And he’s probably the most passionate homeowner we’ve spoken to!
When we spoke to Karn over the phone, we could instantly tell how much he loved his home. From gushing over the view to regaling us with stories from the renovation process, his excitement was still evident even after living in his Tiong Bahru walk-up apartment for over a year.
“I just really love this neighbourhood,” says Karn. “It’s a culturally significant area with tons of old-school charm. You can see people from all walks of life going about their day, there are many cafes nearby, and the location is as central as it gets!”
“Ultimately, I was looking for something uniquely Singapore, and this walk-up apartment just ticked all the boxes.”
About the homeowner and the home
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Having lived and worked in Singapore for a long time, Karn previously lived in a rental unit in the East Coast area. But after years of living there, he eventually found himself wanting his own space – and so, he began keeping an eye out for walk-up apartments that went up for sale.
And after a few visits, he eventually settled on this particular unit that was pretty much still in its original condition. “I don’t think the unit has ever been renovated since it was first built in the ‘60s,” says Karn. “That was a good thing, since I intended to gut the whole place.”
“Funnily enough, I wasn’t actually in Singapore when this house went up for sale. I had a friend take a look in my stead, and she’s the one who convinced me to purchase the home. I recall her saying that she was most amazed by the view from the patio – it’s not blocked by any buildings, and gives you a clear view of the iconic red roofs in the vicinity.”
“Hearing her say that effectively sealed the deal for me, and I went ahead to purchase the house while I was still overseas!”
WATCH: Homeowner Karn talks about renovating his walk-up apartment in Tiong Bahru
About finding an interior designer to renovate his walk-up apartment
“The way we found Edwin, my interior designer from Third Avenue Studio, was pretty interesting,” Karn says. “There was another house I was considering before coming across this one. I really liked the design and after asking the homeowners, I learnt that it was Edwin’s team that did their renovation.”
“This was important, because it meant that he has prior experience working on walk up apartments in Tiong Bahru. I knew there would be a lot of permissions and regulations involved for old buildings like this, so I wanted to work with an interior designer who is familiar with the process.”
“Workmanship quality was one thing, but I figured that finding an experienced designer will help make the renovation a lot smoother.”
About the living room
From the beginning, Karn had a vision for his home to have a contemporary interior that contrasts the old-school facade of the buildings in the neighbourhood.
“I made it clear that I wanted a modern loft-style apartment,” he says. “And I prefer a more minimalist look where the space doesn’t look too busy. For example, I let Edwin know that I wanted to use microcement flooring over tiles, because I don’t like seeing grout lines.”
“The furnishings are also pretty simple. Oh, fun fact: the red couch was specifically chosen so that they mirror the red roofs of the buildings in the area!”
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Another thing that Karn wanted was a more spacious living room – not just to create a more comfortable lounging space, but also to host guests. So, he worked with Edwin to reconfigure the unit’s entire layout (more on that later), merging two bedrooms together to create a larger living area.
“The downside to this is that there is no guest room,” he says. “And I do tend to host a lot of friends, especially those who come from overseas. So what I do is to set up two airbeds in the living room, which can easily host about four people.”
About the patio
“The patio is probably one of my favourite areas in the house, mainly because of the view,” says Karn. “I knew from the start that I wanted this to be my dining area, where I can enjoy a meal while relaxing and looking out at the buildings in the area.”
The view from Karn’s patio
“There initially was a bay window table running along the entire length of the patio, but I asked Edwin to remove that to make way for a proper dining area.”
“We also changed the old tiles that used to be here. The only thing we didn’t change was the black-and-white blinds – it’s like a remnant of the past which reminds us of the area’s heritage. Besides, it fits in well with the overall look too!”
About the kitchen
The positions of the kitchen (in orange) and the bedroom (in green), pre- (left) and post-renovation.
To suit Karn’s lifestyle, the house underwent major layout changes, which included swapping the position of the kitchen and master bedroom.
“The kitchen used to be on the far end of the house, but this wouldn’t make sense since I’ll have to walk across the entire house to eat on the patio,” says Karn.
Design-wise, we noticed that almost every single surface and appliance had a matte black finish, from the countertops to the appliance. And when we brought this up to Karn, he laughed.
“It’s funny” he says, and we can hear the amusement in his voice. “When we were thinking about the colour elements to introduce into the house, Edwin suggested matte black, which I totally loved.”
“What I didn’t expect from myself was how invested I got in ensuring that everything was matte black – from the hobs to the air conditioning unit! It took a few months to find everything, because a lot of the appliances you can find in Singapore have a glossy black finish; but my heart was so set on it that I decided to see it through.”
“The only appliance we couldn’t find in matte black was the microwave, but you won’t be able to see it because I got Edwin to build a flap in the carpentry to cover it up (laughs).”
About the master bedroom
After swapping the position of the kitchen and bedroom, Karn now has a unique feature in his bedroom – an additional door that leads out to the carpark, which remains locked most of the time.
As for the bedroom itself, Karn highlights that his biggest challenge was the overall size. “There isn’t much we can do with it because it’s quite small, so our main focus was to make it functional,” he says. “We put down a queen-sized bed, and included drawers under the bed and custom bedside tables so that there’s more space to store everything.”
About the bathroom
Like most apartments in Singapore, bathrooms tend to be on the smaller side, and Karn’s own bathroom was no different – which was why he sought to increase the space as much as possible.
“It’s extended by about 30cm, which was the maximum that the authorities were able to permit,” he says. “It’s not a lot, but it at least creates more room, which makes a difference.”
When we pointed out about the bathroom sink, Karn excitedly tells us that it was inspired from one of the previous houses he saw. “I just thought it looked really cool,” he says. “I actually went ahead to buy the terrazzo slab myself and asked Edwin to use it to create the sink from scratch.”
“For the rest of the space, we basically gutted everything. And we also wanted to make sure that there’s a touch of warmth to the look, which was why we furnished the shower area with wood-look tiles.”
To sum up
“The renovation process surprised me,” Karn says. “I’ve heard a few not-so-positive stories from friends about their experiences, but this [renovation] was so smooth-sailing that everybody was surprised. Even my old boss, who had renovated his house in the past, mentioned wishing that he’d gone with Edwin and his team, so I think that tells you a lot about how good they are.”
“I like how responsive they were to my ideas, and how they were not afraid to tell me if an idea I had wouldn’t work. And I could tell that they were proud of what they do and wanted me to be proud of my home as well, which was very important to me.”
“And I do love it! It’s exactly how I wanted it to be. And I don’t think I can ever get tired of looking over the view from the patio every evening after work.”
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