SINGAPORE – Shifting into this two-bedroom condominium condo in Amber Highway marked the beginning of a brand new chapter for 72-year-old Bebe Seet, founder and proprietor of Katong-based Peranakan heritage boutique Rumah Bebe, which additionally serves home made Nonya meals.
The 1,612 sq ft residence, whichshe shares along with her helper, is a mixture of Peranakan heritage, resort parts and old-world appeal.
Ms Seet engaged her buddy and designer Oz Titus – who additionally has Peranakan heritage and had beforehand helped make over her retailer – to place collectively the search for her condo.
To enhance the vintage items Ms Seet had amassed through the years, Mr Titus selected a impartial palette accented by open-pore cerused wooden veneers. The cerusing emphasises the wooden grain, making it a gorgeous backdrop to showcase classic items.
Within the lobby, the wooden creates a heat and intimate vestibule that welcomes guests earlier than opening up into the dwelling and eating areas. Layers subtly outline every space. The ceiling construction adjustments and rises as one strikes from the eating space to the lounge, a characteristic emphasised by means of picket slats that run across the perimeter of the lounge ceiling.
Sustaining cohesiveness was essential in a house with a number of intricate items of furnishings. The picket shutter doorways resulting in the main bedroom, as an illustration, echo the picket slats in the lounge. And although every lavatory has its personal persona, the look is tied collectively by a quatrefoil motif within the window grilles, strolling a fantastic line between minimalist and retro.
The wardrobe doorways are lined in vivid floral hand-painted silk from Simply Anthony, whereas the grasp lavatory showcases a tableau of tropical jungle life on {custom} wallpaper by Craft Axis. These complement Ms Seet’s Peranakan-style residence equipment, which are sometimes painted or embroidered by hand with intricate florals.
One in all Ms Seet’s priorities was for the house to be age-proof and accessible. To attain this, Mr Titus levelled the flooring, switched the visitor lavatory’s swing door to a sliding door, added bathe seats and ensured there have been no awkward corners.
The proprietor’s favorite area is the dwelling and eating space. A big eating counter, custom-made and overlaid with Calacatta marble, is the place her family members can collect. The desk pays homage to the idea of Tok Panjang, the Peranakan {custom} of getting an extravagant feast laid out over an extended desk for family and friends to eat collectively.
She additionally loves sitting within the dwelling space, surrounded by her favorite antiques and doing beadwork with a view of the pool. “This area is so cosy and you may see all the pieces that is happening,” she says. “I really like doing my work right here – it is a spot the place I can calm down.”