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When the owner shifted from Australia to Singapore, among other things, they had to contend with how to best utlilise and maximise the limited space and somewhat awkward angles that their HDB flat came with. This required quite a leap of imagination, not least after coming from the vast expanses of Australia and the luxury of well-spaced landed property that they had been accustomed to in previous years. Enter designer Dave Wee, whose designs immediately captured the imagination of the homeowners who were faced with the unenviable task of reinventing their rather utilitarian unit. The payoff? A masterpiece in the unconventional, yet user-friendly enough to make any pragmatic homeowner proud.
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As one enters through the doorway, one is immediately confronted with a wall. While this may be a bit of an anti-climax, patience does pay off in this case. Look past the wall and in true labyrinth-like fashion lies an open expanse of white-tiled area where a classy black dining set resides comfortably underneath a fashionable crystal chandelier. Effortlessly chic, one can almost hear the sounds of dinner plates clinking against silvery cutlery amidst a backdrop of fashionable dinner parties being held, if only one wasn't immediately brought back to earth by the all-too-familiar shuffling of mahjong tiles as the young couple happily indulge in their favourite pastime with a couple of their equally-eager friends on a lazy Saturday afternoon. |
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Stepping into the dining area, one's eye becomes immediately trained on the bold swathe of intricate prints which serves as a stunning backdrop to an otherwise dull wall. Inbuilt shelves are also liberally covered with the prints and offset by strategically-placed mirrors, which has the effect of elongating the area and creating an illusion of optimal space. With one's mind swirling with fancy prints, which may or may not create a mildy hallucinogenic effect, it's easy to miss the unobtrusive glass doors which push open to reveal a surprisingly large, gleaming black kitchen. Dave revealed that he had knocked down a wall in order to create a larger area for the kitchen, which wth its unconventional ebony tiling, countertops and hood, provide yet another dramatic conversational piece in this tiny home of surprises
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Still following the trail of prints, the wall angles out and leads you yet further into the house, priming you for more surprises to come. Angling out into a well-lit corridor, the printed wall finally comes to a halt at the end of the hallway where a large mirror is placed, again serving to create the illusion of as much space as possible, as well as to crank up the glam factor of the house by a few notches. Yet the unconventional trail does not end here – to attest to this, Dave proudly pushes back the mirror which is actually a door, grandly ushering us into yet another corridor which holds the master bedroom and the study room, residing side-by-side. This had been achieved by raising a subtle divide, completely with door, at the beginning of the corridor, to create maximum privacy for the homeowners when they had guests to entertain.
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Like a series of endless Russian dolls, many devices in the place double up as doorways to yet other parts of the house, each containing their own unique features. For example, the master bedroom, while simple in design, plays up the contrast with the black kitchen by swathing itself in calming whites but manages to exude a veritable hip factor with one single dramatic feature alone – the gorgeous (black, of course) lamp hanging from the ceiling. Push open yet another unobtrusive door, and you've found the bathrooms to this institution (again, achingly hip and very black). With everything from the pipes down to the sinks in either stark black or dramatic red, these often-overlooked components of a house seem as if they wouldn't be out of place in a chic boutique hotel. |
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Yet with all these intricate details that look as though they came straight out of some designer catalogue, the place exudes an unmistakeable sense of homeliness. Whether it's the couple and their friends lounging on the lazily hip sofa
watching television off the very cool and very black plasma set, or even the comforting sounds of mahjong tiles that greeted us earlier, it goes to show that while all it takes is for a precise attention to detail and an eye for the unusual that goes into creating a spectacular-looking abode, it's what you do in it that transforms it into a home.
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A completed project by
Dave Wee
D5 Studio Image
Blk 201E Tampines St 23 #01-114 Singapore 527201
Tel:67852298 Fax:67863903
Email:D5@d5studioimage.com |
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