Germaine Chow is one busy bee. 

In 2017, the former air stewardess started The I Quadrant, through which she holds workshops on property investment and financial literacy. She also recently launched Kin Hotels in Vietnam. 

Though work keeps the mother of two constantly on her feet, she says she wants to show her kids that it’s possible to “do what you love … and be a good mother”.

Creating a living environment to facilitate a sense of togetherness was one key step. Chow, her husband and their children moved into their new home in 2021. She also had her mother and parents-in-law move in with them.

“The moment I walked into this house, I knew it was the one for us,” Chow tells Haven. She had been on the hunt for a multigenerational home; this one came with seven bedrooms, at a total of 3,600 sq ft. 

She snapped up the place and, since it already had everything she needed structurally, “changed nothing” about the architecture. “What I did was to tear down everything inside,” she explains, adding that she zoomed in on a warm and luxe vibe, with an emphasis on marble and wood textures throughout the house.

Chow wasted no time in getting a design together. “Something that I did was to ask the previous owners [if I could] come in before the completion to take measurements around the whole house,” she recalls. “They were very lovely and helped us.” She thus set to work on creating the look of each room in the house.

The outside of the home was repainted; marble tiling was added to the exterior, as well as chengal wood to the car porch. Walking in, one is greeted by strong black and white tones in the living room. Framed scarves hang on the walls in a nod to Chow’s love for fashion. Next to the staircase is an airwell, where she says she might add a lift if and when the need arises.

A 12-seater marble dining table was custom-made to fit Chow’s family. “I made the corners very rounded because I wanted the whole family together, and so that the people at the ends could come in closer.”

Chow also wanted her family to be involved in the process of creating the home. She recounts her children picking out the marble that would go into the TV console wall. “To me, pieces that are customised aren’t just for uniqueness, but the story behind them [and] the story of the whole family using them.” 

Adding enough to make these common spaces accommodate more people was the easy part. Doing so without making them feel cramped or crowded, however, came down to creating a more open floor plan. “There were actually built-in cabinets [in the kitchen], but we removed them so we could see each other, and the space felt a lot bigger,” says Chow.

On the second floor are the bedrooms, as well as a home office for Chow and her husband. The master bedroom has its own sitting area, as well as glass-doored display cases for some of her favourite things, including bags and awards she’s won.

Among Chow’s favourite places in the house is the master bathroom, which has a double shower for her and her husband. “Some of our best ideas come from there,” she quips.

The top floor holds a home gym — where Chow clocks her workouts when work gets in the way of heading to the gym — and an entertainment room. “I like hosting,” she says, “and I like my kids to grow up in a place where they’re always surrounded by a village.” 

The entertainment room doubles up as a secondary living room, where the family can hang out together while watching a show or have friends over for a game of mahjong or poker.

One might expect that, since Chow had bought the place in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, renovations probably got delayed by months or even years. But she says the actual works all came together in just two months.

Still, there were some challenges. Having sold and handed over her previous home, her family had to move before the renovation was completed. “We had to move in with only [the master bedroom] ready,” she says, adding that they slept on mattresses on the floor until the rest of the house was ready.

Chow says she’s excited to have created a place where she can raise her children, as well as look after her mother and in-laws. “When I got a little bit of success, I really wanted to pamper my family,” she adds. 

“We told them about seven, eight years ago that we would buy a big house for them to stay in; and they laughed about it at the time … But when it happened, they were really happy and really proud of us.” 

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