Yishun, 3-room BTO.

The owner is in her early thirties, works in publishing, lives alone. She didn't want to spend her weekends maintaining the house, and she didn't want anything that demanded a particular life from her. The brief was deliberately small: a calm shell, a generous kitchen, a long sofa, and a wall for books.

We kept the original 3-room layout intact — no hacking, no statement walls — and put the budget into surfaces and storage. Painted ply carpentry in cream, terrazzo-pattern vinyl through the living and kitchen, and a single oak shelf running the length of the longest wall.

A practical Essential-tier project. No upgrades, no theatre. The kitchen is the only space with anything close to "feature" treatment: a deep enamel sink, a single brass tap, and a butcher-block stretch by the window for early-morning light.