Changing SPACES

After several stints of condo living in River Valley, POOJYATA KHATTAR switched things up with a move to a landed house in Singapore's East. She tells us how she approached the bigger space, and what she enjoys about being out of the city centre.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in New Delhi and moved to Singapore 10 years ago for my MBA at INSEAD. My husband-to-be Saurabh had also moved here - from the US- to do his MBA; that's how we met. So, Singapore is special for us.

After our MBAs, we both started working here and continue to do so. We got married in 2016 in Delhi. We have one fur-kid, Bozo, who will turn three next month. Until we moved to this house two years ago, we'd been living in condos, mostly in the River Valley area. We had a preference for slightly newer condos with a fresh and modern feel - bright, less wood, marble flooring.

However, with COVID and Bozo's entry into our life, we found ourselves wanting a bigger, better space, and a place that family could visit more often. So we started looking to the east of the island, and we decided on renting a landed house instead - and it's been great. I work in the payments industry, but I'm strongly passionate about interiors; I jokingly say that had it not been for the payments industry, I would have been an interior designer!

Tell us more about your fabulous house.

As soon as we decided this was the one, I found myself already planning the interiors (two months before our move-in date!). Given we were moving from smaller condo living, I knew we needed to top up some furniture. My go-to place for this was mainly Gamar Furniture (formerly Second Charm). My main goal was for the house to reflect our culture and identity and be a place we could relate to and call home. You’ll see there are subtle reflections of Indian culture combined with a hint of oriental décor – to blend our birth home and our current home.