Colour blocking and artworks bring personality to this Singapore home

When the owner of this apartment purchased Chinese artist Dou Rong Jun’s painting Contemplation for her previous home, her numerologist was aghast. “He saw the artwork and was very upset. ‘It’s the wrong painting for the living room – very depressing; it’s not good for your luck,’” recollected the owner, a finance professional who resides in this apartment with her live-in helper and beloved hound.

The painting, bought from local gallery Ode to Art, depicts a well-formed man, seated hunched over with his down-turned head resting on his fist. This closed-in posture was inauspicious; too melancholic, the numerologist insisted. But the owner could not bear to part with it.

“I love it; I like to look at it. Maybe because I’m introspective by nature, so I’m drawn to his posture. There’s also palpable strength in his hand, and I like human forms in art,” she said. “I love the artist’s Chinese ink wash-like style like in sanshui hua (scenic painting). This was the first artwork I got for the living room in my previous home. This time around, as soon as I saw the high wall in the double-volume space of my new home, I knew this was where it was to be.” In the end, the solution was to tack red packets behind the artwork — and there they have remained through her move. 

The painting’s peach-pink shade became the inspiration for the metal staircase that it hangs above. This, and other bold colours, play an important role in this apartment’s interior design. It is vastly different from her former abode, which was influenced by the third-wave coffeeshop style of the 2000s, with timber furniture, screed floors and industrial accents.

“I used to go to Melbourne a lot for its cafes,” the owner shared, explaining the origin of that influence. Some pieces from that era, such as lamps with wire casing and exposed bulbs, are remnants of that obsession that now lend a quirky touch to the new apartment. Her decision to “drench colour” here was inspired by her partner who has a side job as a stylist and has recently been preoccupied with colour blocking.

“I used my favourite colours to demarcate each zone – the master bedroom, kitchen, staircase and loft. The colours add dimension and beauty to the spaces. I wanted a home that clearly demarcates the space for different activities, such as rest, play and work,” the owner said.

To bring this vision to life, she turned to Lee Hui Lian, founder of design studio OMG Atelier. But before Lee decided on colour choices, she first had to rejig the apartment’s layout to suit the owner’s needs.

At 1,200 sq ft, the home was not small, but the living room felt cramped. With three bedrooms squeezed into the layout, the living room seemed just another cramped corner. “I bought the apartment late last year when I fell in love with the vertical volume in it, and the amount of light it gets,” the owner recalled.

She elaborated: “The apartment had odd-shaped rooms that were not entirely practical for my needs, but I could see the tremendous potential if the spaces were re-designed. I was also terribly excited by the idea of adding a loft and staircase. I could imagine the staircase adding a sculpture-like architectural aesthetic to the home.” 

Pritzker Prize–winning Japanese architect Toyo Ito designed the condominium development that houses this apartment. Named The Crest at Prince Charles, it is in the Tanglin vicinity, which the owner appreciated for its proximity to the Central Business District (CBD).

The development’s flower-like towers surround a lush central courtyard and pool, which this apartment overlooks. Ito, who also designed Vivocity shopping centre in Singapore, created many of the units to have double-storey spaces that homeowners could adapt into lofts.

The owner shared a friend had first alerted her to this unique design. After visiting another unit for sale, the former was enamoured. That unit, however, was not within her budget so she continued viewing other units until this particular one caught her attention with its open view of the pool and garden. 

Some homeowners put their mezzanines above the dining area but Lee decided to keep the sense of openness of this space next to the double-height windows. She inserted a mezzanine above the entrance door that is now her study nook. A slim metal staircase zigzags up the double-storey wall where Dong Rou Jun’s painting hangs above the cosy, elevated space.

Below the loft, Lee added some cabinetry to maximise the use of the narrow space. In keeping with the colour-blocking scheme, she accented the inside of shelves with laminate in the same shade as the staircase.

The kitchen was originally in an enclosed room next to the entrance. Lee changed this into the helper's room and opened up the room next to it and made it an open kitchen facing the living area.

This kitchen is the green zone, finished with avocado-green paint and light-green mosaic tiles. To bring some playfulness to the scheme, Lee curved the ceiling's green paint into a semi-circle – likewise with the mosaics on the floor and wall behind the stove. 

Beyond this space, walls of cobalt paint define the owner’s bedroom. Like the home’s peach-pink zone, art provided the inspiration. In this case, it is a large mixed-media piece on canvas, titled Ritratto Di Dama Con Ariete by Thomas Diego Armonia. The painting features a woman with luscious lips, her neck wrapped with a feather boa. Its title translates to Portrait of a Lady with a Ram, with the ram hidden within the neckpiece.

“I found choosing an artwork for my bedroom the most difficult. I didn't want something cold and inanimate like scenery or abstract art; I wanted something more intimate,” said the owner, who found the painting’s protagonist “mysterious and sultry” and its colour tones “neutral and subdued.” She found this apt for the boudoir. “It almost seems to come to life, with jazz music in the background,” she added.

A third artwork, Scottish artist David Begbie’s sculpture titled ITUU, is placed at the end of the short corridor leading to the bedroom, poised on a slim ledge. This narrow corner was the result of combining two bedrooms into a large master bedroom. Lee had closed off the doorway into one of the bedrooms that is now repurposed as the walk-in wardrobe, accessed by a new door from the master bedroom.

The sculpture depicts the posterior of two men, moulded entirely from steel mesh. “This sculpture is such a delight to the eyes. I love how realistic the musculature of the bodies is,” said the owner. This corner, dubbed the silver zone, is finished with metallic paint and softly lit with two LED skylights to create a “deliberate gallery’ for the sculpture.

Throughout the house, Lee has integrated colour holistically into the interior design. While bold, the hues are not jarring, thanks to carefully chosen tonalities. For example, the mellow peach-pink of the staircase is friendly rather than fights for attention. At the kitchen, the greens mimic nature’s calming shades.

“It’s not a very big apartment so we thought of how we can create little ‘vistas’ one notices when moving around,” said Lee of the approach to colour and art. She pointed to another example: Xie Ai Ge’s Frank No. 5 sculpture, squatting at the base of the staircase, gazing upward with a blissful smile to greet the owner as she descends from her study area.

“I call him Frankie,” the owner chuckled. “I love his chair pose – on toes no less! I practice yoga so seeing him tickles me all the time. He looks blissful, just like how a yoga pose should be. He sits, or squats, on the green mosaic deck at the bottom of the stairs – quiet but in the know.”

She mused: “He was sitting on a table in my former home. Maybe because I do yoga, I like his pose.” The owner shared that she prefers sculptures to painting but the dearth of space prevented her from acquiring more. Clearly, she has strong sentiment to all her art. For her, they are treasures with personal meaning rather than mere adornment. “I bought them many years ago. I’m glad about my choices; they seem quite evergreen,” the owner remarked.

In her new home, the artworks are like companions, each with its own place – and a colour. Her favourite spot in the apartment is on the sofa in the living room, back at the kitchen and loft. “The interplay of the different ceiling heights, beams and colours are a delight to look at, and never fail to fill me with awe and contentment,” said the contented owner.