There are so many ways to style a home that you’ll be spoiled for choice. A fan of wooden accents in the home? Try adding wooden furniture such as a low oak table, a woven basket or planter. Love the clean aesthetics of Scandinavian-style homes? Incorporate this home trend into your own living space, by adding functional yet stylish furniture, unique decor pieces and lots of natural elements.
A light colour palette is preferred too, but as you’ll see in the gallery below, darker hues can sometimes work wonders. Take a peek into these stylish homes for some inspiration.
READ MORE:
46 Brilliant Home Hacks To Make Every Busy Woman’s Life Easier
23 Ways To Declutter Your Home And Destress Your Life At Once
Stylish HDB Flats And Condos With Renovations Below $30,000
Click through to view 20+ beautiful homes right here in Singapore:
Designed by the team at Charlton Design, this apartment at Bayshore Park condominium exudes the ambience and look of a beach resort.
Incorporating extensive use of shiplap wall design, from walls to ceiling, the mostly-white home is decorated with unique furnishings and accessories to give it its look.
The apartment has an unusual layout, where the kitchen sits on a triangular site, which the interior designers have taken advantage of to create a peninsular counter that doubles as a dining area too. Nautical-inspired accessoriesThe apartment has an unusual layout, where the kitchen sits on a triangular site, which the interior designers have taken advantage of to create a peninsular counter that doubles as a dining area too. Nautical-inspired accessories such as ships and lighthouses can be spotted throughout the home. such as ships and lighthouses can be spotted throughout the home.
The kitchen is also kept mostly white, complete with two pendant lamps above the peninsula counter to add a touch of warmth.
After acquiring their 990sqf four-room HDB BTO home, architecturally trained interior designer Vanessa Ong and her husband, Nigel Chan, were certain they wanted their apartment to be spacious, bright and welcoming. They knew what they wanted from the start, taking lots of design inspiration from the Scandinavian region.
“Nigel works at a Copenhagen-based company and we are very much influenced by Scandinavian designs, especially as we travel there often,” Vanessa explains. A big part of their $80,000 renovation (excluding furnishings) expense went towards opening up the space and keeping the interiors seamless and sleek. The selection of designer furniture in the living room take centre stage, including an olive sofa from Muuto, Cassina’s P22 armchair and &tradition’s Palette JH7 coffee table.
READ MORE: Stylish HDB Flats And Condos With Renovations Below $30,000
Keeping most of the walls white is also one of the key design strategies as it helps reflect more light, making the home appear brighter.
The kitchen wall was removed and the dining area now sits next to a dry kitchen. “We hardly cook, but, when we do, we mostly use the oven, so this is a very practical space for us, especially as we enjoy hosting family and friends. This is the perfect communal gathering area for all,” Vanessa says. “It is also my work space, where I meet clients,” she adds. Vanessa runs her own interior design firm April Atelier, with her home marking the brand’s debut project.
READ MORE: 11 Space-Enhancing Secrets Local Interior Designers Swear By
The couple decided to hack the wall between the master bedroom and adjacent bedroom, to create more space for the wardrobe.
READ MORE: 10 Dreamy HDB & Condo Bedrooms You’ll Want To Fall Asleep In
Perfectly styled and complete with soft furnishings in muted tones, the master bedroom is a comfortable and cosy area for the couple to wind down after a workday.
For the master bathroom, grey terrazzo tiles clad the entire space. Ledges were also created to hide unsightly pipes, while offering additional counter space for accessories such as flowers, candles and even an artwork of New York’s Guggenheim Museum.
Home to a couple in their early 30s, this 1,181sqf HDB BTO apartment in Yishun has a spacious, open-plan layout. Walls in the home were taken down to increase spatial quality and let in more natural light and ventilation. One of the most unique features in this home is the swing which adds an element of fun and quirkiness to the home.
READ MORE: 12 Singapore Homes You Won’t Believe Are HDB Flats
The homeowners have a preference for a light colour palette, as well as wood tones. The study is connected to the living room where original walls and a door has now been replaced with sliding glass doors. This space can be closed up when required, making it very flexible for use.
A drywall with niches and LED lighting create a neat display area for the couple’s knick knacks and souvenirs.
As part of the approximately $50,000 renovation, they decided on a platform bed in the bedroom, to maximise storage in the home, incorporated with a system from Systemind.
READ MORE: 10 Genius Space-Saving Furniture Pieces Perfect For Small HDBs And Condos
The owners of this 1,330sqf four-bedroom condominium apartment wanted their home to exude an airy vibe. As the adjacent bedroom was not needed, its walls were hacked so as to form an extra-long living and dining room. The living room was moved deeper into the centre of the home, with the TV and media unit acting as a room divider. The lesson here? Don’t be afraid to reconfigure your living space to suit your needs.
