Biggest 7,000 Sqft Home Extension Tour | Courtyard Interior Design Idea | Space Transformation
“It surprises me every morning when I walk past my garden. I smell beautiful flower fragrance, and it really makes me feel so alive and so fresh in the morning. Sometimes, if the weather is really nice and cooling, we will have our breakfast outside. It’s really nice, with a very nice view as well.”
“My name is Alex Lee and I am from Nu Infinity. Today’s episode on Design Seed, we will be sharing a compelling episode of a major house extension to this property located at Subang Jaya.”
“When we were engaged by the owners to redesign an extension to their existing home, what we had in mind was minor extensions on the side of the property. But for the owners, Mr. & Mrs. Ong, they had an ambitious appetite for bigger plans.”
“This house is an improvement to our previous habitat. After years, we know what we want now. Hence, when we built the new block, we knew what to tell the IDs and contractors.”
“We absolutely love this neighbourhood. It has a very heartwarming community. We leave our doors open for neighbours to walk in to visit and enjoy the open spaces together. They bought the land next to their property and built a new entertainment annex as a new addition to their already spacious home. Can you imagine 7,000 sqft of land dedicated for entertainment purposes?”
“My wife had been eyeing the land beside our existing property, frequently complaining that she needed more space for her gardening. Ultimately, we managed to purchase the land. I’m pretty sure we wanted it to be a balance of everything, and everything that we ever wanted over the years that we’ve realised.”
“Sometimes I love to have my own space, my “me” time. They actually designed a small little space, a place for me to enjoy my tea as well.”
The client’s brief was rather interesting. They wanted an entertainment annex that amplifies the quality of their current family lifestyle. But in the future, the extension annex could be easily converted into their second home. Initially, the architect’s plan was to have the dining area behind the living hall. After some brainstorming within our design team, we decided to relocate the dry kitchen and the dining area.
Now, the dining area connects closer to the swimming pool and outdoor decking, which gives more alternatives of seating areas when a big party is being thrown.
The dry kitchen island enjoys a stretch of storage cabinets with a unique display feature of natural preserved moss right above the appliances. The moss design subtly breaks the monotonous dark walnut carpentry, giving an artful glow of character to the space.
The dry kitchen island enjoys a stretch of storage cabinets with a unique display feature of natural preserved moss right above the appliances. The moss design subtly breaks the monotonous dark walnut carpentry, giving an artful glow of character to the space.
The island design is created to be a conversational piece, crafted as a spacious center console that is cantilevered on one end. The expressive island design allows for drinks, breakfast, or even for work—incorporated with an island basin, making it rather convenient and versatile for all sorts of usage.
Behind the stretch of cabinets is a hidden tea area that leads to a guest powder room. This space is potentially convertible to a secondary kitchen area that could cater for the future of the second home.
“The other fact was also that upstairs, we envisioned in the future, we may turn that into a bedroom. We also allocated a lift as we foresee ourselves getting older, and we may require a lift to bring us up to the upper floor.”
The staircase design is one of the focal highlights of the property. We had a prominent double-volume ceiling with full-height glass that gives an impactful background for our staircase design, and we knew we needed to design something that doesn’t block that glorious view.
With the help of the contractor and engineer, we managed to create a masterpiece. Every step of the staircase is transparent, creating a lighter and floating effect, which complements the view of the landscape.
Moving on to the 2nd floor, the current usage of the space caters for a work studio and home office. The office now overlooks the lush greeneries and swimming pool area. The secondary plan for this space is to be able to convert this 2nd-floor layout into a master suite: building a wall, relocating the study table out to the current foyer, placing the bedhead right in the center, creating a walk-in space for the wardrobe behind.
It is already completed with a double bowl basin and spacious bathroom. The current storage cabinet behind the customised work desk is designed to cater as a wardrobe, and the display shelf on the right end is already allocated for the future dressing table.
Any beautiful home will not be achievable without tasteful and innovative furniture. We often take charge of the choices of furniture, draperies, and even lighting for our clients to ensure the final outcome of the project turns out perfectly wholesome.
