SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - The Sunset Way neighbourhood, located off Clementi Road in District 21, is a secluded landed residential estate with predominantly detached houses and surrounded by greenery.
It was not the location that socialite Jilly Wang and her husband, Kelvin Lim, had sought when the couple were searching for a new house back in 2017. However, after having viewed more than 20 houses, they still had not found one that suited their needs.
The property located at Sunset Grove is on a cul-de-sac at the end of a street with just five houses. It sits on a regular freehold site of 7,244 sq ft. Of all the houses they had visited, it was the only one that their fengshui master pronounced “a good house”, fengshui-wise. “I didn’t really believe him at first,” concedes Wang.
The previous detached house at Sunset Grove, while newly built, was designed for the needs of a multi-generational family. Hence, every level came with its own living area, dry kitchen and bedrooms. “It wasn’t really the location I was looking for and it wasn’t the right size either. I wanted something bigger,” Wang recounts.
The couple went ahead with the purchase of the property. “I was pregnant with my daughter at that time, and feeling tired,” she relates. Wang already had in mind to do extensive addition and alteration (A&A) works to create a home suited for her family of five together with their two helpers. “We gutted the house and changed the whole layout,” she adds. AJ+J Architecture and a Korean interior designer from Baum Project were engaged for the reconstruction and design of the new home.
The result is a 2½-storey detached house with five en suite bedrooms, including the master suite, a gym room and the karaoke lounge or play room. The house has a total floor area of 8,533 sq ft.
Wang reckons she spent about $2 million on A&A works. As her husband is in the property business, “he is very detailed, and everything we use is of good quality”, she says.
For Wang, a home has to reflect their lifestyle too. She designated the first level as the entertainment zone — with a spacious living and dining area, full marble flooring, dry kitchen with a wine chiller and Fisher & Paykel kitchen appliances. “I like to host guests at my house,” says Wang. “Because I’m Shanghainese, I like to cook Shanghainese food, invite friends over for good food, good drinks. When you host a meal at home, it definitely gives people a totally different feeling.”
The first level has a “playroom” with a karaoke area, foosball table and a lounge for guests. There is also a gym and a guest room on that level. “If someone gets drunk and can’t drive home, there is a place to stay the night,” she says.
The second level is for “family bonding”, says Wang. There is a spacious family room with comfortable seats to lounge in. This is where the three children play and entertain their friends, as well as watch television. “This space is really for my children,” she says. “They just need space to run around or to play with their Lego set.” As such, the flooring is of vinyl planks, which Wang says “is softer and ideal for the children’s play area”.
On one side of the family room is a tea table where Wang and her husband can enjoy their tea while watching the children play. On that level, there is a reading area as well as three en suite bedrooms for the children. There is also a bedroom, en suite bathroom and utility area for the two helpers on that level.
The attic level is exclusively for the master suite. There is a study for her husband, a relaxation area with a view of the greenery outside — where the couple can enjoy their coffee while reading the papers in the morning, or have a glass of wine in the evening before retiring for the night. “In the evenings, we chat about our activities during the day, and my husband will talk about his day at work,” relates Wang. “In the evenings, when the sliding doors are open, you can see the stars, and it’s very breezy too.”
Besides the master bedroom and master bathroom, the main attraction on this level is the walk-in wardrobe and dressing room of 700 sq ft. Wang makes sure that her walk-in wardrobe is impeccable, with clothes, shoes and handbags properly arranged. “I make sure the clothes are hung nicely with space between them; I don’t squeeze them all together,” she says. “I like the feeling of space — it’s not just how you design your home, but how you organise your space too.”
Wang declares herself to have “a bit of OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder]”. She says: “Every year, I will clear my wardrobe and the storage room, and I make sure that I don’t keep anything that I no longer adore or use. I will send them to the Salvation Army, or give them to my niece or my helpers.”
Every year before the Lunar New Year, she makes sure the house gets a new coat of paint. “All my neighbours ask me, ‘You just moved in, why are you repainting your house?’ I always like my house to look brand-new, I cannot tolerate stains on the walls,” she adds.
Having lived in the house for over two years now, Wang and her family are really enjoying it. The Sunset Way playground, where the children can play with their friends, is near the house.
“The neighbours next door and across the street are really nice; we even have drinks and barbeques together,” says Wang. “My children can visit their homes, and I don’t have to worry. There are only five houses on this street and it has a nice ‘kampong spirit’, something I never had when we lived elsewhere.”
Wang’s husband, a vintage car collector, has been lamenting that he has nowhere to park his cars. They approached the owner of the house located directly behind their home to ask if they could purchase the property. The plan was to convert that property into parking space for the vintage cars. “But the owners refused to sell, that’s why we have to look for a bigger house,” says Wang.
Florence Eng, Realstar Premier Group’s associate vice president, is the sole marketing agent for the property. The detached house at Sunset Grove is on the market for $12.9 million ($1,781 psf). “This house has a lot of natural light coming in, and because of the high ceiling, the house feels very spacious,” says Eng. There is also provision for a lift if the new owner intends to build one. Within the house is a concealed bomb shelter.
Based on caveats lodged, there have been two transactions in the Sunset area this year. The latest was for a detached house at Sunset Place sitting on a freehold land area of 7,749 sq ft. The property changed hands for $11.24 million ($1,450 psf) in early March. However, the house is in its original condition, and would need to be torn down and rebuilt, notes Eng.
Prior to that, another house further up on Sunset Place had fetched $13.38 million ($1,778 psf), according to a caveat lodged in February. According to Realis data, the house was completed in 2020.
Wang’s home, which is considered almost brand-new, is reasonably priced, says RealStar’s Eng. Hence, there has been a lot of interest in the property, she adds.
Wang says she has grown rather fond of the Sunset area. “The roads here are wider, you don’t feel that it’s too crowded,” she says. “Our house is right at the end of the street and it’s so serene. Since we moved here, we have been so happy.”
The fengshui master has proven to be right after all: the property has “very good fengshui”, declares Wang. “We have lived here for three years: our careers, relationships, everything is better than before. I think whoever buys this house will understand what I’m talking about.”
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