Forever a work-in-progress

HAVING spent seven years working in the hotel industry, Charles Yap thought of his favourite hotels when he was doing up his home in Telok Blangah. "You could say I was inspired by the good hotels that I stayed in," he says, where his favourites include the Hilton in Kuala Lumpur and the W hotels in Taipei and New York.

Then, he continues in almost the same breath, "but I was not going for the 'hotel look'."

The media executive for an international TV network merely wanted a place that he could truly call his own. "You can't personalise too much when you live in a rental apartment, but with this apartment, I could put my stamp on it," says Mr Yap of his first home purchase.