The Chic Home: Back to the 80s in young couple’s funky apartment

SINGAPORE – When the owners of this one-bedroom condominium apartment in Silat Avenue bought their unit, they kept renovations to a minimum.

The couple in their early 30s, who work in the marketing and creative industries, did up the 527 sq ft space using furniture and styling, steering away from bulky built-ins.

They worked with interior design studio Home Philosophy’s founder Rashi Tulshyan and lead designer Melissa Wan to make their home a fun, quirky and eclectic take on 1980s pop culture.

“The interior design is full of personality and incorporates some of the clients’ hobbies as part of the decor,” says Ms Tulshyan.

Instead of built-in storage cabinets, the entrance foyer features low, slim open shelves in an eye-catching orange that provide storage and display space without encroaching on the floor area.

On display here are graphic novels, wine and vinyl records with funky bottle labels, a turntable and books with visually arresting covers.

The living room is a careful balance of neutrals and colours.

An off-white sofa and armchair from Castlery is juxtaposed against a palette of electric blues, pinks, yellows and oranges from the coffee table, rug, lamp and cushion.

“The goal is to provide a nice pop of colour without being overbearing,” says Ms Wan, adding that they also introduced decorative ceiling mouldings to complete the eclectic vibe.

Part of the clients’ brief called for a dedicated study area, as they were not keen on having the dining table double as a work desk.

This proved tricky given the space constraints, but the designers solved the problem by moving the existing dining area to the balcony.

This solution not only frees up space for a small study corner between the kitchen and living room, but also fully utilises the balcony as a dining area.

The dining area’s blue table, orange dining chairs and matching sideboard – complete with reeded glass and a framed print, plus some green from potted plants – are a riot of colours, but executed with enough restraint to prevent it from being overwhelming.

For the master bedroom, the strategy was to tone the colours down a notch by keeping the main elements such as the walls, bed frame, pendant lamp and curtains white.

However, the room is brightened up by accessories in striking colours such as orange, yellow, pink and green. The existing wood flooring injects warmth that gives the space a cosy and inviting ambience.

One of the challenges that the design team encountered was how to deal with the existing dark grey marble flooring.

“The show flat had lighter-toned floors, so the clients were not expecting this. We wanted to avoid changing the flooring, so what we did was to distract from it through the interior design and carefully curated furniture pieces,” says Ms Tulshyan.

The design took four weeks, plus another four weeks for the on-site works, before the couple moved into their new home in March 2024.

Renovation works amounted to $7,000 for painting and electrical works, as well as the installation of decorative ceiling mouldings and curtain pelmets.

Almost all the furniture and furnishings were purchased off-the-shelf and there is no built-in carpentry, save for a few customised shelves and the flip-down study desk. These cost almost $20,000.