Off-white walls, arched doorways and concrete screed floors form a muted yet elegant backdrop in the living room that allow the eclectic style of the home to really pop. Vintage Scandinavian furniture like their sideboard exist alongside a royal blue velvet sofa and an outsized rattan lounge chair close to the windows.

Judging by the lush garden of indoor plants in their living room’s “mini balcony”, one wouldn’t expect that the flat actually receives little natural light. Facing Telok Blangah Hill means the couple gets to enjoy verdant views all year round, but with the sun obscured, their interiors are kept fairly dim.

Instead of overcompensating for the lack of light, Marvin and Lingyi chose to embrace it, pressing on with the dark colour scheme and keeping artificial illumination to a minimum. For instance, the walls of their hallway were painted a shade of forest green and warmly lit with a trio of delicate pendant lamps. Nicknamed their “floral corridor”, it is decorated with frames of vintage pressed flower art and paintings of orchids by Lingyi’s grandaunt, the artist Lim Chu Suan.

A simple wall-mounted shelf is used as a handy display case next to the indoor garden.

The bedroom exudes a sense of serenity and warmth thanks to the jade green accent wall.

Vintage-style bathroom fixtures add a chic twist to design of the master bathroom.

They reserved one bedroom as a guest room and converted another into a study. Both bookworms, their favourite tomes sit on shelves built along the length of the navy-blue wall in their study, while mismatched chairs flank a handsome wooden desk they got second-hand.

The bookshelves, along with the rattan wardrobes in the bedrooms and dusty blue kitchen cabinets are just a handful of built-in furniture one will find around the house, as Marvin and Lingyi mostly wanted loose pieces that they could take to their next home in the future.

The farmhouse sink and plain mouldings along the cabinetry bring the look of the kitchen together.

The owners paid attention to details around the home, such as this rattan holder.

And this lightswitch.

They also found that instead of hiding their possessions behind storage units, displaying items contributed better to the lived-in look that they desired.

“Our logic with storage was, the more storage space you have, the more you will buy and stash inside them, and the accumulation of stuff goes unnoticed,” says Marvin. “So by keeping everything on display it has influenced us to think our purchases very carefully and to get only the things we absolutely need.”

Text: Isabelle Tow/Home and Decor

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