Retro Rock

When Ping Tay appointed interior designer Mikael Teh of Monocot Studio to design her apartment near Little India, she presented him with a 30-page brief, detailing the colours, materials and fittings that she wanted, right down to meticulous hand-drawn illustrations.

More used to homeowners armed with a few magazine clippings, such details took Mr Teh by surprise, but we needed it as we were working on the project in two different countries.''

This was about two years ago, when Ms Tay was still living in Sydney with her longtime boyfriend. The couple had been living there for 14 years, and were in the midst of returning to Singapore to be closer to his elderly parents.

''I was dictating the project from many miles away,'' says Ms Tay, a former chef and film producer. Client and designer would communicate over email and WhatsApp, and eventually met up when the couple moved back to Singapore.

Ms Tay says, ''Since we have lived on our own for over a decade, Kevin and I knew exactly how we wanted our home in Singapore to be.''

Before moving to Sydney, the couple often dated around Little India, so buying a home in that area was a sentimental choice. ''The apartment we liked was quaint, but didn't suit our lifestyle,'' says Ms Tay. It was dark, with too many walls that Ms Tay wanted to tear down.

With just the couple living in the 69 sq m apartment, they only needed one bedroom, which was previously two smaller rooms. A row of wooden cabinets run along the length of the bedroom, with a built-in table attached at the end, where Ms Tay does her sewing.

To visitors, the table looks like any other, but Ms Tay shares that it is built at a precise 76cm high. ''The table is the same height as my old sewing bench in Sydney. A lot of the bespoke built-in furniture in the apartment have dimensions specified by me, based on what has worked for us for so many years in Sydney,'' says the self-confessed ''reno-zilla''.

Instead of a solid wall separating the bedroom and the living room, Ms Tay opted for sliding safety glass windows. ''This way, the light from the bedroom can spill into the living room,'' she says.

In the latter, a series of shelves have been installed on the walls, to display the couple's collection of books, pre-loved toys and mementos from their time in Sydney. True to her need for precision, they are also placed at specific heights.

Ms Tay's love for the industrial look comes across in her choice of materials. For example, the floor is cement, picked for its low maintenance, and ''it is cool for the tropics,'' she says. In the master bathroom, she specified DTILE tile-system for its high versatility. Some of the plain white tiles come with built-in towel hangers and toilet paper holders.

Having worked in professional kitchens for more than 10 years, Ms Tay was used to having a stainless steel kitchen, and naturally wanted one in her home.

The certified pastry chef insisted that the layout of her kitchen in Singapore be similar to what she had in Sydney, which means that the fridge, stove, and dishwater have to be in specific spots. She also brought back a kitchen island which she uses for baking.

The couple's home is largely filled with furniture that are preloved. ''We like them because they don't make things like they used to,'' says Ms Tay. ''Besides their timeless design, one big reason why we love old things is the quality of materials used and workmanship.''

Most of their furniture and lamps were made in the 1950s and 1960s which they picked up from flea markets, second hand stores and sometimes even off the streets when homeowners threw things out.

''I miss that about Sydney, where it was easy to find secondhand items,'' says Ms Tay. She also misses her friends in Sydney, the food and also her old home. ''Living in Singapore is definitely not the same, but thankfully, the apartment has a similar feel with plenty of natural light coming in.''

Despite the challenges of having a client overseas, Mr Teh says that designing this home was an enjoyable project. ''We both understand each other quite well even without meeting. And we always come to an agreement relatively quickly.''