589C Pasir Ris Drive 3

A 4-room BTO at Costa Grove for a couple who wanted warmth without clutter. The living room is one full-height walnut wall behind the sofa, lit by a cove at the ceiling and two opal globes at seated eye level. There is no TV feature wall and nothing hung on it. The timber does all of the work.

The rest of the flat is quiet by comparison. Limewash-textured plaster on the columns and hallway walls, large-format cream tiles underfoot, sheers layered under heavier curtains so the afternoon sun comes in soft. A dark oak dining table sits beside a glass-and-walnut door set that lets the kitchen borrow light without letting the cooking out.

In the kitchen we ran walnut on the base cabinets and a microcement finish on the uppers, with Calacatta-look stone across the counter and up the wall. Small moves matter more in a 4-room. A pull-down dish rack instead of an open one, a vanity folded into the bedroom wardrobe, a niche by the entrance for keys and a diffuser.