With the help of SG Interior, a family transformed their resale condo into a safe and supportive space, tailored to the unique needs of their teenage son with special needs. Here’s their story.
22 November 2024
Interview by Janice Seow
Designing a home for a child with special needs demands a thoughtful approach, prioritising sensory needs, routines, and safety to create an environment that supports their well-being. For families facing these challenges, the right design can make a big difference – easing anxiety, enhancing comfort, and encouraging independence. Mrs Lee, whose teenage son lives with autism, ADHD, and high anxiety, worked with Fly Soh and Nicholas Heng from SG Interior to turn the family’s resale condo into a space uniquely suited to his needs. With careful planning, the renovation balanced practicality and emotional comfort, offering her son a secure and empowering place to thrive. She tells us their story.
Our family needed a place with three bedrooms and a minimum floor area of 1,000 square feet. This unit fits our needs and is within our budget. In addition, it is conveniently located near two MRT lines and several bus stops, and there is no lack of food choices around the area.
In our journey with our special needs son, we’ve gradually gained a better understanding of his needs, fears and anxiety triggers. We’ve found that he needs some form of routine and stability. His fears can be extreme, and his preferences for certain things require special accommodations. We tried our best to take care of these areas in the renovation process with the overarching goals of helping him feel secure and develop independence.
It was important for us to find an interior designer who could appreciate our situation and work alongside us to plan the renovation to meet our family’s needs. We took time to explain our son’s needs to our designers, Fly and Nic (Nicholas), who were thankfully empathetic and willing to adapt their design plans to accommodate them.
Every special needs child is unique. My son values personal space and is highly sensitive to light.
He needs his own room where he can have his privacy. However, he is also afraid of big spaces with hidden and dark corners. Hence, his bedroom size needs to be optimal: enough to house appropriate furniture for his use with no hidden corners.
For instance, my son’s computer table is narrow but long to fit his computer and gadgets. The wardrobe complements this by optimising space within the given constraints. Additionally, the cabinet beside his bed provides convenient storage for his toys while also offering a secure backing for a more comfortable sleeping arrangement.
To cope with the dark, our designers suggested that we create a glass connecting door between his room and ours to help him sleep better at night. We also placed wall lights near his bed.
We further opted for a service window in the wall between the kitchen and dining area so that our son can see us as he moves around the house.
Our son also has a fear of being alone in bathrooms and especially dislikes bathroom mirrors. However, we’ve observed that he enjoys the bathrooms in hotels during our staycations. To help him feel more comfortable, Fly and Nic were tasked to design the bathrooms with a hotel vibe. We also use an LED mirror in the master bathroom to help my son manage his fear of big mirrors.
My son’s sensitivity to light means finding lighting with appropriate brightness. He doesn’t fancy lighting that is too bright or too dim. The designers had to carefully consider the brightness levels, the temperature emitted by the lights, and the angle of the light source to create a comfortable ambience. In fact, much time was spent sourcing for a suitable lamp that hangs over the dining table as my son had a specific design in mind.
When we first met with Fly and Nic, we already had a draft renovation design based on the unit’s floor plan. My son was deeply involved in the draft as we had discussed, as a family, how we wanted our new home to look.
Our designers helped to fine-tune the draft and gave many practical suggestions that were in line with our personalities and needs. There was mutual respect throughout. The designers fully understood our requirements given the unique circumstances and did their best to accommodate our choices, even if they didn’t always align with conventional renovation practices.
During the renovation process, we made several changes to the draft. The designers took effort to explain to my son why the changes were necessary and helped him accept the changes without increasing his anxiety. This was not an easy feat as rigidity and adversity to change are challenging where my son is concerned.
Overall, the design of the space has encouraged my son to be more independent. He is now able to sleep in his own room, with the night lights turned on and the glass connecting door to our bedroom partially opened. During the day, he spends most of his time in his room with the connecting door closed and blinds drawn for his privacy. He is also able to use the bathrooms without fear of the mirrors.
These are huge improvements as we used to sleep with him in the same room and needed to stay nearby when he was using the bathroom.
A home renovation is a family affair. My personal experience reinforced my belief in involving our children in the renovation process whenever possible.
My son’s contributions to the renovation was undeniably valuable. We are blessed that he is willing to communicate to us what works for him. His involvement translates to greater ownership as he becomes more responsible in using and taking care of the space.
He joined us in our meetings with the designers whenever necessary. He grew to respect them and trust their professional views, especially when his original ideas could not be materialised due to constraints. More importantly, he learnt that renovation is a collaborative team effort – both within our family as well as between our family and the designers.
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