The result of a beautiful marriage between Yummy Bros co-founder Gerald’s stylistic boldness and his wife’s minimalist, practical sensibilities; this home is sleek, with accents of gold and rich texture tastefully incorporated into it. Beyond the visual makeover, this home has also received a dramatic change in layout so as to accommodate the lifestyles of the two.
If you love the gold-and-black aesthetic but don’t want to make your home look like an ostentatious presidential suite, this $115K HDB luxury HDB reno is one for the mood board.
Open-concept living spaces planned for hosting
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
The minimalist style meant plenty of open space, which Gerald leveraged when designing the living and dining areas. As folks who like to have friends over often, he and his wife made sure that there was plenty of real estate available between the dining table and the sofa set for them to mingle during parties.
As a practical decision, all the surfaces here are done with laminate instead of more expensive solutions like natural stone or ceramic. This kept the reno cost down whilst allowing them to enjoy the textures the treatments provide. In fact, the only parts of the home that do not feature laminate surfaces are the bathrooms and the kitchen.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
The lattice glass panels for the walls of Gerald’s office study open it up to the living room, so that he’s still able to interact with peeps in the living room whenever he needs to get some work done.
Gerald’s cat, Boy, is a frequent visitor during office hours.
Another eye-catching feature was definitely the impressive wooden double barn door that leads to the bedroom. More on that later.
Stylish and fully functional home office
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
Exuding both masculine authority and relaxed whimsy, this office study certainly embodies the work-hard, play-hard lifestyle. Being Gerald’s personal office, he’s installed an LED signage company’s logo behind the office chair, no doubt as a statement piece for those Zoom meetings.
The mixed wood and stone surfaces on the table provide valuable contrast to the minimalist palette, with small touches of refinement.
A before and after picture of Gerald Tan’s home. Note the hacking down of the walls in red and creation of a partition in blue.
Image credit: @underratedxstudio
If you thought that Gerald’s HDB layout does not look traditional, you’d be right: quite a few walls were hacked and the rooms were repurposed to suit their own needs. For the office study, this was done to make space for the lattice glass wall.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
Gerald largely kept to the minimalist theme that his wife wanted, but not without adding a few choice pieces of decor. Here, he expresses his fun side with a cheeky little statuette of a French pitbull, a gold tray and a sophisticated-looking whiskey glass holder.
Living room balcony transformed into bedroom
The bedroom is actually located in what used to be the balcony side of the living room. The bedroom comes with sheer curtains for privacy and blackout curtains that make the place pitch black, making the place really conducive for sleep.
The reason for the unconventional location and layout of the home is due to the busy careers that Gerald and his wife lead as well as their different work schedules. This room, along with the walk-in wardrobe located in the original master suite, allows them to prepare for the day without disturbing each other’s rest time.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
The impressive-looking double barn doors that we saw earlier was a deliberate move by the couple. When they realised that the bedroom now essentially faced the front door, Gerald and his wife decided to create a visually appealing centrepiece that greets guests when they enter the home.
All in all, they spent about $3-4K installing these alongside two other barn doors in the home.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
There is also a cute little door for their cat, which is custom-made in beautifully-grained wood to mimic the style of the barn door.
Converting the master bedroom into a walk-in wardrobe
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
Jokingly referring to themselves as “rather vain”, both Gerald and his wife are big on ensuring they are properly prepared before they head to work, so the entirety of the master bedroom was converted into a walk-in wardrobe. With the strip lighting and the heavily marbled textures, it almost feels like the display area for a high-end perfume brand.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
Besides the clothes, scents and other accoutrements that help to prepare for the day, this is also where Gerald displays his achievements in life, as well as his collection of expensive watches. Surprisingly, despite the amount of built-ins here, this walk-in wardrobe reno only cost $10K.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
The dark theme of the bathroom along with the help of amber strip lights gives it a luxurious vibe, and we could see it being the backdrop of a Chanel No. 5-type commercial.
Gorgeous dark palette kitchen
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
The dark stone finish helps create a continuity with the flooring, whilst the wood laminate softens the otherwise cold look with a warm, earthy finish. Like the other parts of the home, gold accents line the slits between the drawers to help elevate the kitchen space into luxury. Charming little trinkets adorn the area too, such as the masculine chain wine holder.
Gerald’s wife confesses that this is her favourite part of the home. She often spends her mornings having coffee and indulging in the calming atmosphere in the kitchen.
Image credit: @Mr.GeraldTan
To keep in line with the dark theme of the home, all of the appliances sourced for the home are black, from the kitchenware to even the air conditioners around the apartment. A good deal of money was spent accomplishing this whilst also ensuring that the appliances were both aesthetically pleasing and high quality.
That said, the nano sink was ordered from Taobao, along with the Steigen lookalike. In fact, almost all the furniture and low-tech fixtures such as lighting were sourced from the Chinese e-commerce site, with only the high-tech stuff being bought locally. All in all, it meant that equipping the HDB with fixtures only set Gerald back by $6-7K.
Gerald Tan’s $120K luxe HDB reno
Gerald shared the importance of communicating, both with the designer as well as other sources, so that you can gather as much information as you can when planning your renovation. His initial budget was originally $90K, but with the amount of additional ideas that they wanted, that quickly snowballed to $115K.
Whilst it is an exorbitant amount for many, those aspiring to have the same blend of design and practicality can take a leaf from Gerald’s luxury HDB reno for their own future plans.
Read more articles here:
- Inside The HDB Maisonette Of A Singapore Doll Maker
- This HDB Flat Is An Industrial Man Cave For Dystopian Lovers
- How A Bachelor Reconfigured His 2-Room BTO Flat Into A Lego Gallery
Photography by Nicole Ang.
Drop us your email so you won't miss the latest news.
