This Apartment Features A Chic Neutral Palette and Pretty Bookshelves

In improving their home, the owners wanted a fresh look that’s modern and refined, with their impressive furniture and art collection as the focal point. They have a selection of well-loved redwood furniture and framed works of art that already had assigned places on the walls. Since they enjoy entertaining and being part of a film club, the owners needed space for these two activities, too. Tasked to work on the apartment is Singapore-based interior designer Elliot Barratt, managing director of Elliot James.

Given that the couple lives in an apartment, there were many restrictions on renovation that Elliot had to consider in finalizing the design. “The apartment is at a very prestigious address so working hours were very limited, which hindered our contractors daily. We were very limited with what we could do to the exterior as the balcony areas come with very strict regulations on what can be done to the walls and flooring,” he says.  Elliot’s focus on space planning was balancing efficiency with the owners’ existing collection of arts and artefacts, and well-loved furniture. The renovation didn’t include the kitchen, which can be accessed via sliding doors from the dining area.

“In terms of the layout, we wanted to simplify the number of pieces in the rooms but study the proportions as the spaces could take larger pieces of furniture (as opposed to filling them with more but smaller pieces),” the designer explains.

Living and Dining Areas