In the living area, previously a common room, the electric recliner sofa is from Bless Brothers; the rug, curtains, window mesh screens and decor are from Taobao; while the TV console is custom carpentry. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
A colourful geometric rug, dusky moss-green sofa, and wood finishes in warm teak and walnut tones lend personality to Mia and her husband Dalton’s four-room HDB flat in Bidadari.
The walls in the living and dining areas have a soft limewash paint finish, providing a subtly textured backdrop for the couple’s furnishings and decorative pieces. Shelves throughout the home display wedding photographs, travel souvenirs, playful ornaments and collectibles.
In the dining area, a cream-coloured sintered stone table is paired with two rattan-backed wooden chairs with contrasting patterned cushions, as well as a rust-orange upholstered bench.
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Mia was “really impressed” with the quality of the sintered-stone dining table, which she bought online for about $1,000. It complements the sideboard (left) and kitchen cabinetry by their interior designer Key Concept. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Mia, a marketing professional, and Dalton, who works in the ading to their strengths
She took charge of the home’s look and feel — from design choices to shopping for furniture and decor. He handled the budget, planning and coordination with their interior designer.
“He’s very practical, so he managed a lot of the logistics, liaising and electrical matters,” Mia says. “I focused on the aesthetics and some of the furniture sourcing.”
The couple spent roughly $5,000 on custom furniture, home furnishings and decor from Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, including their dining set, foyer shoe cabinet, curtains, window insect screens and a wardrobe.
At the same time, they also engaged interior design firm Key Concept for renovation and custom carpentry, while purchasing selected furniture and appliances from local retailers.
The bathroom fittings, mostly from retailers in Singapore, match Key Concept’s interior design, which has a mid-century modern flair. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Altogether, the couple estimates they have forked out around $120,000 on renovation, furniture, appliances and decor. They continue to furnish and decorate the space as they settle into the home, picking up new pieces that catch their eye.
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The couple collected the keys to their Sale of Balance Flat in July 2025. After a hectic few months of renovation and furnishing, they moved in shortly before Christmas that year.
In the entryway, the standing mirror and pegboard (left) and the rattan shoe cabinet (right) from Taobao cost roughly $100 in total. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Splash of colour and character
When planning the interiors, Mia and Dalton initially considered a Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic, but she found the style too plain and understated for her liking.
“Also, we are quite messy people, so we’d rather have a darker, higher-contrast concept with more colour to make it less obvious if there’s a bit of mess here and there,” Mia says.
“Whereas if you have a minimalist house, everything is very white [and stark]. So if you don’t always keep things clean and tidy, it will look very [jarring].”
Mia’s built-in wardrobe in the master bedroom. She meticulously planned and drew out every compartment in the wardrobe with exact dimensions for the carpenters. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
She thus went on to explore mid-century modern design, taking inspiration from its warm wood tones, distinctive furniture silhouettes and use of colour.
The resulting interiors feature a mix of design influences, with bold patterns, earthy tones and personal collections giving the home a more expressive feel.
An assortment of wedding photos, travel souvenirs, collectibles and other knick knacks are displayed on recessed and wall-mounted shelves. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
“Of course, it could do with way more mid-century modern elements through the decor, touches and accents. But I’m not a big designer, and I think it will just end up looking too pretentious,” she quips.
“We also want to retain what makes us, us. Over the years we’ve collected many things. Displaying them adds a little bit of flavour, we hope, and showcases our hobbies. If not, it would be a waste to just stow them away.”
The original living area now serves as a study and entertainment room. It also displays most of their anime figurines and plush toys, and can be converted for other uses in the future. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
An avid anime fan, Mia has amassed an array of figurines and plush toys, many obtained from playing ichiban kuji, a Japanese lottery where every ticket guarantees a reward. Dalton also has Ultraman and Gundam figurines, and the couple share an interest in Pokémon and Digimon.
Their collections are displayed on open shelves and in glass cabinets, mainly in the entertainment and study room, together with souvenirs purchased during vacations.
They opted to buy the display cabinets from Singapore, as they did not want to risk the glass breaking or cracking during overseas shipping. (Photo: EdgeProp Singapore)
Open-concept living, flexibility and feng shui
The couple’s decision to create a dedicated entertainment and study room was part of a larger reconfiguration of the flat’s original layout.
They relocated the living area to what was originally a common room, and removed a wall to connect it with the kitchen and dining space for an open concept.
The former living room — located directly in front of the main entrance — was then enclosed with black-framed glass doors to serve as an entertainment and study room, complete with two workstations and glass display cabinets.
Dalton says they each had to compromise slightly on the layout, as Mia wanted the flat to look as spacious as possible by hacking the walls of the living room and common room, while he wanted to future-proof the home.
“If we had torn down the common room immediately [to create a large open living area], we may lack a dedicated space for kids or pets in the future,” he notes.
“So, we decided to swap them around and retain the original living room as the ‘fun room’ or entertainment room. That way, it can still be converted into a kid’s room or whatever we might need, moving forward.”
Meanwhile, the remaining common room is now Dalton’s dressing room, where he has placed his wardrobe and gets ready each day. Mia has her own wardrobe in the master bedroom.
Dalton and his father spent about 4.5 hours assembling his wardrobe from Taobao. It cost around $385, before including an estimated $115 in shipping given its weight. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Feng shui considerations also influenced some of the couple’s decisions, including the home’s layout, furniture placement, bed orientation and certain design features to align with both Mia’s and Dalton’s ba zi (Chinese astrological birth charts).
