House Tour: A Japandi-Minimalist Inspired 3-Room BTO | $31K Reno
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Virtual House Tour
- Japandi
- HDB (BTO)
- ~700 sqft
- 2 br
- Couple Living
Welcome to the virtual tour of our home! 😊 Our place is a 3-room BTO in the East (2 bedrooms, 1 living room). This might be an unconventional choice and some might say, huhhh so small.... Hear us out! 🤪 
A little backstory, we balloted and got a queue number on our first try way back in 2019!! 🍀 We thought that we wouldn’t get it but lo and behold we “hit the jackpot” LOL! We had mixed feelings and even almost wanted to forfeit our downpayment (due to the sudden realisation that oops it may be a littleee smolll 🤔) but after much consideration, we decided to stick to it and have no regrets! There are many other couples who had to ballot multiple times for a flat, so we’re considered lucky to get a unit at a good location (near MRT), what more on our first try! 🫣 Gotta count our blessings and not take it for granted, right? 💫 Furthermore, we don’t plan to have 👶🏼 or 🐱 at the moment, neither of us WFH, we don’t host big groups of people, so the space is really just perfect for 2! 👩🏻❤️👨🏽 Here’s a breakdown of our timeline: * 💻 Application: November 2018 * 📝 Unit selection: March 2019 * 💰 10% Downpayment: July 2019 * 🔑 Key collection: 14 February 2024 * 🛠️ Renovation: 23 March 2024 * 🏠 Moved in: 26 May 2024 
Here's our floor plan! We like that we don't have any odd spaces to work with (mostly square/ rectangular layout). Our estate also comes with vinyl flooring and ceramic tiles provided by HDB (we cannot opt out). Of course we can hack it away, but decided to just keep it to save cost since it suits our theme too! Cost breakdown- We spent a total of around $31K+ on renovations alone, and roughly $27K on furnishings & other nicknacks for our home.💰 Green= Built in carpentry Blue= Furnishings Yellow= Aircon piping (we concealed our a/c trunking so you can’t see them in the pictures) 
Upon entering, you already get a view of the living room, dining area, hallway and abit of the kitchen! ~ 
Neutral colours to create a cosy ambience at home. :) 
Our living room has zero built-ins. We only added a plasterboard wall with metal support behind the TV (next picture) to even out the wall. 
This is how it looks like before plastering. The original walls were uneven to begin with. It cost us around $900 to flush it. 
As you turn left, you’ll be greeted by our hallway leading to the rooms & kitchen. We opted for neutral colours to create a cosy space and white walls to create an illusion of a ‘bigger’ space by reflecting more light into the home. The Mr has always been a homebody, and now the Mrs has been influenced. We always look forward to go back to our nest after a long day. 🥰 
This is the view when we step out of our master bedroom. Loving the minimalist look of the ceiling lights in our hallway. 
How it looks like before. This is the kitchen/ laundry area! We initially wanted to have a close concept kitchen by installing glass sliding doors, but realised that an open concept would be much practical and cost saving. Natural light can flow more freely, brightening up the space. ☀️ Additional false walls and full height glass sliding doors may make a small space look ‘bulky’. A potential drawback is that cooking smells may travel to the living room etc but it’s not a problem since we only do light cooking 1-2x a week. Furthermore, we have a huge window beside our hob where our laundry area is, so that helps with the ventilation. How it looks like before. 
Another view of our kitchen, when we're standing at the laundry area. In front of it is our common room! 
This is our common room in its bare state, with sparkling clean floors after vinyl guards did the floor coating. ✨ Will reveal more once it’s time! 😜 It’s still a work in progress 🫣. For now, we have 2 tables placed side by side for the both of us. This is our common toilet, nothing much done here. The tiles, toilet bowls, shower heads, basin are from HDB. We only: -Changed the ‘eggshell’ panels to acrylic+ led light ($150) -Installed quartz ledge for shampoo bottles ($160) -Installed round black mirror ($25) -Installed bidet spray ($15) -Installed water heater from AOSmith (40L, Gen 6 digital heater, $860 bto group buy price) 
Very pleased with how the quartz ledge turned out! This wasn’t in the initial plan but after hunting high and low for a soap rack, nothing sparks joy, so we decided to ask our ID to customise this. Moving on to our master bedroom!! :D Hmmm, kinda small right? 
As we approach the master bedroom, you’ll get a glimpse of our mini L- shaped walk in wardrobe. 
Voilà! This is our bedroom, our cozy nook. 😴 We were pleasantly surprised that our ID suggested this layout as other IDs said it wasn’t possible. We have a queen-sized mattress on our platform bed. Our platform bed comes with storage only at the front where it’s accessible! None under the bed itself because dust may seep through the small holes and we don’t think it’s practical to put more items underneath. 
We revamped our MBR for slightly below $10k due to the amount of carpentry used. We also upgraded to ecoply wood for all carpentry including kitchen to minimize the smell of formeldahyde as we wanted to move in ASAP and couldn’t wait to ‘air’ the place for weeks. Just FYI, opting for ecoply wood was an additional $1.1k on top of the usual carpentry pricing for all carpentry works in the house - pricey but worth it. Whenever we come and check on the reno, our eyes don’t sting and there is no distinct smell of formaldehyde. [LED COB lights - 3K brightness] 
Our 3D render by our ID. Almost similar right!!!! Very pleased that it turned out well! ✨ 
Initially wanted curved edges for the cupboard but we prioritized functionality instead and saved some $$! Extra craftsmanship is required for curved carpentry, hence the increased price point. Furthermore, our space is already small, so we need to make full use of alllll the internal space we can get! Having curved edges at the cupboard would mean slightly lesser internal space for our items…. The other part of the wardrobe heading towards the toilet. Again, we ditched the idea of having curved edges. While curved edges would be aesthetically pleasing and can soften the look of the room, we really need all the space we can get. Next up, the master bathroom toilet. This is the only place where we have curved carpentry. It complements our curvy mirror and round basin. 😊 Since we don’t have a shower screen, we needed our cabinetry to be water resistant. ID suggested that we use marine plywood due to its excellent water resistant properties, another additional cost of $300++ on top of usual carpentry pricing but it’s necessary! We also use a squeegee stick to sweep water into the drain after showering to prevent any pink mould (often found in areas where there is a build up of soap scum). 
Everything’s similar to our common toilet except that we: 1) changed to a rain shower, 2) customized our toilet cabinetry. Didn’t opt for a glass shower screen as 1) showering space will be smaller, 2) we didn’t want water to accumulate at only certain areas of the toilet and making it difficult to drain it, 3) we didn’t want to spend time cleaning water stains on glass. Also, the vibes of both toilets are in a darker tone for a more relaxed vibe. Maybe we should have opted for gunmetal for all fixtures instead? 🤔 How our walk in wardrobe looks like when we exit our toilet. Special thanks to the Mr for only having 1 wardrobe and keeping his clothes minimal... Luckily, both of us don't have to wear "gaigai" clothes during work! (guess our profession? but we won't reveal, iykyk 😜) However, the Mrs has wayy too many clothes. The Mr's sacrifice on his wardrobe space is very much appreciated by the Mrs. 🥰 Thank you for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of our first home as much as we did documenting it. 🫶🏼 Ending off this post with a quote to live by: "Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude." ✨ We are so thankful to have a place of our own, our cosy haven, and we will be rooting for you if you're longing to have a place of your own too... 🥺💫 See you again in the next post. 👋🏼
- 22 October
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