After years of living overseas, moving back to Singapore is a big decision. The couple’s search for a new home zeroed in on a familiar area, where their extended family has lived for years.
Drawn to a terrace house at the freehold landed development The Inglewood, but still living in Taiwan, the couple got help from their property agent to provide videos, pictures, and drawings.
Their siblings also helped inspect the house. The couple then purchased it while still living in Taiwan.
Who Lives Here A couple in their 50s
Home A three-bedroom terrace house at Upper Thomson
Size 2,400 sq ft
Interior Designer Design Zage
They engaged interior design studio Design Zage, which had worked on another property at The Inglewood. With an eye for reinvention, interior designer and managing director Zhuo Jinhai revamped the layout on all floors.
Brighter Living Spaces
“Everything was stripped bare so that we could make the massive changes possible,” says Jinhai, adding that the couple wanted brighter living spaces. “The split levels on the first floor presented the biggest challenge, constraining the kitchen and dining space.”
Jinhai proposed a palette of white, woodgrains, and grey finishes with black accents.
Wood appears throughout the home through vinyl flooring in the main spaces and bedrooms, floor tiles on the patio, white oak flooring for the stairs, and laminates for the carpentry.
Stone surfaces provide visual texture and a touch of luxury. Among them are terrazzo tiles at the entrance, large slab tiles on the television feature wall, and a porcelain kitchen countertop.
The Foyer – Before & After
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Cleaning out the dated surface materials and furnishings, Jinhai and his team installed a 2.8 metre pivot door as a striking entrance to the home.
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An additional benefit is that light flows easily from the back of the house. New light-coloured surfaces also brighten the space up.
The Living Area – Before & After
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These design features form a stunning backdrop for the couple’s furniture collection. “The family has lived in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai as expats, living in rental houses and apartments throughout their time overseas.
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Their furniture has followed the family and moved to all locations, and many pieces were picked up along the way,” Jinhai shares.
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Chinese furniture, soft furnishings, artworks, and accessories bring colours, details and motifs to the living and dining areas and bedrooms.
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The Kitchen – Before & After
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The homeowners had specific ideas about the kitchen layout, equipment, and storage needs.
Opening the kitchen up by removing the kitchen walls and an adjacent utility room was key to achieving these.
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The team maximised ceiling space for additional storage while keeping the kitchen airy. The couple enjoys entertaining over meals and the wife likes cooking and baking, so an L-shaped countertop ensures ample workspace.
The Patio – Before & After
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The property came with a terrace and a sizable backyard, so the team overhauled the living area, making room for a spacious patio by shrinking the backyard.
The couple’s storage needs, however, have not been compromised.
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The design team allocated a five-metre by one-metre storage room, cleverly hidden with a feature wall behind the sofa. The generous storage is needed for the couple’s six bicycles and other sports equipment.
The Stairs – Before & After
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The second floor consists of a family area, guest rooms, and a study. Like the rest of the home, the family area is brighter than before, thanks to a well- planned lighting strategy.
The full-height series of black-framed glass panels, entrance to the master bedroom upstairs, and internal windows let natural light into the space.
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The laminate railing and wall cladding that begin from the second floor soften the area, signalling rest on the way up.
The Bedroom – Before & After
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A major move was the decision to extend the master bedroom area into the stairwell and landing.
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The result is a larger space that makes it possible to hide the en suite bathroom behind a standout feature wall.
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Lighting adds depth to the fluted wall panel and draws attention to the symmetry here.
The Bathroom – Before & After
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Tucking the bathroom away behind the bedroom feature wall promotes better sleep by keeping noise away from the wet area.
Note the vertical lines via the reeded glass panel in the master bathroom, a design feature that echoes the vertical grilles at the staircase and fluted wall panels.
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What was previously a dim hole with furnishing in various styles has been transformed into a streamlined and cohesive space.
“All the storage solutions throughout the house are aimed at keeping the home looking clean and uncluttered,” says Jinhai. That way, the couple can enjoy simple things like observing the morning light in their living room and walking out from the patio to the park.
Renovation: Took 5 Months
The project, which took five months to complete, was worth the wait. The overhaul breathed new life into the property, now perfect for a couple settling back on home ground.