Furnishing an Executive Maisonette: Layout and Furniture Considerations

The executive maisonette occupies a particular place in Singapore’s public housing landscape — larger than a standard 5-room flat, split across two levels, and often home to families who have grown into the space over decades.

At roughly 130 square metres and above, an EM gives you room to work with, but its split-level design introduces furniture challenges that a single-storey flat simply does not have. Staircase access, double-volume ceilings, the relationship between upper and lower floors, and the need to make both levels feel like one coherent home — these are the considerations that separate a well-furnished EM from a house that just happens to have furniture in it.

This guide works through the key decisions, room by room and consideration by consideration. Whether you have recently collected your keys to a resale EM or are planning a refresh of a flat you have lived in for years, the goal here is the same: a home that works as well as it looks, and that suits how your household actually lives.

What makes an executive maisonette different to furnish?

The most immediate difference is the staircase. Every piece of furniture that goes to the upper floor must either fit up the stairs, be assembled in place, or be delivered with enough flexibility to navigate a tight turn at the landing. This is not a minor consideration — it has eliminated more than a few sofa and wardrobe choices for EM owners who fell in love with a piece in a showroom without measuring the staircase first.

The standard EM staircase runs at roughly 90–100 centimetres in width, with a landing that may or may not allow a full turn. Before you commit to any large furniture piece destined for the upper floor, measure the staircase width, the landing clearance, and the ceiling height at the lowest point of the stair run. Bring those numbers with you when you visit a showroom — they are as important as the room dimensions themselves.

The second defining feature is the double-volume or high-ceiling living area common to many EM layouts. Where a standard HDB flat has ceilings at roughly 2.6 metres, an EM living room may rise to 4.5 metres or higher where the two floors open to each other. This vertical space is dramatic, but it also means that furniture scaled for a standard flat can look undersized and oddly lost. Larger, more generous proportions tend to work better here.

Finally, the split between upstairs and downstairs creates two distinct zones that need their own logic. Downstairs is typically living, dining, and kitchen. Upstairs is bedrooms and, in many EMs, a second living area or study space. Each zone benefits from furniture choices made with that zone’s function in mind.

The living room: sizing up to the space

An EM living room with a double-volume ceiling needs furniture that holds its own visually. A slim three-seater sofa that might be perfectly right for a 4-room HDB can feel adrift in a space this generous. Our showroom team consistently sees EM owners underestimate how much sofa — and how much seating — their living room can take.

Choosing a sofa for an EM living room

For most EM living rooms, a large L-shape configuration or a sectional that seats five to six comfortably is the right starting point. Depth matters as much as length: a sofa with a seat depth of 90 centimetres or more allows the kind of relaxed, fully supported seating that a spacious room invites. Pairing it with a matching armchair or two additional accent chairs gives the room the layered, considered look that suits the proportions.

Fabric choice in an EM living room often comes down to how the family uses the space. For households with young children or elderly parents who spend significant time downstairs, a performance fabric — tightly woven, stain-resistant, and easy to clean — is a practical choice. For households where the living room is primarily for adults and occasional hosting, linen blends and bouclé textures work well with the calm, generous proportions of an EM space.

Explore our sofa collection to see the configurations and fabrics suited to larger living areas.

Coffee tables and anchoring the seating zone

Coffee tables in an EM living room benefit from being larger than instinct suggests. A 120–140 centimetre rectangular table, or a pair of round tables used together, tends to anchor the seating zone without looking sparse.

Sintered stone tops — durable, heat-resistant, and easy to maintain — are a sensible surface choice for a family living room that sees daily use.

The dining area: generous tables for generous spaces

Most executive maisonettes have a dining area that comfortably accommodates a table seating eight to ten. This is one of the genuinely pleasurable aspects of EM living: the space to host extended family, whether for a reunion dinner at Chinese New Year, an open house during Hari Raya, or simply a regular Sunday meal with the in-laws.

Choosing an extendable dining table

An extendable dining table is often the most practical solution here. A table that seats six day-to-day and extends to ten or twelve for gatherings covers both everyday use and festive hosting without requiring you to live permanently at the larger size.

Solid wood or sintered stone tops are the surface materials that hold up best over years of family use — both handle the heat from serving dishes, resist surface damage from daily contact, and are straightforward to maintain in Singapore’s humidity.

Dining chairs and hosting flexibility

Dining chairs are a decision worth slowing down on. In a large dining area, mismatched dining chairs or chairs that are visually too light can make the space feel unfinished. Upholstered chairs in a neutral fabric or easy-clean PU bring a sense of considered completeness, particularly when the chair back height is proportionate to the table.

For EM owners who host frequently, stackable or foldable guest chairs stored in a utility space offer flexibility without permanent footprint. Browse our dining table collection for sizes and configurations suited to EM dining areas.

The master bedroom: negotiating the upper floor

Here is where the staircase becomes a practical matter. A king-size bed frame — at 183 centimetres wide — must reach the upper floor somehow, and most EM staircases require either disassembly at the landing or a frame that ships in sections and assembles in the room.

Before selecting a bed frame, confirm with the retailer how the piece is delivered and whether assembly in the room is standard.