The loose furniture in this project is supplied by a local retailer named Ambient Living. Ambient Living is a premium retailer of luxury designer furniture in Malaysia that offers quality and a large variety of tasteful home furniture collections.
To achieve this impressive final outcome of the staircase design, we insisted on using the Siena Walnut solid wood flooring for the entire staircase and upper level. Siena Walnut is a dense and heavy wood, superior to Teak in most strength properties. It produces a highly decorative effect, which is why it is used intensively for furniture and high-class interior joinery for panelling, doors, and staircases.
The solid wood specialist for this project is Lumber Mart. Lumber Mart is also the first Malaysian timber company to be registered as a lifetime member of the National Wood Flooring Association in the United States.
Due to the high ceiling volume, lighting would be a struggle at night. Hence, we tackled the issue by designing a carpentry box-up that houses strip lights spanning across the entire staircase.
The strip light isn’t only for safety purposes, but it gives an enhancing illumination ambiance for the property at night. When we first got the client’s brief, what excited us most was how the owners emphasised the importance of building a new home that opens up to nature. The new annex complements the existing architecture with similar geometry elements that don’t stray too far away from the original structure.
“As the years have gone by and as our lifestyle changed, we became more outdoor people. So we wanted a space that’s outdoor-ish rather than indoor, and it consists of a lot of things that would fit into our lifestyles. You see a pool, you see a park at the corner of the property, ample space for my wife to plant even more beautiful trees and small potted plants.”
From the exterior, the house looks wide and modest, which is expected because it consists of two plots of land. There is no physical entrance to the new annex; hence, the central courtyard would be the main access to the property.
As you enter the central courtyard, the picturesque view of the lush landscape and swimming pool as the foreground would catch you by surprise. You wouldn’t have guessed behind the front façade such a spacious courtyard existed.
The intention was to amplify the quality of spaces towards a new annex that revolves around a modern tropical home.
“My husband and I love to have friends and family coming over, gathering. So one of the criteria that we told our designer—we must have a big space, able to cater a big group of people coming over to our house.”
Unlike the existing home, which had more walls and divided spaces, the existing house was built to feel more inverted and practical. The clients shared their concern that they felt the existing house was very big, yet they didn’t feel like they had enough space for themselves.
The new annex is designed to open up to more views of the surrounding landscape, allow for more natural lighting, emphasise spaciousness, and create a home that did not need to rely on air-condition.
Complemented by a good contrast, the calming presence of the Wasabi Grigio marble flooring supplied by Stone de Art is certainly a delightful background for the entire colour palette of the property. Accentuated by its simplicity and pastel hint of grey, the Wasabi Grigio marble flooring elevates the visual impact of the space, making it opulent and luxurious without being too loud. Stone de Art is also reputable for its exotic range of rare and exclusive stone collections.
Complemented by a good contrast, the calming presence of the Wasabi Grigio marble flooring supplied by Stone de Art is certainly a delightful background for the entire colour palette of the property. Accentuated by its simplicity and pastel hint of grey, the Wasabi Grigio marble flooring elevates the visual impact of the space, making it opulent and luxurious without being too loud. Stone de Art is also reputable for its exotic range of rare and exclusive stone collections.
At Nu Infinity, we have a philosophy we call Altering the Ego of Practicality. In this project, we were inspired by the ratio of the size difference between the existing home and the new extension annex, and we took this into consideration while designing the interior spaces.
Every space has an off-centre proportion in our design for this project. The TV cabinet, the lounge area, the dining backdrop, the island design, and study table are all designed off-centred.
And as a whole, it didn’t turn out irregular or unpleasant. So never restrict yourself in design—everything can be made possible. The beauty of design is that there are no limits.
If you enjoyed this story, don’t forget to check out the top 10 interior design trends from Nu Infinity’s stunning homes here!
Thank you for taking the time to read this Article. Stay tuned for more updates!