For example, Mia initially wanted arched, French-style doors for the entertainment room, but the feng shui master advised against it as the door’s silhouette would resemble a tombstone and be inauspicious. She eventually went with a rectangular design instead.
“We tried our best to accommodate everyone as much as possible,” Dalton says of reconciling their design preferences with feng shui recommendations.
Online shopping on Taobao with some trial and error
A Taobao user for more than a decade, Mia was already familiar with the platform when she began sourcing items for their home.
She placed her orders with various merchants in November 2025, with everything arriving roughly a month later, just in time for their move.
Her purchases included the dining table which cost approximately $1,000, chairs at around $150 each and a bench for $100,ping, mainly through sea freight
Dalton also bought five sets of retractable mesh window screens for less than $500, including the air freight fee.
Mia and Dalton in the kitchen and dining area. Contrasting patterns and dashes of colour brighten the space when paired with warm wood tones and neutral hues. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
The dining chairs were among Mia’s last purchases, as the sheer variety of designs available made it difficult to settle on a choice.
“I was really particular. Many designs didn’t sit quite right with me,” she says.
“But the beauty of it is you don’t have to rush to buy something. Just give Taobao’s algorithm a while to refine its suggestions based on your searches, browsing activity and saved products.”
She sometimes took a week or two away from the platform before returning to explore new recommendations. The moment she spotted the listing for the dining chairs, she knew instantly it was what she wanted.
During a furniture-shopping trip to Johor Bahru, she also spotted a bench she liked, but the colour options were limited.
Using Taobao’s image-search function, she found similar designs of the bench in a wider range of upholstery materials and colours, eventually choosing the rust-orange version.
Mia recommends image search to shoppers unfamiliar with Chinese keywords, as English searches tend to yield fewer results.
“Our neighbours, a Malay couple, bought their sofa and other furniture from Taobao too, by using Google Translate,” she adds.
“I would also advise my non-Chinese friends to use image search. The algorithm will then keep pushing to you listings that you might like.”
The master bedroom. They spent about $900 on four sets of custom day and night curtains for the flat. Mia also prepared a PowerPoint deck for the Taobao curtain merchant, with precise measurements, specifications and photos. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
That said, Mia and Dalton encountered a few hiccups with their Taobao purchases, especially when it came to measurements.
The insect screens protruded slightly farther than expected, which left insufficient clearance for blinds they had planned to install. As a result, the blinds they had bought could not be used.
Their shoe cabinet turned out to be shallower than intended, limiting its storage capacity, and Dalton’s wardrobe could have been a tad wider to make full use of the space.
“There will always be some trial and error when shopping online, but this is still affordable. You definitely will make some mistakes here and there,” Mia says. “Overall, I’d still rate our Taobao purchases nine out of 10.”
The coffee bar on the sideboard. A ‘wabi-sabi’ aesthetic — which prioritises minimalist styling, muted colour palettes and tranquility — was initially on the cards, but Mia found the renderings too understated. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Local finds and bespoke carpentry
The couple were also selective about buying certain furniture and fittings locally, including their $3,300 sofa from Singapore retailer Bless Brothers.
They were drawn to the sofa’s colour and design, which included adjustable headrests. Its dimensions also suited the reconfigured living area, which was narrower than the original living room.
Although they explored options in Malaysia and on Taobao, Dalton says the specific moss-green colour they had in mind and being able to assess the sofa’s comfort in person were key deciding factors.
“Many of our friends had ordered from Taobao too, so we actually went to their homes to sit on and try out their sofas,” he adds. “But for us, this sofa was very tricky [to select] mainly because of the colour.”
The three-seater electric recliner sofa from Bless Brothers came with adjustable headrests, per their interior designer’s recommendation to better suit the home’s aesthetic. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
The couple also purchased their glass display cabinets locally to avoid the risk of damaging the glass during shipping. Likewise, their bathroom basin and vanity cabinet came from another retailer in Singapore.
Meanwhile, other built-in fixtures — including the kitchen cabinets, TV console, Mia’s wardrobe in the master bedroom, and the cupboards at the foyer — were made by Key Concept’s carpenters.
“For the main fixtures, we left it to carpentry because our interior designer had already integrated them into the overall design,” Dalton says.
“We want to show a little bit of ourselves in the home as well,” says Mia, adding that this hopefully brings more “flavour”. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
Although the couple are happy with how their home has turned out, they have a few minor regrets.
Mia wishes they had chosen darker wood-toned vinyl flooring for the rooms to better match the tiles in the living, dining and entertainment areas. Dalton would have liked to add stile-and-rail detailing on the kitchen cabinets, although he acknowledges that it would have increased costs.
Nonetheless, both identify the living room as their favourite space.
“Every time I come back home, I just ‘nua‘ [unwind] here,” Mia says. “I watch TV, play my game and even fall asleep here.”
The couple plan to add a coffee table and plants soon to make their home feel cosier and more inviting.
With each new furnishing and decorative piece, they hope to make their home an even more welcoming haven, filled with the things they love.
The couple is looking to gradually add more furnishings, decorative pieces and accents to make their home feel even cosier and more inviting. (Photo: Joshua Ng/EdgeProp Singapore)
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