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April15
Two unusually big balconies, one off
the living room, the other off the master
bedroom, seem to “ease you into the
height”, she says, lessening the potential
for high anxiety.
Fiona can walk to her office near
Raffles Place, or into Orchard. Good
restaurants abound at nearby Robertson
Quay, and she says that she loves being
able to pop over the road to the new PS
Café that’s just opened.
Colour
After six years of renting, says Fiona,
she’d had enough of white walls. Moving
into a place of her own was a welcome
opportunity to change all that.
“Having decided I wanted to do
something with colour, I realised that
a novice like me with absolutely no
idea about interior design would need
some help. I came across your
Expat
Living
showcase article on the home
of Elizabeth Acland of E&A Interiors,
so I went along to speak to her and her
partner, Chloe Elkerton.
“They were very pleasant and
amenable – and to my relief, they didn’t
expect me to articulate what I wanted
right off. Instead, they let me browse
through the décor options on their own
website, asking me to ‘like’ the ones
that appealed to me and, if I could, to
tell them why.”
Givens
As is quite usual, the designers had to
work with and around Fiona’s existing
possessions; especially items that were
important to her, such as two old wing-
backed armchairs that had belonged to
her grandparents.
“They were Marks & Spencer beige,”
she says, “and now they’ve been
reupholstered in a lovely greenish-blue
fabric. My beloved old chairs have been
given a new lease on life.”
Also important to Fiona is her eclectic
collection of artwork from all around
the world. “Travelling is my big thing,”
she explains, “and I always like to bring
something back.”
In the corridor, two wonderfully detailed
pen-and-ink drawings of baobabs catch
the eye; Fiona explains that she bought