A clean and simple colour palette was used throughout the interior. Light wood in the dining furniture and ceiling fan grounds the look to prevent the home from looking too cold and clinical, and floor to ceiling built-in cabinets work to visually heighten the home as well. The symmetrical style is also very soothing.
The dining space looks even bigger thanks to the open concept kitchen, which features a peninsula counter and overhanging storage that is practical in maximising space and keeping cups and other necessities close at hand.
Like the rest of the home, the master bedroom is kept serene and simple. A floating console is functional and makes cleaning easy.
For this 1,700sqf five-bedroom condominium apartment, the Scandinavian look was achieved by a generous use of white and light wood laminates. The old damaged marble floor was overlaid with light wood-coloured vinyl that uplifts the mood of the living area, and wood was used in the various shelves as well.
Clean lines dominate much of the interior design, which gives a sense of order and tidiness. But the look is far from boring, thanks for strategically-designed shelves for the home owners to display decor pieces and collections that give the home personality.
The kitchen was reconfigured to make it more spacious and user-friendly. Previously in a closed-concept layout, the kitchen is now open concept with a breakfast bar on one side.
False ceilings in the many rooms were removed to expose existing beams, instantly creating a sense of loftiness and revealing the home’s pretty architecture.
READ MORE: 12 Singapore Homes You Won’t Believe Are HDB Flats
A light palette of white, wood and grey was used in the bathroom for a soothing vibe.
Home to a couple in their 30s, this 1,300 sqf five-room HDB resale apartment in Bishan has a trendy look and casual vibe with a light-coloured palette of wood and grey.
The open-concept kitchen has a monochromatic colour scheme, which the homeowners decorated with pops of colours like green and red with plants and kitchen accessories respectively.
READ MORE: How To Make An Open Concept Kitchen Work In A Small BTO Flat
With the walls between the kitchen and living room hacked, more light streams into both spaces. When the homeowners invite guests over, there’s lots of space for them to gather around and hang out at, too, including this bar counter area.
The master bathroom is kept simple, with wainscoted doors for the full-height wardrobe here.
For the living room of this four-room HDB flat, the designers chose wood-look flooring and customised the TV feature wall with a material of the similar shade. Backlit lights sets the ambience, and adds warmth to the cosy space.
Storage cabinets stretch from the entrance foyer to the living/dining area. Instead of keeping the walls plain, the couple decided to dress it up with an abstract artwork that frames the dining area effectively too.
READ MORE: Dress Up A Blank Wall With Art Below $100
The kitchen has a darker colour palette, comprising of black and wood tones. Click here to see more chic dark kitchens!
The bedroom is sleek and minimalist, from the seamless design of the wardrobe, to the dressing table and bedside niche. Despite the small space here, the designer was able to accommodate everything that the couple needed while keeping to the renovation budget of $30,000.
READ MORE: Beautiful Home Renovations In Singapore That Are $20,000 And Below (Really!)
For this four-room HDB BTO apartment at The Pinnacle @ Duxton, the homeowners wanted a Scandi-industrial style. A faux brick wall adds character to the living room space while lending a raw look. Mirrors clad the walls to visually enlarge the space, while concealing storage.
Most of the furniture and fixtures in the home come in a neutral colour palette including brown, white and grey, but the homeowners wanted an eye-catching statement in the living room and chose a bright yellow sofa to bring in the cheerful vibe.
Dark wood-look laminate is chosen for the TV console, which offers just enough display area for the homeowners’ collection of knick knacks. Backlit lights add to the warm ambience in the space.
They also opted for an open-concept kitchen. A weathered wood-look laminate was chosen for the cabinetry here, to lend it a rustic and industrial touch.
For the master bedroom, the homeowners requested a walk-in wardrobe and open-concept bathroom. The bedroom design is kept pared down, to draw attention to the master bathroom. The vanity extends out to maximise the space in the room.
To brighten up the interiors and make the home appear more spacious, interior designer Terence used a light palette characteristic of a Scandi style, while taking advantage of the natural light penetrating the apartment interiors.
Like the rest of the home, the living room is predominantly white with brown accents contributed by the sofa and coffee table from Kuhl Home. One wall in the dining area has been cladded with grey concrete-look tiles to provide a spot of contrast and to better define the seamless space.
The homeownersʼ toy collection takes pride of place at the entrance foyer, where the designer has created a built-in display comprising wooden niches set within a white wall of storage cabinets. These create a focal point against the white canvas, welcoming visitors into the home.
One of the highlights of the open- concept kitchen is the Moroccan floor tiling that stands out against the white compressed marble flooring in the living and dining rooms. The wall tiles and kitchen cabinets are all white, but Terence skilfully integrated touches of wood with the open wall shelves.
Patterned tiles on the floor help demarcate the kitchen space.
