ROOMS FOR GROWTH

Smart lighting, minimalist material palette and clever spatial tweaks come together to create a cosy home with thoughtful considerations for the future. ASIH JENIE takes a tour.

Husband and wife Don and Sherry Wong had been living in their five-room HDB flat in Buangkok for 15 years when they contemplated an upgrade. Their children, 12-year-old daughter Kylia and 11-year-old son Cyrus, would soon need their own spaces. “But after some viewings, we decided that it made more sense to renovate our old flat, after all,” Don shares. “The size is just nice, and we only had to tweak the layout a little bit.”

It helps that Don is an interior designer with his own recently established practice, SqM2 Interior Design. “I know well what to prioritise in a renovation,” he says. His approach was to maximise every square footage of the flat for built-in carpentry and storage spaces, tailoring the design to the family’s needs and ensuring it is easy to maintain and looks timeless, seamless, and streamlined. And he succeeded.

Entering the home, one is welcome into its communal zone, comprising the living room, dining room and dry kitchen area. The first two areas are demarcated from the last one by a different floor treatment. Finished with vinyl with herringbone wood parquet print, the seamless living and dining area features loose furniture pieces, including a sofa, a circular dining table that fits four dining chairs — all from Harvey Norman, island barstools from Taobao, and custom settee and floating wall shelves. “We host gatherings a lot, so the idea is to make these areas as flexible as possible so our guests and their kids can have a variety of seats,” says Don of the open space.