When one thinks of the Regency look, they think of shows like Pride and Prejudice, or perhaps even Bridgerton, with their stately English homes. But this 4-room BTO, right here in Singapore, has been done up to look like it’s been plucked from early 19th century England, transformed into a wonderfully elegant, Regency-style HDB flat.
Renovated 2 to 3 years ago, this project by Three Haus Works would have cost around $80K in today’s market, due to the precision and careful work required to accomplish an interior that simply oozes with character. From the plentiful wainscotting, the bold colours, and a small, well-curated selection of tastefully placed furniture, you can almost live out an academia-style fantasy within this space.
Coffered ceilings & half-panelled walls create visual space
Image credit: Three Haus Works
Stepping into this home, you are greeted with a distinctively posh atmosphere, much like a toned-down version of Daphne and Simon’s residence in Bridgerton. The furniture is equally refined, with an understated leather couch, soft felt ottoman, TV console with its rattan doors and gold-knobbed feet, and a quilted rug to make the space feel homey, rather than stiff and uninviting.
The TV console in particular is noteworthy, done in a dark teal to complement the forest green half walls. The dark colour of the walls also certainly stands in contrast to the white, wainscotted lower half, creating the illusion of elegant height.
With its design nodding to monuments of our colonial past, one of the highlights in this living room would have to be the coffered ceiling.
The “chocolate ceiling” pattern of the coffering adds texture and a classy touch to the flat, and also has the ancillary effect of making the living room look visually taller.
Image credit: Three Haus Works
As you might have already guessed, one of the most expensive parts of this renovation is due to the huge amount of carpentry involved. But beyond the wainscotting, chair rails, and the herringbone parquet, the most expensive item would have to be the large, built-in shaker-style cabinetry by the entrance, with its panelled doors and gold handles.
The picture collage above the sofa helps to tie all the visual elements together to give a warm, lived-in quality to the home.
A seamlessly connected kitchen & dining area
Image credit: Three Haus Works
One noteworthy element of this Regency-style HDB renovation is how the kitchen and dining room are connected to each other. Whilst there is definitely a partition separating the two, it is all done in black-framed glass so as to make the overall area seem more spacious, and help create a sense of interconnectedness between the two rooms.
The marble slab dining table adds elegance in its simplicity, with its clean-cut lines and faint grey veins running through the white stone.
Image credit: Three Haus Works
Although contemporary in design, the chairs and light fixtures both tie in with the clean lines and colours that lend regality to the overall look, allowing the strong green walls to anchor the design. Both feature elements of polished metal that add a touch of refinement to the setting.
Image credit: Three Haus Works
In the kitchen, they went with a bold, Prussian blue, a striking contrast to the greens in the rest of the house, with ornate touches of gold in the flower-shaped handles on the panelled cabinets.
The use of marble, such as against the backsplash and on the countertops, provides that connectivity between the dining and kitchen spaces; the running use of white connects the kitchen to the rest of the rest of the home as well.
Here in the kitchen, there’s a small accent wall of circular pattern tiles, creating a pleasant contrast to the otherwise sleek and minimalist visuals, and almost seems to be a subtle nod to the black-and-white homes of colonial Singapore.
Potter-worthy reading nook in the dressing room
Image credit: Three Haus Works
In a way not unlike the Slytherin-inspired HDB flat we featured a while ago, the dressing room-slash-library almost looks almost like a dorm room in an upper-class British boarding school. The white of the common areas is abandoned in favour of painting the entire room dark green for a more intimate, decidedly erudite feel.
Simply dripping with academia aesthetic, gold is employed more extensively here in the form of a framed mirror, handles for the drawers, the light fixtures and even the warm lighting they give off. Black, on the other hand, lends gravitas to the cosy space.
A calming, restful blue bedroom with an opulent en-suite
Image credit: Three Haus Works
This bedroom breaks away from the dramatic, darker colours found in the rest of the home, instead opting for calming, yet no less bold, Bahama blue that’s calmer. The birchwood headboard helps visually separate the bed from the walls, and also creates a homely, down-to-earth sense of comfort that’s conducive for rest.
The panelling on the headboard, shaker cabinets and coved ceiling all help to keep it in line with the overall design theme.
Image credit: Three Haus Works
Again, this room subscribes to Regency-style decoration principles, with large swathes of white preventing the blue from overpowering the space, and gilded touches in the form of wall-mounted bedside lamps and door handles.
Image credit: Three Haus Works
The bathroom itself is just as aesthetic, though it goes strong with larger patterned tiles on the floor and lower half of the walls, and black marble on top. The gold-framed mirror here is beautifully juxtaposed against the sea of black marble, instilling a sense of opulence to this WC that’s then dialled down by the simpler, country-style vanity stand.
An $80K modern Regency-style BTO renovation
One of the fascinating aspects of period design styles is the versatility they have, from stunning maximalism that covers the home with marble and detail to going for a more subtle route and capturing the understated style of colonial chic in a HDB. For Three Haus Works, being bold is always fun and welcome, so long as you strike a balance between fashion and timelessness.
Perhaps you too can afford to look into adding wainscotting and other aspects of this design theme when you go about your next home renovation.
For more design inspo:
- This Zakka HDB flat looks like a Studio Ghibli cottage
- A hotel-worthy loft condo reno
- An interior photographer’s practical $85K HDB reno
Cover image adapted from: Three Haus Works
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