The designer who rebuilt his childhood flat

There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with redesigning a home you know too well. For Billy Chew of MET Interior, this Tampines flat was not just another project site. It was the 5A HDB he had lived in since birth — a 1984 home with old terrazzo flooring, dated rooms and the familiar proportions of a childhood address.

Years later, Billy returned to it not only as an interior designer, but as a husband, father and son, reworking the flat for five people across three generations. The home now houses a couple, two young children and an elderly family member, so the design had to answer to many versions of daily life at once: privacy, care, play, rest, work, movement and the possibility of change.

His brief to himself was direct: “No white. Raw yet luxe.” It is a compact statement, but it sets the tone for a home that moves away from the usual bright, neutral renovation language. Instead, the 1,431-square-foot flat has been given a darker, more tactile character, with brick-like surfaces, cement-screed effects, steel accents and warm lighting lending it a stronger architectural presence.

The biggest change, however, is not cosmetic. It is in the plan. Around 90 per cent of the original non-load-bearing walls were demolished, allowing Billy to rethink the flat almost from the inside out. The before-and-after plans show just how far the layout has travelled: rooms have shifted purpose, circulation has opened up, and conventional boundaries have been replaced by more layered connections.

Most strikingly, the original kitchen has been converted into a new “master bedroom” of sorts: a room for the elderly family member, who wanted an attached bathroom, with the children bunking in together as well. The former master bedroom, meanwhile, has become the new kitchen. It is the kind of move that sounds radical on paper, but makes complete sense when seen through the needs of a multigenerational household.

The new bedroom is also concealed within the dry kitchen area, its entrance worked into the surrounding carpentry and brick-effect finishes. Rather than reading as a separate doorway, it becomes part of the home’s architecture. This sense of discovery continues elsewhere. Billy’s own bedroom opens towards the newly built balcony and living area in a loop. “I am able to walk through my room in a circle to the balcony, to the living and back to the room,” he says.

That circular route is not just a spatial flourish. It speaks to a home designed with change in mind. The gym area can eventually become a child’s room, while the aforementioned balcony has also been planned as a future study. The current study, finished with cement-screed walls, uses a one-way mirror to maintain a visual connection with the common areas.

There were limits to what could physically be built in an HDB flat. Full red brick walls, real steel I-beams and a real tree at the foyer were not feasible because of weight and practical restrictions. Billy’s solution was to translate the feeling through lighter means: brick veneers, steel-look laminates, a faux bonsai and a fireplace element. One of the biggest challenges, he notes, was “bringing true architectural elements into the space.”

What emerges is a home that feels personal without being precious. It remembers what the flat was, but does not get trapped by it. For Billy, the project is both a professional exercise and a private return — a childhood home redrawn for an elderly family member, young children and the many small negotiations of living together.

MET Interior
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