Oh, juliet
Don't we all love balconies? Those (usually three) sweet extra square metres command an impressive premium in sale price, but also bring spaciousness and light into the flat. They come in a surprising array of shapes and placements, and are discussed here by location within the flat.
Explore balconies
Living room balconies
Living room balconies are by far the most common. They are usually 3 sqm large and extend from where the windows normally would be.
4-room balconies
Here’s a typical example in a 4-room flat, from Alkaff Courtview/Lakeview. The first is the flat without the balcony, and the second is with the balcony:
And how that might look, from the same project:
(Source: PropertyGuru)
In the above example, the balcony juts out from the wall. In other projects, it fill in the “offset” between the living room and common bedrooms. In Tampines Greenvines, the different positions of the bomb shelter create different levels of offset within the same square footage:
Sometimes the balconies are almost full-width but not quite full-width. Here’s a collection of these frustrating ones:
Northshore Straitsview:
Matilda Sundeck:
Tampines Greenverge:
Waterway Sunrise:
5-room balconies
When the flat is a 5-room instead, the balcony usually extends from the intended living area but not the study, like in these examples:
![IMG_0351[1].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/827b04_1b54934bd5144bb5810fce94996aeffa~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_609,h_457,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_0351%5B1%5D_JPG.jpg)
(Source: myhomeinpunggol)
Northshore Straitsview:
Clementi NorthArc:
Matilda Sundeck:
Rivervale Shores:
Anchorvale Parkview:
Woodleigh Hillside:
Tampines Greenvines:
All the above balconies only extend from the living room, not the study. However in Punggol waterway terraces, which has undulating narrow Juliet balconies, in some of its 5-room flats these balconies do span both the living room and study areas. This is also the rare project whose balconies are enclosed entirely by opaque walls and not grilles.
(Source: PropertyLim Brothers)
(Source: Straits Times)
In 5-room flats where the study is not an extension of the living room but a separate room, the balconies look similar to 4-room flats:
Waterfront @ Northshore:
3-room balconies
3-room flats occasionally have balconies as well, although this is a premium feature:
Waterfront @ Northshore:
Alkaff Lakeview:
Alkaff Courtview / Lakeview:
Master bedroom balconies
These are much less common, but highly sought after as they enlarge the generally tiny MBRs of today’s flats. These balconies are almost always attached to where the windows are, like the following two examples.
Here’s a balcony in Macpherson. I’m not sure what I’d do with that space, especially considering it’s right beside the busy expressway:
Macpherson Spring:
At least this one in Punggol is full-width, even if odd-shaped!
Waterway View:
But in the master bedroom we may also have something truly exciting – balconies that extend from the side of the bedroom instead of the front! These two projects have balconies that overlook a great view (a park in Tampines, the sea in Punggol):
Tampines Greenverge:
Punggol Bayview:
I especially love these because they add to the room’s width. Imagine sitting up in bed in the morning and being treated to those amazing views right beyond your feet!
Common room balconies
Common bedroom balconies are by far the rarest, though I think they’re a lovely addition to any space. Here’s a Punggol Bayview flat which has balconies in ALL rooms, with a long balcony connecting the two common rooms:
Punggol Bayview:
We’ve seen Punggol Waterway Terraces above. The undulating Juliet balcony may connect any two rooms together. For example, the living room and first common bedroom are connected here (the floor plan and photo are mirror image flats):
(Source: Qanvast)
The two common rooms are connected here by the balcony (second bedroom not shown):
(Source: Icon Interior)
Or the balcony may connect the second common bedroom to the master:
(Source: Property Runway)
Other observations
Small squarish balconies
We already saw an example of this in the MBR of Macpherson Spring. Here are two more examples in living rooms:
Waterway View:
Ang Mo Kio Court:
Source: SherBooga
Irregular shapes
Balconies may also come in irregular, truncated designs. Here’s a collection of them:
Waterway View:
Punggol Bayview:
Senja Heights:
And what these balconies might look like, based on these photos from Bukit Batok Skyline:
Source: Budgetpantry
We've already had a good look at Punggol Waterway Terrace layouts. Here's how narrow this juliet balcony actually is:
Source: Property Runway
Grills vs walls
We've seen a couple of photos of full-grill balconies (Alkaff Courtview, Ang Mo Kio Court, Bukit Batok Skyline) and one example of full-wall balconies (Waterway Terraces). Here's a wall-grill hybrid which I quite like, from EastLink @ Canberra:
Source: lovebellavida
Renovation rules
(coming soon)
Wishlist
Thank you for reading to the end! I am always eager to expand this collection, so if you are in possession of any interesting BTO balconies, please send over some photos and I’d love to feature them here. The following are some specific things I'm looking for:
Floor plans and photos of waterway terrace balconies (especially common room-common room and study-common room balconies)
Photos of regular rectangular balconies
Photos of wall-grill combo balconies
Photos of squarish balconies with an extra window beside
Your contributions are very much appreciated!
Disclaimer
I do not own any of the images used in this post. All images were extracted from various sources around the web (property listings, personal blogs, forums, news outlets, renovation platforms, window contractors etc). I have not sought explicit permission to use any of them. However, they are being used for educational purposes and not for personal gain; I spent many months aggregating them and writing this post purely for the benefit of BTO hunters out there (and a strange sort of personal enjoyment in the process). I gain nothing financially from this website either directly or indirectly (my career is in healthcare, not interior design or anything related). However, if you own any of these images and would like me to remove them, please get in touch and I will do so immediately. Thank you.