This five-room HDB BTO home was designed to look like a Scandinavian-style cafe-inspired home. The young couple engaged the help of interior design firm Fineline, who suggested a palette of white and wood-look finishes for a warm ambience yet bright interior.
Taking advantage of the space available next to the bomb shelter, a study nook was created and tucked cosily at this corner. This way, it allows more space for the adjacent living room too.
The homeowners also wanted more storage so the designers built a feature wall complete with compartments framed with white powdercoated steel.
READ MORE: Clever Storage Tricks To Save Space And Make Your Home Look Bigger
Part of the brief was also to create an open-concept kitchen. The wall between the kitchen and living room was hacked, with an island now sitting between the spaces. White subway tiles frame the kitchen area.
READ MORE: No Space For A Kitchen Island? Try This Kitchen Trend Instead That’s Perfect For Small HDBs
To ensure a uniform look throughout, the colour palette remains consistent across various parts of the home. For an eye-catching feature, the wall behind the bed is cladded in mosaic tiles to showcase an intricate display of patterns.
This 1,200sqf three-bedroom apartment in Corals at Keppel Bay condominium took five weeks to renovate and cost $45,000. The couple who live here wanted a Scandinavian-style home dominated by light wood. One of their concerns was the short TV wall, which was not proportionate to the sofa wall facing it. The interior designers thus created a chevron-patterned feature wall that visually extended the TV wall, which also has a hidden door that leads to the bedrooms.
The patterned wall facing the balcony is vinyl wallpaper from Korea. It brings visual interest and helps demarcate different areas of the home. The brown marble flooring came with the unit when the owners bought it.
READ MORE: 12 Creative Wall Decor Ideas That Won’t Break The Bank
Their dining area is kept space-efficient by creating a dining bench built into the wall. Lights are from Luminor Lighting and furniture from Ethnicraft. Mismatched dining chairs lend a modern and casual yet sophisticated vibe.
READ MORE: 10 Pendant Lamps Every Minimalist Homeowner Will Love
The entrance area has many practical features, such as a full-length mirror and storage unit where household knick-knacks can be held for before leaving and entering the house.
Unlike the living area, the bedrooms feature light walnut vinyl flooring. The designers proposed this soothing shade of blue-grey as one of the colours for the apartment’s Scandinavian theme, and it’s perfect for creating a restful bedroom.
READ MORE: 20 Beautiful Ways To Revamp Your Bedroom For The New Year
With white walls and light grey furnishings, as well as non-tinted windows, the home has light and bright spaces, personalised with accessories. The weathered wood ladder and jute carpet add a rustic charm, while the potted plants introduce nature to the living room.
In the kitchen, vibrant blue paint paired with white subway tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern are a fun, yet chic, contrast against the sleek grey cabinetry, which was made with laminated solid plywood.
Black steel bars on the backsplash allow the homeowners to display cups and cooking utensils in a stylish manner.
The same subway tiles on the backsplash were used in the bathroom, along with black hexagonal tiles for flooring (both from Hafary). The brass tones of a vintage-style, wallmounted shower ordered off Chinese shopping site Taobao make for a nice contrast against the clean palette.
Rustic furnishings and a touch of greenery give this simple Scandinavian-style apartment a homey atmosphere.
Nordic blue was chosen for the cabinetry, a deep, soothing shade that greets the eyes when you step into the home. White quartz for the countertop enhances the blue and makes it more prominent. Much detailing also went into the design of the kitchen – from the way the top-hung cabinets have been designed to accommodate potted plants, to the suspended stainless steel rack, which gives a dose of industrial chic.
The wood accented-dining set lends a touch of rustic chic and warmth to the interior. Unconventionally bigger tiles help create a sense of spaciousness.
The desk and shelves in the study are clad in white laminate with plywood finishes. An existing niche in the home has been cleverly turned into a bookshelf.
The master bedroom assumes a “heavier” tone, with grey as the dominant colour – it also reflects the ash-grey shade found on all the doors of the house.
The rustic-chic look takes over again in the master bathroom. A rectangular mirror comes thoughtfully designed with a built-in niche for displaying toiletries and sprays.
Home to a newly wedded couple, this five-room HDB BTO apartment in Bukit Batok was designed to meet the couple’s want for a spacious home that combines the use of wood- and concrete-look finishes.
Together with designer Toh Zu Huai of erstudio, a light ash grey wood-like laminate was selected for the minimalist-style TV feature wall in the living room. This design also hides plenty of storage space.
To achieve the concrete-like finish on the wall at the dining area, Zu Huai suggested the use of Performance Coating’s Travertino cement effect surface treatment.
The bedroom is now a cosy space complete with a customised headboard with a wood-look finish.
