15
734
Entryway: Blending Retro Glass Bricks with Modern Contemporary Design
HomeBefore & After: from a colourful living area to a minimalist one
housethingsgoing
A frog and a duck living in a 4rm resale flat
Before & After: from a colourful living area to a minimalist one
17
- Minimalist
- HDB (Resale)
- ~900 sqft
- 3 br
- Couple Living
Some people say our living room looks like a vampire... it's very pale and white looking, and sucked a lot of our money. Because we had an incredibly limited budget when we were house hunting (maybe I should have chosen a richer husband hmmmm....) our choices were mostly homes with very minimal renovation and built-ins. The houses we shortlisted were not falling apart, but also not the most aesthetic or beautiful looking places - which we absolutely loved because there were lesser things to tear down, and it didn't make Duck feel as bad about overhauling the whole place. 
So here is a picture of what our living room looked like when we first took over the house - the walls were, yes... pink! The owner of the house also had this TV feature wall on one side, BUT decided to then move his TV to the other side, so we literally had TV mounts sticking out from both sides of the living room. The room was also rather dark as it was lit by only a single fan-light. The owner removed his curtains after moving out, but the curtains were hung from a self-installed Ikea rod right above the window. We know it's self-installed because... we almost wanted to retain the rod, then we realised that it was slanted :p (PS the oranges in the corner were a fengshui thing we did as part of the 'new house' procedures - it makes the photo look a little creepy but rest assured our house is not haunted) Anddd... here's our living room now! It doesn't look like the same room, but it definitely is :) Here are some of the things we removed from the living room 1. Existing feature wall and the TWO TV mounts (This proved to be quite a feat as nobody knew whether removing the feature wall would meant having to take out the wall behind it also - we almost had to go wall-less LOL) 2. Removed the curtain rods 3. Removed the existing vinyl (which was already popping after 5 years and proving to be quite dangerous) And here are some things we did to get the classier, more cohesive look (I hope LOL) we have now! 1. Hid the cables from the TV and wifi-router (more on that in another upcoming post!) 2. Instead of having another feature wall, we simply painted our TV wall in a grey just one shade darker than the rest of the living room to draw attention to the TV area without going overboard 3. Put in new vinyl and repainted the wall in complementary tones of grey-white 4. Added more lighting points! We don't have to use ALL the lights at the same time, but it doesn't hurt to have options. We also 'upgraded' the fan-light to something more sleek-looking and with a brighter/stronger LED light 5. Installed ceiling mounted curtain rails to elongate the room and added day curtains so we get this cosy layered effect. 
The previous owners also didn't have an entryway section - you can literally see the whole living room from the door (as shown in the picture!) But we weren't too keen on having our neighbours/random passerbys seeing us in our worst couch potato states while we watched TV, so we got this fluted glass panel to act as a simple entryway divider. While this means that we are literally 'slicing' up our living room into two sections, having the panel provides a nice transitory space where we can keep our shoes and other 'not so clean' things (e.g. wet umbrellas) before we step into the main areas of our home! We also measured the position of the divider so that we have ample space to squeeze in an extra armchair/sofa/side table in the living room in the event that our needs change in future. That's all for our before-after living area review! We hope you enjoyed the transformation :) PS. the living room was supposed to be minimalist blue-grey until we allowed our entire colony of stuffed toys to migrate onto the sofa, which is why there is a giant orange carrot plushie that does not align with the theme in any way :p
2comments
eelsiuhi love how the fluted glass feature still allows light to pass through 🤩☀️4 days ago- housethingsgoingCreatorAww thank you! Haha I really like fluted glass! would have fluted glass the whole house but that’s too expensive 🥲3 days ago
More similar homes
Featured Posts
See more minimalist posts
9443A warm check-in to the home of beaconstrips
211579Two creatives monkeying around in a tranquil retreat
21705Cosy Neutral & Walnut-Themed Bedroom with a Retro Glass Block Wall
433049Warm Walnut House with SkyLight | 95K Reno 5RM BTO @Loafy.Haus
392960Our Kitchen: An Open-Concept Home Cafe ☕️
291331Working Around a Compact Kitchen with an Extended Dry Pantry
8220Transforming our kitchen with cozy cafe vibes
121137Inside a Coffee Content Creator's Home Cafe : Living Room Edition
14789Living Room’s Centerpiece: Custom Island with Hidden Wine Chiller
661338Bright and airy kids friendly home
312565Bright and airy kids friendly home with lots of curves
