Project #2311

How This Tampines BTO Flat Was Built To Host Gatherings Of Up To 40 People

Sometimes, homeowners come to us with a burning lifestyle challenge that needs solving. In the case of our clients for this project: a BTO in Tampines GreenCourt, they wanted space to host family gatherings which could reach 40 people.

The ingredient that creates the most space:

After discussion, we concluded that hacking down one of the three bedrooms to expand the communal area was the most efficient option.

The bedroom was thus converted into the living room (above) and combined with the original living room was used as a gathering area.

A bigger communal area meant that it would be much easier for guests to find their own space at gatherings.

An interesting feature that is rarely found in HDB apartments

One more feature of the home that involved hacking was the walk-in wardrobe our clients specially requested.

This was achieved by combining the master bedroom with another bedroom.

This walk-in wardrobe enabled them to store a larger amount of clothes, and even allowed room for them to place their expensive shoes below.

This way, we could ensure that furniture in their bedroom was nicely laid out to give lots of breathing room, making the place spacious and comfortable.

See more snapshots and a video of the bedroom and walk-in wardrobe below:

Monochrome, not monotonous

Minimalism typically involves a neutral palette, and the concept for this home was a little more interesting; we made use of monochrome colour palette.

This did not mean that the home was monotonous.

As you may have noticed in the pictures and video above, the home was built to be spacious. This allowed for two things:

Lots of natural light to enter and create a more inviting ambience in the home
The use of negative space to let the beautiful furniture shine.

Furthermore, we broke away from monotony by introducing the herringbone vinyl flooring which was laid out throughout the home.

As our clients did not have much to store in the kitchen, we opted for a suspended ledge above the bottom cabinet to adhere to the minimalist concept.

To add on to the monochrome appearance, the furniture was all black with white walls (with tiles Easi-Plastered).

The service yard in many HDB apartments is found next to the kitchen, segregated by HDB's signature bi-fold door. As our clients cook frequently, we chose to keep the two areas separated, but replaced the bi-fold door with sliding panels that better fit the concept, and made the area feel much more spacious.