There’s a common misconception among homeowners that interior design serves a purely aesthetic purpose. While a beautiful arrangement is very important, it forms only the surface level of what a design team can accomplish. Interior design aims to balance numerous elements – space, line, forms, light, colour, texture and pattern to achieve a visually pleasing outcome. At the same time, the interior design team must focus on the quality of life within the realms of the available space and the function they should fulfil for the inhabitants.
The home interior design team from Home Guide work hard to understand the lifestyle and distinctive needs of their clients in both functional and aesthetic terms. Based on these preferences, interior design choices can be made to enhance the inherent assets of a flat
Lifestyle as a Functional Determinant
The way you live will have a pronounced effect on your residential space.
Some people want dynamic apartments that focus on wellbeing, fitness and a good work-life balance. Some want comfort and luxury, no matter how much it costs. Some want a home conducive of many activities and lifestyle choices at the same time.
Very often, lifestyles fall in one of the following categories: the host who loves entertaining people at home, the budding chef, the literature-loving intellectual, the home office entrepreneur and the entertainment lover who has always dreamed of having a home cinema (or a concert hall!).
Through the years, we’ve worked on functional spaces for all of these homeowners.
In the following sections, you’ll discover examples of functional interior design that has been specifically conceptualised to meet the distinctive needs of a certain individual.
Functional Spaces to Enhance Lifestyle
There isn’t a universal approach towards the creation of a functional space at home.
The Home Guide team has partnered with numerous Singaporean home owners through the years. Based on their visions and lifestyle preferences, we have worked on functional home interiors that have very specific and distinctive characteristics.
To give you a better idea about how functional interior design works, we’ve added a couple of project examples based on the lifestyle types mentioned in the previous section.
A Functional Space for Hosting Parties
Ensuring sufficient seating for guests isn’t always easy, especially if you occupy a smaller flat. Luckily, smart interior design can “incorporate” extra seating into a certain home area, turning it into a functional space.
Check out the custom-made bench that spans the entire length of the living room in this 5-room Bishan HDB flat.
Not only does it look super cool and clean, it also doubles as a storage unit. The bench is sufficiently big to hold lots of personal belongings, keeping the space free from clutter and perfectly organised.
On top of that, it adds warmth to the space through the selection of colour and material. Since it doesn’t occupy half of the room, the bench allows for some people to be seated while others walk around, dance or socialise in any other way the host deems appropriate.
The Ultimate Home Library Experience
Are you one of the people who enjoy the scent of printed books? It’s so distinctive and enchanting that a digital alternative will never suffice.
Unfortunately, hosting a large book collection in one’s flat isn’t an easy job. Books require enough space and the right storage conditions to be kept pristine. Just putting your favourite novels in boxes and storing them wherever isn’t going to cut it.
Floor to ceiling shelving is the perfect functional choice for book lovers. After all, the love for literature isn’t just about reading the books. It’s also about treating them with respect and displaying a collection (whether it consists of Shakespearean classics or graphic novels) in the best possible way.
When arranged and displayed in a beautiful way, books can actually become a part of the interior design.
This floor to ceiling shelf unit we created for a Bukit Batok BTO flat is also meant to control some of the adverse conditions bound to damage the books over time. Glass doors are incorporated in the design to keep the delicate pages protected from humidity and temperature changes. At the same time, these are very easy to slide, providing effortless access to some exciting reading material.
The past year has shown the world that standard workplace arrangements have to change. Work from home is now more common than ever before and it will probably continue being the norm in the years to come.
Putting together a functional, dedicated home office is not easy. The challenge is especially difficult to overcome when a flat owner has limited space for the purpose.
Let’s check out the Home Guide vision for a beautiful yet functional workspace within a flat.
For a start, we kept the space as clean and distraction-free as possible. At the same time, we introduced al of the essentials required to complete a work day successfully.
The focus fell on a comfortable desk and chair combination. We decided to position the desk right by the window, giving the occupant as much natural light as possible. To complete the functional space, we added custom cabinetry. As you can probably spot in the pictures, the cabinets are sleek and very streamlined. The lack of handles is intentional – it minimises clutter and gives the office occupant a clean, distraction-free environment for better focus.
Heavenly Culinary Experiences for the Home Chef
Cooking and food preparation aren’t just essential for the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. For many people, gastronomy is a relaxing activity and a passion that they’d like to pursue on a daily basis. Such home owners are obviously in need of a clean and modern kitchen that stimulates all kinds of culinary experiments.
Here’s an example of such a functional space that we put together for this Bukit Batok Central homeowner.
Custom-made cabinets have been designed to utilise enough space that cannot be put to another use and to allow for better and more effective organisation of pans, pots, cutlery and other kitchen essentials. Every home chef knows that pan, pot and plate clutter can ensue easily in the absence of the right organisation tools.
Apart from looking gorgeous, this space is also designed for functional appeal and not just to be pretty. Open concept kitchens are becoming more popular than ever before but they’re not always the best choice. If heavy cooking is taking place at the home, the open kitchen would easily disseminate the scent throughout the home. Having a door to contain odours inside the kitchen is the best choice for cooking enthusiasts and all other flat inhabitants.
For this particular apartment, we didn’t choose a traditional door. A sliding glass panel was incorporated in the kitchen design. Functional, easy to open and to close, it works perfectly well with the clean minimalism of the room.
A Space for the Home Entertainment System Enthusiast
People who love movies, music, games and other forms of interactive entertainment system know just how important the right experience is.
For anyone who is a true movie enthusiast, or an audiophile would want watching movies or listening to their favourite concert in optimal surroundings. This would require the addition of a an entertainment functional zone to the home.
Here’s one such space we created for a client.
The multi-purpose entertainment centre benefits from a motorised projector screen that brings the cinematic experience to the home. Needless to say, this is a lot more than TV set. It’s a choice for actual movie connoisseurs who understand the importance of the right ambiance.
Custom panelling has also been chosen to minimise distraction. It also conceals the storage space behind, once again ensuring a two-in-one solution. Additionally, the panel positions audio and other entertainment systems smartly for an optimal impact on the viewing/listening experience.
What Does the Functional Space of Your Dreams Look Like?
So, what are you looking forward to in your brand new home? Cooking delicious meals and turning yourself into the next Masterchef? Spending quality time with your loved ones, ensuring entertainment like no other host? Being active and working on your fitness?
Whatever your goal is, the Home Guide home interior design company can help you create the perfect functional zone for the purpose. All you have to do is let us in on the vision. The rest is up to us, our imaginative approach and decades of experience in the field of residential interior design.
Contact Home Guide today to start customising and bringing your dream home to the real world.
