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EMERALD HILL SHOWCASE
53
June14
E
merald Hill. Even the name
has an aesthetic ring to it, and
the prospect of having a nose
around a shophouse tenanted
by interior designer Elizabeth and her
fiancé Timmeans expectations are high.
From the outside, their home exudes
all the typical attributes of a beautiful
shophouse. Inside is an interesting mix
of classic British and European furniture,
combined with Elizabeth’s boho-chic,
and some eye-catching patterns and
pops of colour from the soft furnishings
and reupholstered furniture.
Elizabeth and Tim arrived from the
UK in April 2013, and stayed at the
Park Royal serviced accommodation on
Beach Road while hunting for a place
to live. They first looked at apartments,
but after visiting her friend Millie Heath’s
house on Killiney Road, Elizabeth’s heart
was set on a house.
“I can see why people would want
to be in an apartment, but I couldn’t
stand being on a high floor. We don’t
particularly miss the amenities, such as
a swimming pool; but we are becoming
members of the Tanglin Club – more
for when friends and families visit than
for ourselves.”
When they first saw the two-bedroom
home on Emerald Hill, it hadn’t been
lived in for almost a year. “It looked so
depressing; there were piles of leaves
in a corner, and for people who don’t
have much vision it would have been a
‘no’.” But the couple saw promise and
made an offer.
Walls having been given a lick of paint,
and the floors cleaned, they moved in
with their belongings, including furniture
mostly brought over from the UK. “We
purchased a number of pieces from
Lots Road Auctions in Chelsea, London.
I do find it a lot harder to track down
unusual furniture and antiques here,”
Elizabeth says, although she does
mention Hock Siong and Aphorism as
preferred haunts.
Business in Design
At the same time as moving, Elizabeth
was also job-hunting. Having come
from a senior designer position at Veere
Grenney Associates in London, she was
of course keen to continue her career
in Singapore.
“I was worried about having nothing
to do, so I had various interviews with
interior designers when we first came
for a recce. Tim and I aren’t married, so
I had to get a work pass, and was eager
to find something as soon as possible.”
After meeting designer and stylist
Chlöe Elkerton in Singapore, Elizabeth
bumped into her again at a series of
design fairs on a visit back to London.
It wasn’t long before the idea for E & A
Interiors was conceived, and the two
women became business partners.The
company now has a studio on Kim Yam
Road, a 15-minute walk from Elizabeth’s
home. It carries a wide range of soft
furnishings from a range of designers,
and offers services from re-upholstery,
curtains and other soft furnishings, up to
full project management. Its numerous
fabric and wallpaper brands include
Peter Dunham, Gwyneth Paltrow’s “go
to” fabric designer, and the new head
of Oscar de la Renta Home, Carolina
Irving.
Rules of Engagement
Having never actually lived together in
the UK, Elizabeth and Tim’s move to
Singapore signalledmore than the typical
kind of adventure for expats. Things
have obviously worked out well, as Tim
proposed on a visit to Elizabeth’s family
home in Kenya in November last year.
“We were staying at my granny’s place
on the coast, which is my favourite spot
on earth. There’s no electricity, and at
the end of the week there was a full
moon, which literally lights up the place.
That’s when he proposed.”
So, after a successful first year in
Singapore, what’s on the horizon? More
home improvements, by the sound of it.
“I’m never really finished with my own
home,” says Elizabeth, “and when new
fabrics come in I have more ideas about
what to change next.”
ELIZABETH ACLAND, one half of interior design-duo E & A Interiors,
invites me into her Emerald Hill shophouse to talk expat moves,
design passions and why her home will never quite be “done”.
I love fabrics and colours,
combining them and putting them
together. I love the variety of working
on different projects; it’s so boring if
you just regurgitate the same
things again and again.