5 Out-of-the-box Décor Ideas To Brighten Up Your HDB Apartment

We are sure you are also a witness of the plentiful social media posts of your friends getting their first BTO. With most of your clan moving into a HDB apartment that looks very similar to each other, how do you plan to make yours stand out innovatively?

Interior design involves many key elements that you can play around with but some of these are quite rigid as you cannot change them for the next year or so once you have decided during your renovation. This includes the colour of your walls and the main structure of your apartment. But there are some elements that you can freely play around with even after picking out a set at your first go. One such crucial element is the lighting of your apartment.

How much difference can lighting make?

You would be surprised if you did a Google search for the answer to that question! Similar to colours and structures of your walls, lighting too makes a huge difference to how your space looks. It has the power to make a small space look big and vice versa, and it also definitely makes the dark corners in your house noticeable.

Here are some interesting and less mainstream tips for you to test out on your BTO to impress your family and friends!

1) Pendent lamps for the hipster lovers

Fan of the old-schooled vintage look? You might have seen hipster cafes having pendent lights (which is basically just a light bulb hanging from the ceiling) but these are often hung in singles or doubles. Take the look further and give it an industrial touch by having pendent lights that hang in a row with black piping to support their wiring. This is a look that will definitely contrast well against minimalistic, white walls in your apartment.

2) Not a fan of bright lights?

Instead of switching white lights to warm yellow lights to soothe your eyes, why not try this nifty trick? In cosy, intimate areas of your apartment like your bedroom or bathroom, try placing a warm yellow light behind a frosted glass panel to give a soft glow to the room. It lights up the space, doesn’t hurt your eye in the middle of the night, and feels cosy enough to be comfortable! You can get a few of them to form rows of panels and light up the top of your bed’s headboard as a cool interior designing hack!

3) Create your own light structure

Nowadays it is easy to find resources to create your own light-pieces at home. Innovate and let those creative juices flow with your ideas! One tip we would suggest you to try is to experiment with different bulb sizes. It is easy to find different light sources of different shapes and sizes, why not arrange them together in a funky way to create your own centrepiece? Best part is that this does not have to be a permanent piece! You can always dismantle it and keep making changes to it until you are happy with the final product.

4) Heard of cove lighting?

Our HDBs are perfect for this type of lighting that most of us have not even heard of! With nicely lined cornices, walls and walkways defining sections of our HDB apartment, cove lights are perfect to highlight and define these structures. Cove lights are glowing strips of light which radiate from the edge or the bottom of cornices or walkway-defining ceilings. Of course, get a warm colour like yellow or orange as your pick while setting up your cove lights for a mild, subtle but radiant glow! You can even get funky with light strips that change colour with a remote, so you can turn the groove on when it’s a fun night in!

5) What is better than fairy lights?

Fairy lights are a very economical but sweet solution to bring warmth to your home immediately. There is absolutely no one who doesn’t get their eyes stuck looking at these little firefly-like bubbles. You can line them with your furniture, windows, cornices, or even in your balcony! For an all-year display, we advise you to get the ones which are coloured in warm white, so it doesn’t look too festive-like all the time.

These five ideas are quick to do, can be DIY and really fun options to experiment with this mid year holidays. Get your family involved to set them up and we hope it does light up your life at home!