WHEN YOU'VE BEEN living in the same neighbourhood for over 20 years, it's hard to think about moving. So when one family's cosy detached house in Serangoon Gardens started showing its age even as their own needs changed, they decided to rebuild it to their specifications rather than find a new place.

"There was a lot of wear and tear, and with the children growing up, we decided it was time to rebuild the house," says the wife, who runs a construction business with her husband. The latter had lived with his parents and two sisters in this house for more than two decades, but after the sisters moved out after marriage, he now lives with his parents, his wife and their two kids, aged seven and 12.

Top of their design brief was more storage, followed by a better planning of the spaces so as to draw more light into the home.