the indoors with the outdoors helps the signature “flow” in Heather Hansen’s home.

- Dee Khanduja

Pulling into the driveway of this open-planned home, you can immediately sense that the family living here loves spending time outdoors. With a fully-decked alfresco dining and lounge setting, inviting pool and gorgeous landscaping, there’s a sense of casual ease, and a “homely” feel.

I’m welcomed at the door by Daisy, the cute family dog, and a very charismatic Heather, who shares tales about her Singapore escapades with me.

Tell us a bit about your family and your journey here.

I’m originally from California, my husband Peter is from Denmark, and our daughters Stella and Victoria were born in Singapore and attend the Canadian International School. I run a communication, consulting and training firm called Global Speech Academy, and Peter is a Regional Director of Operations for a Danish engineering company. We first arrived in Singapore in 2006, and have lived here for around 10 years over two stints.

Where have you lived on the island?

When we first came in 2006, pre-kids, we lived in Bukit Timah for two years in a really family-friendly condo. We were living right by the pool, and it was awful. So we moved out the minute we could renew the lease – I was around eight months pregnant. Then we moved to a house in the Springwood Height area, staying there a few years, and then to The Peak @ Balmeg, which was brand new at the time.

In 2014, we moved back to Denmark and had four years there. About a year and half in, we could see it wasn’t going to work. We gave it a good shot, but we knew we didn’t want to stay in Denmark; we wanted to head back to Singapore, as we had built a life in Asia.