House Tour-Leonard

Name: Leonard Koh
Location: Central Bedok, Singapore
Square Footage: 97sq
Years Lived in: 1
Rent or own: own
Describe your style: Mid-century Modern Zen
Blog/Website: creatsia.blogspot.com

What's your favorite free/found item?
My Retro Toshiba Toaster from a Salvation Army Thrift Store. With its colors and retro design. I paid only 15 bucks for it, The best part is, it still works! It sits unassumingly on my kitchen counter as a decorative piece.
I don't eat toast.




What's your favorite purchased item?
It will be the dining table. We spend months looking for a dining table until we found this one hidden in the corner of a old furniture shop. It was a import from Holland. Both my wife and I fell in love with it the moment we saw it. The wood adds such a warmth to the home and its able to extend to almost double its length. Which is important to us because we entertain a lot.

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Living in Singapore (which is situated in South East Asia), authentic Mid-century American or Scandinavian furnishing is hard to come by. There are very few thrift stores that carry them as they are not native to our country. And they are usually very expensive because it all has to shipped in.


Choosing this particular style of decorating has been particularly difficult because of this reason. But it is also a plus point because it makes our home quite unique.




Is your design style organic or planned?
A bit of both. I fell head over heeds in love with Mid-century Design halfway through our renovations. By that time most of the Zen-inspired build-in furnishing were already set. So I slowly weaved in the mid-century
furnishing and trimmings, blending it as sensitively as I could. I'm quite happy with the results and it has been a huge fun doing it. I'm not done yet though.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
The Dining Area. Its the hub for the house and everything happens there and its really the main feature of the house, with the mix-match dining set and the gorgeous lamp hanging over head.


How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
I just got started owning a home, so its still evolving. Keeping a balance between modern and mid-century modern to retain its character.

What is your favorite resource or store?
Furnishing is a 4 letter word - 'IKEA". Its every new home owner's savior. The rock on which more expensive and lasting furniture will replace in the near future. I usually mix and match Ikea furnishings with Mid-century finds especially from this place called Lorgan's. Pricey but its probably one of the few mid-century deposits in Singapore.


What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
Nothing in particular comes to mind. Decorating tastes are as diverse as there are humans. We are a product and a produce of our environment.

What has been your favorite design trend?
Mid-Century Modern.


What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
I would say its the relationship between my wife and I. We are very different people- she's a very structured person who loves order and predictability. I'm a designer by profession and love creativity and change. Our home has been a result of a blending of two personalities into a single canvas. Serious lines and corners blending with whimsical curves and colors. In many way, our home is an extension and expression of our lives and our marriage.

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
Color. Because I get bored quite quickly, my wife and I decided to change our color schemes every season. So I get a excuse to get change the deco every so often.


What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
I think simply mixing the chairs for my dining has made quite an impact on our visitors. Mixing has also allowed me to own a diversity of chairs. I absolutely LOVE chairs.

All photos courtesy of homeowner