Welcome to The Tofu House!

940

Virtual House Tour

Scandinavian
HDB (Resale)
~1,100 sqft
3 br
Couple Living

Hello from the tofu house! We are two tiny blocks staying in a tiny block and are here to share more about our house journey, starting right from the hunting & purchase stage! Like most Singaporeans, we went through the stage of deciding between a BTO and a Resale flat. We tried our luck for a BTO unit, but were not fortunate enough as we had our hearts set on living in mature, central estates. We had many discussions about whether to continue applying and waiting for the ideal unit, or to look for one right off the resale market. After weighing both options, we decided that it made more sense for us to buy a bigger resale unit in our ideal estate and move in soon, rather than wait for a small BTO unit at the same price. We shortlisted our unit based mostly based on a) neighbourhood, b) floor level, c) layout, and c) price. Location was pretty straightforward as we were only keen on 1 or 2 estate. Our current one allowed us to tap on the proximity grant, the flats here were also not too old, and generally less expensive than the other estate we had in mind. There are many amenities around the area, including reputable schools, F&B places, and even 24/7 supermarkets, so that was a huge plus.
From the start we were very certain that we were going to create a space for relaxing (or chill area) and a gym room that links to the living room so that we can watch TV while working out. We were also quite sure that we would keep the overall house space as open and airy as possible to maximise our not-so-big flat. Hence, when we went for flat viewings, it was easier to figure out if the layout would work for what we already had in mind.
As you can see from the floor plan, we took the chance to hack away a few walls and reorganise the whole home space.
Our L-shaped living room worked to our advantage, where we delegated a corner as our chill area. This platform also doubles up as our storage area where we keep our books, albums, and other items!
A zoomed-out view of our chill area with platform storage!
Our toilets were reshuffled by the previous owner, which we actually found very useful! The master bedroom toilet became the common toilet (nearer to the door), and the common toilet (originally in the kitchen) became our master bedroom toilet. This layout makes so much more sense to us because it means everyone can easily access the common toilet without walking all the way to the back!
Although it does seem weird to have the toilet facing the chill area & living room, we covered it up together with our storeroom by doing a feature wall that cleverly integrates both toilet & storeroom doors!
We converted an empty room into what is now our gym room!
The gym is directly behind the ‘living room’ and faces what should be our TV (or projector, depending on how it goes). The aircon is strategically placed here so that it cools down the place while we work out.
We reshuffled the positions of the hob & hood and opened up the kitchen by knocking down the connecting wall from the adjourning room.
We also carved out a dining room area by hacking back our study room area. We were initially a bit worried that the study room would be too small, but so far it works for us. We’ll share more about the thought process behind our design in future posts so do stick around with us! ~