The Design Abode deconstructed the Balinese resort concept and came up with this contemporary version of the style.
2 August 2016
Home Type: 5-room HDB
Floor Area: 1,200 sqft
Newlyweds Lim Xin Yu and Poh Chee Keong jetted off to Bali for their honeymoon and stayed in a quaint tropical resort. Not only was it a memorable trip for the young couple, it was also the source of inspiration for their newly renovated HDB apartment. “We completely fell in love with the resort that we stayed in,” Xin Yu remembers. “When it was time to come up with a design for our home, we knew we had to reference the resort since it brings back such wonderful memories.”
To help them realise their dream for a modern day tropical resort, the couple called on Ewan Wong from The Design Abode. The interior designer adopted a clean and pared aesthetic. He deconstructed the basics of the resort style – warm wood, natural stones and green, leafy foliage – and applied them to this home. Rich grains of wood make an appearance in every room, from the kitchen cabinets to the TV console to the “floating” bench in the dining room; grey stone floors run throughout the apartment; and the treetop vista from the living room balcony brings a welcome burst of greenery into the home.
Subtle design nudges further elevate the look of the home. The dining area, for example, is a large, open space with a long table that can easily seat up to 12 people. Here, the designers customised a long cantilevered bench and designed it to look like a boxed up ledge. Over in the kitchen, Ewan and his team created an additional kitchen counter by the entrance of the room. Typical bar counters are high and can be uncomfortable and impractical, so Xin Yu requested for something that is more user friendly. The result is a bar counter that reaches the height of a standard dining table.
“This is my breakfast nook,” she proudly points out. “But we use it for everything. When it’s just the two of us at home, we have our meals here. I also moved the computer here because it’s such a great place to work: it’s got great light and I won’t feel as closed in as I would if I were working in the room.”
The precisely cultivated resort feel is also evident in the bedroom. A portion of this room is dedicated to the open wardrobe, separated only by a bamboo trellis. This lightweight partition prevents the room from looking too dark but also protects the clothes from direct sunlight. The walk-in wardrobe also hides the entrance to the master bathroom. “We like the idea of having a bamboo wall to separate the bed from the other areas in the room. It’s a unique way of bringing the resort look without it looking too obvious,” says Xin Yu.
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