Couple Ann and Max Ang, owners of a four-room HDB flat in Punggol, are frequent travellers and they wanted their marital home to exude the same inviting, yet visually stimulating vibe as the boutique hotel accommodations they have stayed at on their holidays.
With backgrounds in interior design, they worked together - Mr Ang on the overall design and Mrs Ang on the budgeting and accessories - to achieve the apartment's industrial- rustic look, which cost $80,000.
To create a more casual "bistro- style" dining space, they removed a kitchen wall to open up the kitchen and dining areas and fitted a kitchen island instead. It is also used to prop up one end of the dining table.
Another interesting feature is the "balcony", which they created by reducing the size of the adjoining guestroom and study.
The balcony and study are connected by doors to the master bedroom, the walk-in closet and the master bathroom - forming a home-within-a-home concept that reminds one of a cosy homestay.
Raw-look finishes and organic materials give the home a cool, industrial-rustic look.
Throughout the 969 sq ft apartment, there is a consistent use of natural wood tones - such as the suar wood dining tabletop and plywood storage units - contrasted with grey surfaces, such as the textured raw concrete blocks and concrete flooring. This creates an interesting interplay of textures.
To give the grey-toned flat a cheery ambience, the couple designed a TV feature wall made up of more than 400 pieces of stained plywood.
Mrs Ang says: "It is inspired by the weathered colours on wooden fishing boats, so we chose hues such as faded blue, brown and green."
For a unified palette, the couple picked an olive-green fabric sofa from Castlery, a turquoise laminate for the walk-in wardrobe and a blue- green surface from Kompacplus for the bathroom vanity counter.
The corrugated metal sheet on the ceiling of the balcony is also in a bright turquoise, echoing the colour of the shelving in the study and the wardrobe.
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