3 Room Flats have always been one of the more popular choices for housing options because it's a perfect starter home for the general adult population. It ranges from 60 - 65 square metres, having two bedrooms that is just a perfect size for a single adult or young couple without children, be it resale or BTO.
The difference between the two is that BTO flats tend to have a chunkier format while resale flats are slightly tapered. The conundrum is that the physical space of 3 rooms flats are really limited even though its compactness caters to the average needs of a Singaporean household.
This article will highlight our top eight recommended tips to achieve a smart and spacious home:
The one single tip that every interior designer would always tell you when it comes to creating space in a cramped home is to have a neutral palette that is homogeneous throughout.
An all white palette such as this beautiful kitchen/ dining area utilises the white to expand our visual periphery of space through unadulterated brightness, helping it to look bigger than it actually is!
The white cupboard that stretches from the floor to the ceiling helps to elongate the neck of the home, and with a well lit ceiling, really gives the illusion of a ginormous space.
Monochromatic moodiness might set in, but when you juxtapose textures and patterns through tiling, it instantly sets off a visual firework. It's a monochromatic multiplication of space when you use it wisely!
The next exemplary space saving tip from this home is the amazing usage of functional delineation. This home is a prime example of open spaced concept as we hacked away all the useless walls that serve no purpose but partitioning.
We subvert these hacked walls into functional space such as a spot for a kitchen island or counter space. You could even have a half hacked wall that acts as a partitioned bar unit, even though it might be more costly to have half hacked walls.
This kitchen island not only serves as a focus for the home, its newfound visual openness helps to expand the purview. If you take a look closely on the floor, the interesting matching of mosaic tiles with marble tiles also divide the space clearly.
This immediately helps to declutter the space and as such, creates visual freedom.
A choice that has become more commonplace as homeowners get braver in terms of interior styling is the usage of glass walls. This term ties in with the previous pointer of hacking away unnecessary walls and replacing such spaces with said glass doors.
As most people would know, laminated glass is shatterproof and is useful for compartmentalising home spaces into functional quarters. This denies the rigidness of concrete walls that not only blocks the sunlight, but also physically limits where you can go.
This glass wall helps to give the illusion of space just by maximising the amount of natural light that can enter the environment, instantly expanding just by getting rid of the shadows.
Next is a pointer that really requires an artful eye, especially that of your interior designer- the usage of effective furniture. When choosing furniture, we have to pick pieces that are visually spacey, and we aren’t referring to sets that are futuristic, but instead we are looking at styling that utilises negative space.
Majority of the furniture within this office space uses formats that are clean and without much ornamentation, such as the repetition of diagonally stretched legged coffee tables and chairs.
The high diagonal legs actually help to guide the eyes to see through the heaviness of the chairs, and help alleviate the chaos that compact furniture can bring. It is also very useful to purchase loose furniture instead so that we have complete control over the environment, allowing mix and match to fulfil our spatial needs.
As mentioned earlier, many resale homes tend to be elongated because older HDB flats have a slightly different layout. This could be an opportunity to enhance space through the usage of linear perspective.
With kitchens especially, we fully embrace the beauty of a long drawn space through usage of horizontal lines and nothing else. With this space, we immediately focus on the feature wall that is a vibrant pop art painting that amasses the size of the entire kitchen island.
This stretched frame echoes that of the kitchen island, and that creates a visual illusion that the kitchen is larger than it actually is! Furthermore, the lighting above the island is a linear bar that reinforces the fluidity of the rectilinear room, further expanding our perspective of the room.
As an additional enhancement, we fully exploit the fundamental pointers of minimalism and get rid of anything that is unnecessary. This includes the arbitrary concept of door handles on the seamlessly finished shelves.
The minimalist features should help create a tranquil visual identity, without much interruption. The cupboards inherently camouflage into one another, creating an ever expanding space within a room that is notoriously cluttered with food and appliances.
Many Singaporeans also refuse the option of an open concept kitchen because we don’t want the pungency of cooking to linger within the home atmosphere, thus a hacked door is never the decision for them.
We recommend recessed doors that slide into the walls as an attempt of decluttering the unnecessary, only bringing the door out when you require its services.
It is interesting to look at the whimsy of abandoning amenities that you deem necessary, only to realise that it's holding back the amount of space you can fully exploit.
We mentioned functional delineation earlier, but functional demarcation on the other hand describes an outline of physical wall space that serves as an alternate use, be it storage slots or serving space.
In the situation where walls are indeed necessary due to absolute emptiness of the interiors, we recommend having cupboards in places of plain walls to serve as a demarcation of privacy, reducing the size of ineffective space within the household as we are trying to exploit every single speck of space available.
It is also very common to use glass shelves as an option to demarcate as homeowners who are collectors of rare goods can choose to utilise such spots as proud displays.
Apart from focusing on our horizontal spaces, vertical space cannot be neglected as well. It is quite typical to think of floor to ceiling cupboards but not many people will consider the factors that envelop these settings.
Drawing back to the pointer of door handles, creating a clean cut look for our floor-to-ceiling cupboards is very important. This also implicates the facades of the cupboards as a well camouflaged storage can be effective in reducing visual clutter.
Another option that not many people fully exploit is the impact of raised platforms. Raised platforms with built in storage not only provides an insurmountable space to keep personal artefacts, it provides a sharp chasm of fine luxury against generic interiors, just with a raised platform!
It might seem impossible to seek out usable space within the confined capacity of a typical 3 room HDB flat, but it's better to try than live in a clutter!
The strategies we provided above are merely the tips of the iceberg as there are definitely more methods of expanding your living space as long as you apply your creativity.
If you put pen to paper, interior design is moulded over the psychology of how people perceive their environment and that can always change!
It might seem impossible to seek out usable space within the confined capacity of a typical 3 room HDB flat, but it's better to try than live in a clutter!
The strategies we provided above are merely the tips of the iceberg as there are definitely more methods of expanding your living space as long as you apply your creativity.
If you put pen to paper, interior design is moulded over the psychology of how people perceive their environment and that can always change!
