While Singaporeans often complain about how small the average 3-room HDB flat is, all it really takes is a good dose of design ingenuity to convert it into a desirable home. From strategic space planning that involves hacking walls, to choosing the right colour palettes and surface materials, there are numerous ways to mould the home into your desired style.
So if you’re dreaming of a larger living room, an airier ambiance, or hope to have more natural light in your bedroom in your modest home, here’s where you can steal some ideas!
1. The rough and refined are juxtaposed wonderfully in this open-plan apartment, with bold industrial features such as the rusted metal door and bare concrete surfaces accompanying the sleek, glossy surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen.
Interior designer: Bowerman
Location: Circuit Road
Cost of renovation: $65,000
2. The trick to using moodier hues in small homes? Keep the space open and restrict decorations to a minimum. This enables “breathing” space for sufficient light to flow through and bring out the sensual ambiance that darker wooden floors and smoky grey walls can inject.
Interior designer: Starry Homestead
Location: Punggol Road
Cost of renovation: $40,000
3. Those who are blessed with the discipline to keep their homes strictly free of clutter can take inspirations from this Japanese-inspired minimalist home. With storage compartments built into the pale wooden walls, and the absence of decorative features, the striking bareness offers as serene calmness that puts one in a zen-like state immediately.
Architect: FOMA Architects
Location: Potong Pasir
Cost of renovation: $60,000
4. Navy blue and moss green feature walls, contemporary industrial aesthetics, and bold black accents turned this resale flat into an urban abode that can pass off as a boutique hotel suite! Replacing the bedroom’s wall with accordion doors is also a clever solution for making the common area feel larger.
Interior designer: Meter Square
Location: Towner Road
Cost of renovation: $80,000
5. This resale flat proves that you don’t necessarily need to spend too much on hacking away walls to modernise an old apartment. All you need is concrete and wood lookalike laminates and tiles for the kitchen and bathroom, and clean-lined Nordic-inspired furniture for a trendy update.
Interior designer: Thomas & Team
Location: Jurong West
6. A neutral and pastel colour scheme keeps this apartment feeling spacious and airy despite its narrow configuration. Another nifty small space trick is the clever positioning of the TV wall that not only zones a little foyer, but also blocks out prying eyes from the common corridor window.
Interior designer: ELPIS Interior
Location: Tanjong Pagar Plaza
Cost of renovation: $75,000
7. Old HDB flats tend to feel dark and cramped due to the walls dividing up the living, dining, and kitchen areas. When all of that is hacked away, the result is a long, open space that feels more a lot welcoming. Not only does the home look brighter, but will feel breezier as well.
Interior designer: Ace Space Design
Location: Lor Liew Lian
Cost of renovation: $34,000
8. It’s truly amazing how the removal of key walls can change the overall ambiance! By opening up the kitchen and taking out a bit of space from an adjacent bedroom, the common area is now dramatically elevated. Its Scandi-industrial aesthetics also helped to create its modern loft-like appeal.
Interior designer: Lux Design
Location: Serangoon Avenue 4
Cost of renovation: $49,000
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