S'pore Man Spends RM45K To Turn His Low-Cost Flat Into A Japanese-Themed Home
He carried out an eight-phase plan over four months.
By Timothy Tuan
A Singaporean man who loves Japanese culture recently remodelled his Housing Board (HDB) flat into 'Little Japan'
In fact, Amalyasa loves Japan so much that he visits the country every year.
He shared that it was when he was visiting the country one day that he got the idea of incorporating a Japanese theme in his home back in Sengkang, Singapore.
Amalyasa shared that he spent about SGD15,000 (RM45,000) on purchasing Japanese-styled furniture and decorations online
In an interview with Stomp, he said, "Every furniture was purchased and shipped from other countries, like China and Japan.
"I am living alone, so budget is my top concern. When I see items being sold at high prices locally, I look beyond borders and find ways to bring them in."
He added that even though he could not understand or read Mandarin, he managed to comb for furniture through the Chinese online shopping site, Taobao.
The whole remodelling phase of Amalyasa's flat took four months, during which he intricately laid out a few phases for the make-over
In a Facebook post, the man shared that the whole process of converting his place would consist of eight different phases.
Phase 1 - General Cleaning, Cleansing ritual, Home blessing
Phase 2 - (Little Kawaguchiko) Japanese Master bedroom with sunset panels
Phase 3 - (Little Tokyo) Entertainment glass room and Japanese blinds, (Little Sapporo) Kitchen
Phase 4 - (Little Kyoto) Japanese Platform, tatami mat, calligraphy and Japanese partition
Phase 5 - (Little Osaka) Dining under Japanese lanterns, wall altar with another calligraphy + bamboo waterfall + Shimpaku bonsai
Phase 6 - (Little Fuji) Japanese Hanging Gardens outside the house
Phase 7 - (Little Arashiyama) Japanese-inspired bamboo forest in the toilets
Phase 8 - Secret! To be revealed!
He started with a home blessing before he framed up Japanese art pieces in the master bedroom
He then continued on to the next phase in which he installed Japanese-styled blinds in his living area while also laying out a table, cushions and a tatami mat
In the fourth phase, Amalyasa began to face challenges when it came to installing a platform for his living area
"This 3-metre by 3-metre platform arrived as nine big packages but only six was successfully delivered to my doorstep. The remaining three couldn't enter the lift so they were left downstairs.
"I rushed home while fearing that someone could've removed or tampered with it and upon seeing the packages, I almost fainted," he said, adding that he had to ask his friends for help to carry the platform up 14 floors on their own.
"By the time everything was in my house, it was already 11pm. But the drive and desire to see the end product was there, so we spent another five hours to fix the platform together. We were so motivated to make it happen that we all forgot to change out of our office wear," he said according to Stomp.
Despite the little hiccup he had, the journey to convert his low-cost place into a Japanese-themed home was a fruitful one for Amalyasa
