Dining Area: Sketch vs Reality
115
- Contemporary
- HDB (BTO)
- ~700 sqft
- 2 br
- Couple Living
Welcome to Sirius Haus, a contemporary home conceptualised by a young couple. Our guiding principles for spatial planning were "form follows function" and we employed various design techniques to "create the illusion of space." We spent a lot of time deliberating about the living/dining space due to the space constraints. We eventually decided to ditch the typical HDB living room setting and skip having a coffee table and sofa set. Instead, we created a full-height pantry in our dining area, to house our refrigerator, microwave, and coffee area. Let us delve into some of the design considerations: We opted for a two-door refrigerator design (91.3cm width) with the consideration that the door swing clear space needed for 2 smaller refrigerator doors would be much lesser than 1 large refrigerator door. This means that even when our expandable 2m x 1.2m dining table is at its maximum extension, there would still be sufficient space to open the refrigerator doors even if the table was fully seated with guests. Another perk of this refrigerator is that it contains a huge freezer (left door) which is separated from the non-freezer compartments. We also fitted a sleek Samsung The Frame TV on our dining room wall for a seamless look that could do away with the need for a TV console. 
Fun fact - we envisioned our interior design ideas using our very own freehand sketches. Before the start of our renovation, we sat down and sketched out ideas for our home. We had a clear vision for a full-height pantry that is incorporated with our dining area. We were able to clearly communicate to our carpenter how to do up this area despite not having renders for our home. While the final as-built design was mostly similar to our initial sketch, the part that changed was the cupboard below our pantry countertop. We eventually opted for a drawer to store utensils, and added a single swing cupboard below it. 
Here is a WIP photo from our renovation journey. We were certain we did not want to have a TV console in our living/dining area due to the limited space. We decided to go with Samsung The Frame TV on our dining room wall for a seamless look. However, we realised that most contractors were not familiar with the design and installation process of this TV. This TV has a unique mounting mechanism that allows the device to be installed flushed to the wall just like a painting. In order to achieve that seamless look, we created a false wall in our living/dining area to conceal where we run our Samsung The Frame TV wiring. Make a guess where you think the power source for the TV is located? ;)
- 18 March
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