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Perfectly imperfect

The Straits Times

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November 01, 2025

The couple who own this rustic HDB flat have an industrial-retro personal style

In Singapore, many homes are designed in a modern Japanese or Scandinavian style, or both.

Home owners Siva and Fongling, an operations coordinator and accounts administrator in their late 40s, had something else in mind for their three-bedroom Housing Board flat in Bishan.

The couple, who have two children - a boy and a girl - and a dog, wanted the 1,119 sq ft groundfloor unit to have a nostalgic kampung vibe, with raw, rustic textures and vintage furniture.

"We wanted to have the walls looking as though they have aged in time," says Siva.

Mr Chris Lee from Morphosis Studio understood the assignment and added subtle elements, like Peranakan features, to enhance the concept. For the living room, he created wall texture with a plastered and whitewashed effect.

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