Bed frame sizing and delivery

For the master bedroom itself, EMs typically offer the most generous bedroom dimensions in public housing — often 15 to 18 square metres, sometimes larger in older blocks. A king-size bed with a substantial headboard suits the proportions.

Bedside tables with storage drawers rather than open shelves keep the room tidy without adding visual clutter, and a low-profile platform frame or a solid timber frame with clean lines works well at this scale. Our bed frame collection lists delivery and assembly details for each piece — useful to check before purchase.

Wardrobe planning for EM master bedrooms

The master bedroom wardrobe is often where EM owners consider built-in carpentry, and with good reason. The irregular wall configurations in some EM master bedrooms — alcoves, angled ceilings near stairwells, or non-standard wall heights — are difficult to address with freestanding wardrobes.

A custom-built wardrobe, designed to the specific wall dimensions and ceiling height, uses the full volume of the space rather than leaving awkward gaps. If built-in carpentry is on your list, the conversation about measurements, finishes, and timelines is worth starting early in the renovation process.

For EM owners who prefer freestanding wardrobes, our wardrobe collection includes configurations up to 250 centimetres in width. Confirm ceiling height clearance before ordering — EM master bedrooms in older blocks sometimes have lower ceiling sections near the stairwell side of the room.

The upper-floor landing and secondary living area

Many executive maisonettes have a landing or open area on the upper floor that functions as a second sitting room, a study corner, or a children’s play space. This area is often underutilised — treated as a corridor when it is actually a genuinely usable room.

The most practical approach is to decide the function first, then choose furniture accordingly.

Study or work-from-home setup

A study or work-from-home setup benefits from a desk and a good chair positioned to take advantage of natural light, with shelving or a bookcase along the wall behind.

Secondary sitting area

A secondary sitting area works well with a compact two-seater sofa or a pair of armchairs and a side table — enough seating for a reading corner or a place for older children to use independently.

Avoid the temptation to fill the landing with overflow furniture from other rooms. Pieces that did not quite fit downstairs rarely improve the space upstairs. The upper landing works best when it is furnished deliberately for one clear purpose, rather than treated as a place to park things that have nowhere else to go.

Smaller bedrooms: HDB-standard rooms in a larger home

The secondary bedrooms in most executive maisonettes are sized similarly to bedrooms in standard 5-room HDB flats — typically 9 to 12 square metres. This means the space planning considerations are broadly the same: a queen or single/super single bed depending on the occupant, wardrobe along one wall, and enough clearance on both sides of the bed for comfortable movement.

For children’s rooms, beds with built-in storage drawers underneath help with the perpetual challenge of toy and clothing storage in a smaller bedroom. For guest bedrooms that serve double duty as studies, a daybed or a sofa bed keeps the room functional when guests are not visiting without committing the entire room to sleeping.

One consideration unique to EMs: because the house has generous common areas, the pressure on secondary bedrooms to serve multiple functions is lower than in a 4-room flat. This is a minor but genuine quality-of-life advantage — the bedroom can be a bedroom rather than a bedroom-study-dressing-room-storage-room.

Practical considerations before you buy anything

A few points are worth keeping in mind before you finalise any significant purchases for an executive maisonette.

Measure the staircase before the showroom, not after

Width at the narrowest point, ceiling height at the lowest point, and landing clearance. These three numbers determine what is possible on the upper floor.

Think in zones

An EM functions as two connected floors, not one large flat. Furniture choices that respect the distinct character of each floor — generous and social downstairs, calm and private upstairs — tend to produce more coherent results than a single design concept applied uniformly throughout.

Consider the long term

Executive maisonettes are often family homes that span decades. Furniture chosen with durability and adaptability in mind — solid frames, replaceable covers, pieces that can serve different rooms as family needs change — tends to deliver better value than pieces selected purely for immediate visual appeal.

With over 100 years of combined industry expertise across our management team, we have helped many EM owners work through exactly these decisions. If you would find it useful to talk through your specific layout, our team at the 5 Ubi Link showroom is here daily from 11:30 AM to 9 PM — bring your floor plan, your staircase measurements, and a list of what you are trying to solve. No commitment, no time limit.

Making the EM work for how you actually live

The executive maisonette is one of Singapore’s most liveable housing types — spacious, split across two levels, and well-suited to multi-generational families. Its scale is also what makes it worth approaching carefully. A 4-room flat forgives a few furniture missteps; an EM, with its larger rooms, higher ceilings, and the added complexity of two floors, tends to show both the best and the least-considered decisions quite clearly.

The homes that work best are the ones where the furniture was chosen for the actual dimensions, the actual family, and the actual way those rooms get used on an ordinary Tuesday — not just for how the space might look on a good day with ideal light. That is the standard we would encourage you to hold your choices to, and it is the same standard we apply when helping homeowners plan their spaces at our showroom.

Rated 4.8 by 2,733+ verified Google reviews from Singapore homeowners, MaxiHome has helped families across all housing types find furniture that fits how they live. When you are ready to explore options in person, our Ubi Link showroom keeps a broad range of sofas, beds, dining sets, and bedroom furniture on the floor — sized and specified for Singapore homes, with full dimensions listed for every piece.