Couple's Unique Biophilic-Industrial 5-Room HDB is Full of Personality

A home that screams ‘them’.

Some homes are designed to look calm and understated. Sam and Mardy’s 5-room resale HDB flat in Teck Whye is not one of them, which is exactly the point.

Filled with plants, framed prints, vinyls, Lego, raw textures, and several shades of green, their home is a reflection of what they love and how they live: bold, playful accents, and a deeply personal space that welcomes friends and family.

The couple’s brief was less about sticking to a fixed look, and more about building on what they already knew they loved from their previous home. They wanted a bigger, more open version of it: one with space to host, an island where guests could gather, and enough room for their collections to keep growing.

To make that happen, walls were hacked away, the kitchen was opened up, and several pieces from their old home were repurposed instead of discarded. Here’s a closer look at how their home – which they classify as a mishmash of biophilic-eclectic-industrial elements – came together.

About the homeowners and their home

For Sam and Mardy, buying a resale flat in this area made sense for both practical and personal reasons. The location kept them close to Mardy’s parents, while the new 121 sqm unit offered significantly more space than their previous 4-room BTO flat.

“We wanted to do whatever we did for the old house, but better,” Sam shares. “In the new house, the living area is bigger and more comfortable.”

Interestingly, the couple didn’t start with a specific interior style in mind. They knew what they liked, what they didn’t like, and what they wanted to have.

What helped them along was Fara, their interior designer from Flipstone Interior Design (and also Mardy’s close friend since their teenage years). Since she already knew them well and shared their love for quirky, colourful spaces, the couple felt comfortable enough to give her free rein to explore bolder ideas.

One of the things the couple wanted: a bigger, more open space. Originally, the flat had a more segmented, enclosed layout – but after seeing its potential, they decided to hack away most of the walls in the living room (barring structural ones) to create one big, open space.

“We like to host gatherings, and we do that quite regularly,” Mardy says. “So if our guests are eating, they can still watch TV and chat with whoever is sitting on the sofa. And when I cook, I can still see and talk to everyone around me.”

About the communal area

Stepping into the home, one of the first things you’ll see is the entryway partition – a detail Mardy specifically requested so that the rest of the home wouldn’t be immediately visible from the door.

“I wanted something to block this area,” she says. “So when people open the door, they can’t really see inside.”

“Also, I really love LEGOs, so I wanted some details that remind you of them. That’s why we have these green glass blocks with the circular cutout in the middle; I like that it keeps the space open while looking unique.”

Paired with old-school floor tiles, the entryway feels distinct from the rest of the home without being completely closed off. This was important to the couple, who wanted each zone to be clearly demarcated even within the open-concept layout.

This is also where you’ll notice one of the home’s recurring details: the patterned tile “curb” that appears throughout the flat.

“From what I understand, they’re leftover tiles from one of Fara’s personal projects,” Mardy explains. “I initially wanted to use them as the flooring, but since she didn’t have enough, she suggested using them to highlight curbs and scattering them around the cement screed flooring.”

In the living area, the look gets more raw and textured. Since there were some structural elements that couldn’t be hacked away, the couple decided to incorporate them into the design instead by leaving them exposed.

While they mainly relied on loose furnishings to fill up the space, one of the few built-ins they did want was the cement-based TV console.

Initially, it was meant to double as extra seating for bigger groups – though, to their amused chagrin, it has also become a display area for their collectibles, toys, and other sentimental pieces.

The gallery wall is another idea brought over from their previous home, only on a much larger scale. “We already did this exact thing before in our old HDB,” Mardy says. “But because we have way more wall space now, we decided to recreate it on a bigger scale.”

That same thinking applies to the dining area. Instead of buying everything new, the couple brought over several pieces from their old home, including their dining table (which also doubles as a pool table!). Since it held plenty of memories, they kept it and relaminated it to match the new palette.

Additionally, their rattan shelf (also from their previous home) was repurposed and stained. These pieces help tie the new flat back to their old one, rather than making the space feel like a complete reset.

The kitchen, meanwhile, was planned around both cooking and hosting. The large island gives Mardy more prep space, but it also lets guests gather around while she cooks.

“Because my friends like to watch me cook, they’ll just sit here and chit-chat,” she says. “Also, I sometimes force them to help me (laughs), so there’s more than enough space for everyone. And we can still talk while doing things together.”

To distinguish the kitchen from the living area, terracotta floor tiles were used instead of cement screed. The colour adds warmth to the space, while the muted green carpentry and tiled backsplash continue the home’s love for earthy, nostalgic tones.

About the master bedroom suite

Tucked behind a sliding pegboard door, the entrance to the master bedroom suite is easy to miss at first glance. “Initially, the pegboard was meant for Sam’s motorcycle helmets,” Mardy shares. “But in the end, it became a place for my bags instead.”

“Happy wife, happy life,” Sam cheekily adds.

Before the renovation, this area consisted of separate bedrooms and a store room. To create a proper master suite, the couple combined two bedrooms into one, giving them enough space for a larger bedroom, wardrobe, vanity, and work area.

At the same time, they didn’t want the room to function purely as a place for sleep. Since Sam (a photographer by trade) works on and edits photos at home, the couple wanted a setup that lets him work without being completely separated from Mardy.

“I wanted a place I can still be around while he’s working,” she says. And that led to the customised headboard-and-desk setup behind the bed. On one side, it anchors the bed; on the other, it becomes Sam’s workstation, complete with space for his monitor, photography gear, and dry boxes.

The rest of the suite was planned around storage. Mardy requested plenty of wardrobe space, especially for hanging clothes and bags, while the checkerboard rug helps visually separate the wardrobe zone from the sleeping area.

One of her must-haves was a vanity area, but instead of a conventional seated setup, she chose to hide it behind cabinet doors. “I don’t really sit down to get ready,” she says. “I’d rather have more storage.”

About the toilets

Even the toilets were treated with the same playful, detail-heavy approach as the rest of the home. While both are compact, Sam and Mardy didn’t want them to feel like plain utilitarian spaces – so each toilet was given its own colour palette, tile combination, and standout feature.

In the common toilet, the main challenge was its size. Since finding a suitably-sized sink was difficult, Fara customised one from scratch instead, using tiles to create a compact, built-in sink that fits neatly into the space.

The exposed pipes were also intentionally kept. Boxing them up, according to the couple, would have made the toilet feel even smaller, so they chose to embrace them instead – which fits right into the whole industrial vibe of the house.

Meanwhile, the master toilet came with a surprise feature: a built-in tub. While the couple had a bathtub in their previous home, they were prepared to give it up since the space was small – but Fara somehow found a way to build one in, turning the shower area into a customised compact tub that still works within the tight space.

“Whenever there are kids here, their favourite feature is almost always the bathtub,” Sam says amusedly. “They think the ramp – which is meant to help us get in and out more easily – is a slide.”

To sum up

Considering the extent of their renovation, you’d think there would be hiccups – but in reality, the process was surprisingly smooth for Sam and Mardy.

“Honestly, no,” Sam says, when asked if they had any major regrets. “We knew exactly what we wanted. Fara also knew us well enough to know what we liked, and she executed everything very smoothly.”

Their advice for other homeowners? Don’t be afraid to be bold – meaning, go with colours and designs you like, rather than whatever’s trending at the moment.

As Mardy puts it, their home is “curated, cosy, and spacious”. And for a space that is as personal as theirs, filled with things they love and treasure, that feels like the perfect way to sum it up.