Double-volume Laundry Room, Anyone?

132

Eclectic
HDB (Maisonette)
≥1,500 sqft
4 br
Couple Living

We chose to purchase a resale Gen 2 EM because we prefer its layout over that of a Gen 1 EM. The primary difference lies in where the balcony is located - adjoining the living room and kitchen, instead of being an extension to the living room. From a ventilation perspective, we think it makes more sense, although some homeowners opted to wall up the opening. The versatility alone is wonderful.
The balcony essentially serves as a double-volume laundry room for us. A mix of weather-worn timber-look and stone-look tiles, together with the original bricked wall, gives the space a unique rustic feel.
Notice how the balcony tiles do not seem to be out of place with the living room tiles despite both being bold choices. We used to position our sofa against the wall at our old place. It was an absolute nightmare as I would have to drag it out week after week to clean it properly and thoroughly. With foldable doors, there is an option of having more ventilation behind us when we sit at the sofa. Since the back of the sofa is not against any surface, it is extremely easy to clean and maintain.
Storage space is ironically an issue for EMs due to the lack of a dedicated storeroom. There are certain bulky items such as ladder and vacuum cleaner that need to go somewhere somehow. To avoid affecting the aesthetics elsewhere in the apartment, we decided to build a tall cabinet in the balcony. However, in order not to block the ventilation windows of the guest bathroom, the cabinet can only be of a specific height. Oh well, everything fits in so far.
This is the helicopter view of our balcony. We have chosen to retain the distinctive red colour of the brick walls instead of painting them white. The colour we selected ended up being quite close to the original. Solving the issue of laundry drying was a big challenge for us when we first thought about moving to an EM. As we observed what our EM neighbours are doing, we were not convinced by their solutions. Extra long bamboo poles, anyone? We later found out that it is possible to mount a Steigen laundry system on the balcony wall with L brackets. The L brackets can be reversed to achieve a greater height. And an acrylic panel protects the top of the laundry system from rain splashes. For lighting, we have gone with track lights on one side of the balcony. They can be serviced easily and more track lights can be added to increase brightness if needed.