When the owners of a Singapore apartment shared their love of bold color with interior designer Ponnie Tan, she developed a scheme that borrows from Wes Anderson’s oeuvre. The celebrated director’s films, such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Darjeeling Limited, feature offbeat, visually rich settings that are highly memorable—and those same characteristics define the updated apartment.

The owners live in a public housing unit with their two young children. The building features nondescript common areas with drab cement floors, so Tan devised a punchy internal world that makes coming home something to look forward to.

The living room’s canary-yellow walls and ceiling match a sofa of the same color. Behind the television console, a mural pops with painted dots, curves, and lines in shades of burgundy, Prussian and steel blue, earth, and powder pink, recalling the geometric style of the Memphis Group in the 1980s.

“The mural design was derived from my initial proposal for rug selections. The owners did not go ahead with the suggestion, but they were receptive to having the design transformed into a mural in their living space,” says Tan.

Custom-designed timber shelves float around the sofa, with their tubular framework emphasized in fire engine red. Next to the main door, a royal-blue domed cabinet protrudes from the wall like a piece of functional artwork.

The living area flows into an open kitchen, which Tan created by removing the walls of a former study room. The laminated plywood cabinet doors—painted in moss, pale pink, sand, and earth tones—come together in an unexpected manner, injecting a sense of playfulness into what is typically a utilitarian part of the home.

A quartz-topped island with bases of different shapes breaks up the space. One support is a terrazzo block spotted like a dalmatian, and the other is a cement tube. “Considering that they have two young children, I decided to give the island a rounded edge so that it is child-friendly,” adds Tan.

Glass blocks and patterned panes of glass add texture throughout the apartment. “They replace a wall connecting the yard and kitchen, as well as a divider between the principal bedroom and walk-in wardrobe. The use of glass not only adds to home’s style and sophistication, but also allows natural lighting through,” says Tan.

The bathrooms are no less spirited. “They are clean yet bold, and one focal color harmonizes with the surrounding elements in the space. For example, the yellow tiles in the principal bathroom complement the green wardrobe frames in the principal bedroom,” says Tan.

Black shower fixtures and grass-green hardware on the shower door complete the cheery picture. Likewise, the common bathroom’s vermillion joinery and hardware add a dose of fun to its monochromatic interior.

While the main spaces are full of energy, the principal bedroom is calm with white walls and dark walnut parquet flooring. For the wardrobe, Tan stacked open and enclosed cubes to create a playful effect. “The open-concept walk-in wardrobe reflects my belief that storage spaces do not always have to be enclosed and uniform,” he says.

As public housing unit require services conduits to be exposed, Tan decided to integrate them holistically into the interior design. “I made use of false ceilings to conceal the pipes and wiring. Other elements that cannot be concealed, such as the air-conditioning pipes and trunking, were painted in the same color as the wall so that they blend in with the surrounding elements,” says Tan.

Glass blocks, terra-cotta, and terrazzo—materials popular in the ’70s and ’80s—have seen a resurgence as of late, either due to a sense of nostalgia or an appreciation for how they introduce a kind of casual tactility to spaces.

With so many different components and colors in the modestly sized space, how did Tan ensure that the look is coherent rather than messy? “By carefully curating each space so that there is only one focal point, it’s possible to balance having so many elements in a home,” he says.

He employs a basic foil of white paint, microcement, or raw concrete in many of the rooms so that key features stand out. Color- or material-blocking enables a clean reading of parts. In the kitchen, as well as the principal bedroom, painting half the walls of interconnected spaces in a similar color enhances visual flow.

Creating a home with such strong influences is not so simple, as this project shows. But when done well, standout elements weave an inspiring backdrop that enlivens the monotony of the everyday, and makes for fun memories for the children.

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Project Credits:

Interior designer: Ponnie Tan, EightyTwo / @eightytwo.sg

Photography: SEECK Photography

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