This lovely Tampines home incorporates lots of neutral tones and grey-hued soft furnishings to give off a relaxing, serene atmosphere. From the curtains to the area rug and high-backed sofa, the collective mood here is peaceful and modern.
A white brick wall facade brightens up and injects personality into the living room.
For the kitchen, the homeowner opted for a clean, uncluttered kitchen island while keeping with the neutral colour scheme. This method really opens up the space and brings in more light to what would otherwise be a tiny kitchen and dining area. Patterned bar stools add a pop of colour!
When used as accent colours, red, yellow and blue help liven up a neutral interior and bring a fun vibe to the home without going overboard.
Colour comes in the form of textiles (like the yellow cushions, patterned dining chair) as well as light fixtures (the pendant lamp).
The kitchen, however, was given a more minimalist monochromatic look to make it look clean (as a kitchen should be!) A brick-style tile backsplash helps jazz it up a bit.
This home has a bit of a studio vibe, with a raised living room floor and unique light fixtures (i.e. the track lights and tripod-style floor lamp). A smoky grey wall gives a bit of raw, unfinished texture that’s deliberately cool.
Thoughtful and simple open shelves are perfect for bringing in the homeowner’s personality!
A vibrant red fridge is the focal point of this kitchen (as it should be), while the patterned tiled floor is a simple but stylish touch.
READ MORE: 10 Beautiful And Functional Ideas For Tiny HDB Kitchens
Home for this couple in their early 30s, is a Japanese-style 1,000sqf four-room HDB BTO in Whampoa. With the help of their interior designer from Studio Super Safari, they wanted to achieve the Japanese zen garden-inspired look, while having a cosy study area and sufficient wardrobe spaces in their home.
The interior design team at Studio Super Safari chose the use of light wood tones and whites to achieve the look that the homeowners wanted.
Design: Studio Super Safari Source: Home & Decor Singapore
A timber alcove “teahouse” was designed with seating areas, and pull out drawers were incorporated for additional storage. For this look, tatami mats were customised and imported directly from Japan, to add to the overall authentic feel of the space.
Design: Studio Super Safari Source: Home & Decor Singapore
Have an open-design kitchen and consider a customised dining area to complete the look.
Design: Studio Super Safari Source: Home & Decor Singapore
For a bit of rustic elegance, opt for textured wood panels. Scandinavian design is also uncluttered and clean, so think of hidden storage that blends into the walls.
READ MORE: 6 Clever Space-Saving Storage Solutions
Then, continue the rustic theme throughout the home. (Notice how these homes modernise the dining area by having different types of seats? Dining chairs and a bench are a contemporary way to style a dining table.)
Even in the bedroom. Balance the woody look with a solid colour, like dark grey (or light grey!).
Use lots of light-coloured pieces to brighten up your home. A white ceiling fan and lightings blend well into the ceiling, creating the illusion of more space.
READ MORE: 10 Clever Ways To Organise And Decorate A Small Home
The sliding door to the bathroom also makes this master bedroom look bigger.
What’s unique about this home is the dark mocha-coloured floor that instantly makes the space super cosy. The feature wall adds interesting texture to the living area, and the decor is kept neat with simple themed wall art.
A chalkboard wall adds a fun, personal touch to the kitchen space!
This spacious Mutiara Crest condo showcases lots of electicism grounded with Scandinavian-style colour palette. Vintage treasure chest for a coffee table? Check. Traditional wall molding? Check. Vintage-style armchairs? Definitely check!
The unique old-world chandelier and patterned tablecloth somehow fit in perfectly into an otherwise rather modern interior and plain white colour scheme.
Here’s another view of the dining area. Perfect for hosting, right?
Opt for all-white furnishings from floor to ceiling to give your home that minimalist and sleek look.
Throw in light woody accents and some house plants to create a natural feel that’s right up Scandi-alley.
Keep furniture practical yet stylish. Sheer curtains let more light into the living area while providing some privacy, which is great for small homes.
But you also want your home to reflect who you are, and be designed to suit your lifestyle and enjoyments. Create a cosy floor space with a rug and some cushions if you like spending time there.
The black lines are an unexpected modern touch, but kept classy and stylish with simple and functional pieces.
Lots of warm lighting and textures create a comfortable environment to live in. To keep with the Scandinavian style, opt for clean, functional furniture and throw in an unexpected stylish element (in this case, the cluster of pendant lights).
For the master bedroom, keep the headboard simple but interesting. You don’t need lots of fancy furniture for a cosy sleeping area.
Design: Space Sense Studio, Source: Qanvast
READ MORE:
This Tiny Taiwanese Apartment Looks So Bright And Spacious
12 Types Of Plants Perfect For HDB Homes In Singapore
7 Decor Tips For That Minimalist Home You’ve Always Wanted
Text: Home and Decor Singapore and Qanvast / Additional Reporting: Elizabeth Liew
