Terence Cao Gave His Designer the Keys to His 60-Year-Old HDB — What He Found After the Renovation Stunned Him

Singapore actor Terence Cao did something most homeowners would probably find unthinkable: He handed over the keys to his ageing Toa Payoh flat, gave his interior designer almost complete creative freedom and essentially stayed away until the renovation was finished.

When he finally returned, the home he had known for decades looked dramatically different.

And one entire bedroom was gone.

The 58-year-old actor recently opened the doors to his newly renovated childhood home, an almost 60-year-old HDB flat in Toa Payoh that has been transformed from an ageing residential unit into a bold industrial-inspired space built around open living, entertaining and content creation.

Terence Cao’s only major request: Make it functional

Unlike many homeowners who spend months debating tiles, cabinetry, lighting and colour palettes, Cao apparently wanted very little involvement in the process.

His brief was essentially that the home had to be functional. He trusted the design team enough to hand over the keys and asked them not to involve him until the finished home was ready.

Cao later said the result went beyond what he expected.

The renovation was carried out as part of a sponsored collaboration. CNA reported that Cao said a project of this scale would otherwise have cost a “six-figure” sum.

That figure becomes easier to understand once the extent of the makeover is considered.

The property is close to six decades old, meaning the designers were not simply decorating a blank modern apartment. They had to deal with existing beams, pipes and other structural constraints while attempting to completely reshape the way the home feels and functions.

Then he discovered he had “lost” a bedroom

The biggest surprise came when Cao saw what had happened to one of the flat's two bedrooms.

Based on the original floor plan and pre-renovation footage, the property appears to be a three-room HDB flat with two bedrooms.

Designers removed the walls around one bedroom and absorbed the space into a much larger dining and communal zone.

Cao recalled being shocked when he first walked in and realised the room was no longer there.

But rather than regretting the decision, he appears to have embraced it.

At the centre of the expanded dining space is a striking island finished with stainless-steel sides and a polished Bellazza Nera granite countertop. AsiaOne reported that Cao was particularly taken with the natural streaks running through the stone, which he felt resembled artwork.

The island has since become one of his favourite parts of the home.

And it may be much more than a dining table.

The redesigned home could double as Terence Cao’s studio

Cao has increasingly built a career beyond traditional television acting.

He previously launched live-commerce business Sibay Shiok and later teamed up with filmmaker Jack Neo on Star Live, an e-commerce livestreaming platform launched in 2023. The Straits Times reported at the time that Cao's experience in live selling and network of celebrity collaborators were central to the project.

That makes the new open-plan dining area especially practical.

Cao has said the large island could be used for livestreams, podcasts and even food programmes—essentially allowing part of the renovated childhood home to function as a flexible content-production space.

In other words, sacrificing a bedroom may actually have created a room that better reflects how Cao lives and works today.

Even the kitchen was moved

The disappearing bedroom wasn't the only major change.

According to AsiaOne's coverage of the renovation, the home's original kitchen had occupied a central part of the flat. That space was absorbed into the enlarged living area, while the former balcony area was converted into the new kitchen.

Curved false ceilings and partition walls were then introduced to help visually connect the kitchen and living zones while working around the building's existing structural elements.

The finished home leans heavily into an industrial aesthetic: raw textured surfaces, stainless-steel finishes and darker tones are broken up with burnt orange and red accents.

Retro-style ventilation blocks add another layer of character.

The industrial theme continues into Cao's remaining bedroom, which is hidden behind a stainless-steel-laminated door designed to blend into the surrounding wall.

Inside, however, the bedroom is intentionally much simpler.

Cao described it as a place primarily for rest and recovery rather than somewhere he intends to spend most of his day.

The bathroom wasn't treated as an afterthought either

AsiaOne's more detailed tour also revealed some of the smaller design touches that distinguish the makeover.

The bathroom uses reddish terracotta-style tiles in the shower area, recessed storage niches and gunmetal fixtures. A customised integrated basin and countertop creates a cleaner, continuous finish.

Large-format floor tiles feature elsewhere in the home, while the pantry incorporates retro ventilation blocks that reinforce the combination of industrial and nostalgic influences.

Those decisions appear particularly deliberate given Cao's connection to the property.

He has said he grew up in the neighbourhood and noted that the building itself is roughly as old as the life he remembers there. He turns 59 later in 2026 and 60 in 2027.

More than a celebrity home makeover

What makes Terence Cao's renovation unusual isn't simply the price tag or its celebrity owner.

It is the decision to treat an ageing HDB flat not as something that had to be preserved exactly as it was, but as a space that could evolve alongside its owner.

A conventional bedroom disappeared. In its place came a larger social area, a statement island and a potential studio for Cao's growing livestreaming and digital-content work.

For someone who barely wanted to know what his designer was doing until the project was finished, it was an enormous gamble.

He may have returned home with one fewer bedroom.

But he also came back to a home designed for a very different chapter of his life.