A49 Residence
Project Type: Landed Residential Unit
Site Condition: New & Empty
Renovation Size: 1,750 sqft
Location: Putrajaya
Year of Completion: 2021
This double-storey intermediate terrace house is situated in the administrative capital Putrajaya. Our clients, a family of three with a baby on the way, envision their first home to be a calming and relaxing sanctuary to come to after busy day at work. From the first brief, they have a strong sense of design direction in what they are seeking in a home.
The wife is leaning towards English farmhouse style with shiplap and wainscoting elements; the husband is seeking for minimalism and simplicity in design. Our challenge is to search for that fine line to balance between two different design directions from the clients. With that in mind, a modern take on English farmhouse, scaled down to simplicity is born. For this project, we use neutral color palette with hints of light wood tone to reach the desired calming and relaxing ambiance.
As you enter the main entrance door, you would be greeted by a floating TV console in the Living area featuring shiplap style backing panel. The warm hidden lighting in the joinery enhances the groove-lines of the shiplap panel. It creates soft glow that is well-sufficient to brighten up the area. There is ample storage at the TV console- enclosed and open- for our clients to keep their belongings and display their travel memorabilia.
The TV console is designed in a manner where all electrical outlets are hidden behind a flapping-panel under the TV and behind cabinet door. This way, cables for phone chargers as well as other electronic items are all hidden away from the visual line.
Moving onto the Dining area, a new dry wall is erected along the staircase handrail. It is important to our Client to give privacy for anyone to go up and down the staircase, especially when there are guests dining at the table. This new wall borrows the same white shiplap style from the backing panel at TV console across it. A wash of warm light coming from the ceiling pocket sets an intimate ambiance at the common space.
The unsightly louvered door to the store underneath the staircase is replaced by a hidden push-open swing door, in the same shiplap material to create a seamless design. Besides the farmhouse shiplap wall, few walls at the common area have undergone wainscoting treatment, ready to frame clusters of picture frames of memorable family moments.
Prior to first meeting with us, our clients have already engaged with a kitchen specialist for the dry and wet kitchen. Even though we did not partake in the design process of the kitchen cabinetry, we are very much actively involved in choosing materials for the glossy bevel-edged grey splash-back tiles to go with the overall mid-grey toned Shaker-style kitchen design and the yard extension.
The Master Bedroom features a low built-in headboard with hidden lighting in the joinery, which casts a soft warm glow on the warm-tinged grey feature wall behind the bed. It comes with two bedside tables, floating, to give a sense of lightness in the space. The original layout plan of the Master Bedroom has a hallway just before going into the Master Ensuite, indicated for wardrobe and changing area. Therefore, we decided to dedicate the area for Her, with a long stretch of wardrobe space and a glamorous Hollywood-style floating vanity table because every woman deserves to feel like a queen.
The slightly smaller full-height wardrobe is dedicated for Him, and is located next to the bed. The wardrobe door panels and headboard panels are in the same shiplap style to match the modern farmhouse element at the common space on the ground floor. The wardrobe doors are embellished with long gleaming gold pull handles for a little hint of luxurious charm.
The original layout plan of the Master Ensuite has a narrow space with skylight, which was perhaps, a greenery space of some sort. Unlike most house units in Malaysia, this Master Ensuite does not have a shower space. Instead, the shower space is integrated with a bathtub. Since our clients wish to have their own shower space, a new tiled wall is erected behind the polycarbonate panel façade and it transforms the space into a new shower area.
The little daughter’s bedroom has seen the most bright and cheerful transformation of all. Classy and elegant rainbow murals in subtle ombre shades of red and pink adorn the walls. The walls are painted half blush pink and half neutral off-white. A bespoke wall-mounted photo ledge sits at the borderline of the two-toned wall to provide a place for the daughter’s creative artwork and special photo moments.
The headboard features curved padded cushions in soft blush toned fabric to blend with the blush tone on the wall. The full-height wardrobe with mirrored doors features a special little detail: a set of bespoke curved pull handles that resemble the arch of a rainbow. It has a void on lower compartment for easy access storage to her favorite soft toys. The study desk by the window is a bespoke free-standing desk. It is necessary to make the desk a free-standing item because the window is the only access for AC compressor unit maintenance. The bespoke Roman blinds with satin edging at the window is an elegant touch to the space.
It is important for our clients that we provide a safe space that their daughter can relate to- she is in transition to sleep on her own. However, it is also important that the general design and mood of the room is not too nursery-like. It needs to be flexible to grow along a growing child.
The bedroom near the staircase is turned into a guest room when our clients’ parents come for overnight stay. A floating vanity table is provided to hold daily skincare items, and there is ample voided space underneath it for the guests to arrange their luggage neatly.
One of the best ways to optimize little window nook of a bedroom like this one is to provide a bench seating for leisure reading or for just taking a little rest while waiting for the next prayer time. The bespoke Roman blinds with satin fabric edging gives that modern English edge to the otherwise simple bedroom.
Existing Site Photos
Site Progress Photos
Hana Suhaimi Interior Design
© 2022