‘Cluttercore’ Couple's Flat is a Colourful Cat-Friendly Home Post-Reno

With a cat highway, ‘pot hole’ cutouts and funky patterns, this home is a true eclectic dream come true!

Homeowners in Singapore tend to favour minimalist and Scandinavian-style interiors for many reasons; they’re neat, clean, and timeless. However, homeowners Garrick and Ansley (@thegarlichq) knew that from the beginning that this wasn’t a look that fitted their lifestyles.

“Both of us like collecting things,” explains Ansley. “Garrick, for instance, loves reading and collects a lot of books, while I collect toys and art prints. And these are things that we like to display, so we knew from the start that we weren’t minimalist people.”

“If I had to describe our style, I’d say we lean more towards maximalism and cluttercore.”

Both Garrick and Ansley are also fans of vibrant colours, and so, the look for their 5-room flat in Geylang naturally gravitated towards an eclectic theme, anchored by dark wood tones that came from their love of mid-century modern interiors.

And that’s not all – as pet parents to 3 cats, they also worked carefully with Roy – their interior designer from Insight.Out Studio – to ensure that the home was as cat-friendly as possible. Keep scrolling to find out more about this quirky home renovation project!

About the homeowners and the home

Garrick (G): This is actually our second home. Previously, we were living in a 3-room BTO flat, but there just wasn’t enough space – not just for ourselves and our growing collection of things, but also for the cats.

It was a really tight squeeze, so after a few years of living there, we decided that we needed a bigger house that would allow all of us to live more comfortably.

Ansley (A): We also like hosting, so we also wanted a big enough communal space for everyone to mingle. If you look at the pre-renovation floor plan, you’ll realise that the old dining room is pretty far from the living room.

So, instead, we decided to hack the junior bedroom adjacent to the living room and turned it into the dining area, which has an island for people to gather around with food and drinks. It makes the space feel so much more spacious, and everyone can walk around more freely.

WATCH: Homeowners Ansley and Garrick share more about their renovation

About finding an interior designer

G: Since we had strong preferences for the look, we wanted to make sure that the ID we engaged could not only understand this, but also know how to execute the design well.

Out of the 4 or 5 IDs we met, I think Roy was the one who understood what we wanted the best, and was also very forthcoming about functional matters and prices.

A: And during the renovation, he made us feel very involved in the design process, which I really liked. Instead of just sending options to choose from via WhatsApp, he’d ask us to come down and decide on major decisions together, or meet him and his contractors in the house to visualise certain things together.

I know it seems very time-consuming, but I think it helped us make better design decisions. Honestly, the whole renovation felt more like a collaboration.

About the living and dining room, with the cat highway

G: The highlight of the living room is definitely the TV feature wall, which doubles up as a cat playground and connects to the ‘highway’ above.

The latter was something we had in our previous home, but since this place is way bigger, I figured that we can take advantage of the extra room with features that will allow the cats to enjoy the bigger space.

I worked quite closely with Roy’s contractor to make sure the cats can move around comfortably, without needing to squeeze. All the measurements – like the height of the shelves and the width of the holes – were all based on our fattest cat, and how high she can jump.

We’ve been living here for a few months now, and I’m quite happy because my cats are using it regularly. It’s quite common to find them staring down at you from the highway, which is quite cute.

A: For the design, you’ll realise that we have a lot of green accents around the house. It’s my favourite colour, and it’s also the main colour of our previous home, so we were very sure from the start that this is something we wanted here as well.

But we didn’t just want the house to be full of green accents, so we explored other complementary shades. One [shade] that we really liked was brick red, which we eventually decided to use for our dining room island.

Another thing about us is that we prefer using loose furniture over built-ins. They’re not only easier to replace when they spoil, but they also give us the flexibility to switch up the look whenever we want.

And also, loose furniture provides way more options to choose from compared to built-ins. For instance, rather than building in all our storage needs, we went with more loose furniture in order to find designs that gelled with the overall look of the house.

About renovating the kitchen

G: We had an open kitchen in our previous home, which gave the cats the opportunity to explore whenever they wanted. And because of that, we often found ourselves needing to clean their cat fur from the hood and stove – so this time around, we decided to close off the kitchen.

At the same time, we still wanted to make sure that it had a lot of light coming through, which is why we used glass doors to separate it from the living room.

A: In the original layout, there were two entrances into the kitchen – one right in front of the main door, and another next to the old dining room. Originally, we were going to close up both of them, but then we remembered how the previous homeowner had a small windowsill looking into the kitchen.

We got inspired by that, so then we thought, instead of a windowsill, how about we just have a circular window cutout instead? That way, there’s extra light coming through, and it also adds a unique touch to the space.

About the studio

A: The studio is where I work from. It’s also where I do my artsy things, like crafting, crocheting, and drawing.

Renovation-wise, we didn’t really do much here. The main thing I wanted was a pop of yellow on the wall, which is painted in such a way that if you look at it through the window cutout, it takes up roughly half the circle.

Aside from the kitchen and store room, this is one of the only rooms that the cats can’t enter. I run a craft and artworks shop on Instagram, and I work with a lot of yarn – and I can’t tell you how many times they’ve eaten the yarn or wrecked some of the things I’ve created (laughs).

So, this time, I wanted a dedicated room where I can work in peace. And because we don’t have to worry about them eating something dangerous or knocking things over, it’s become a space where we store our plants and collectibles.

About the master bedroom

G: Neither of us spend much time in the bedroom – I think we generally prefer chilling in the living room Because of that, we ended up prioritising the other areas more.

The main thing is that we kept the colour scheme similar to what you have outside, with the brick red wardrobe and green walls.

We also had customised cat flaps installed on our bedroom door, which we didn’t have in our previous home. Back then, we found ourselves getting up regularly to let our cats in, because they’ll be meowing outside the room begging to be let in (laughs), so this time, we wanted to give them the flexibility to come and go as they please.

About the common and ensuite bathrooms

G: I really love our bathroom tiles. As Ansley loves terrazzo, we were looking for a terrazzo tile to use in our bathroom – and that’s when I chanced upon this particular one.

I thought it was really cool – It’s almost like a child’s version of terrazzo, with the bigger grains, compared to the smaller ones that regular terrazzo has. Honestly, I can’t really explain why I’m so drawn towards this design, but I knew that I had to get it for both bathrooms, in different colours.

A: Another thing about our bathrooms is that there are no glass doors or partitions. We used to have them in our childhood homes, and I personally cannot stand the way water stains are visible on them (laughs).

So instead, we use a shower curtain. Roy also suggested installing a half-height partition between the shower area and the vanity to prevent water from splashing onto the cupboard, which I thought was a brilliant idea. It’s also quite useful, as it’s an extra surface for me to place my toiletries and cosmetics.

Also, the only glass we have in the bathroom are these wired glass cutouts on the doors. It was another one of Roy’s suggestions, as he mentioned that stains and fingerprints aren’t as obvious on them.

I really like them – they not only let in light while maintaining privacy, but also are a unique variant to the fluted glass panels you usually see in homes.

To sum up

G: A lot of homeowners see the end of their renovation as a destination, but personally, we see it more as the beginning of a journey. We’ve been living here for about 8 months now, and even now, we’re still adding and changing things here and there.

I guess you can say that a renovation is a way to create a canvas, and it’s up to us to make the house feel like home.

A: I’m so grateful that we found Roy, because he made this whole renovation a pleasant experience. He definitely brought our vision for the house to life – in fact, I’ll say that it turned out even better than we expected.

Every time we come home and see our cats using the highway, or just roaming around, it convinces us that this was all worth it.

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