Interior designer at Arata of Tijani
A hundred homes among Kenny Hills’ trees.
Thirteen years on, ready to be made yours.
Thoughtfully designed around the way you live, and what you’d like to spend.
What does a thirteen-year-old Arata home ask of its next designer?
Arata is 100 freehold homes in three ten-storey blocks off Jalan Syers, finished in 2013. Nine of its ten layouts are three-bedroom or 3+1 homes of 1,755 sq ft and up, so the task is renewal, not squeezing in space.
We’re Sundays in Bed, a Kuala Lumpur studio that designs homes one room at a time. We take on homes across Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Tunku among them, and an Arata home is charged like any other: by the room, at a fee agreed in writing before we begin.
Arata stands on 1.28 acres at No. 11 Jalan Syers, beside Tijani 2 North, with two or three homes to a floor. Its developer, Bolton, is now Symphony Life.
Arata of Tijani units range from 893 to 2,400 sq ft built-up; all but one of the ten layouts are three-bedrooms or 3+1s.
- 893 sq ftTwo bedrooms, two bathrooms
- 1,755 sq ftThree bedrooms, three bathrooms, the most-listed type
- 1,894–1,927 sq ftThree bedrooms and a helper’s room, three or four bathrooms
- 2,207–2,400 sq ftThree bedrooms and a helper’s room, four or five bathrooms
Floor area is the easy part. Symphony Life’s photographs of a dressed unit show a long living and dining room, an island kitchen open to it and full-height windows.
Age shapes the brief instead. The 2013 sales offer included kitchen cabinets, a hood and hob, an oven, a fridge, air-conditioners and water heaters, and in some homes those may still be the ones in use.
Prices matter too. Resales in 2023–24 settled around RM657 per sq ft, which can leave a buyer room in the budget for putting the home right.
Island kitchen, five bathrooms, a helper’s room: where should an Arata 3+1’s budget go first?
Into whatever 2013 handed over and daily life has worn: cooking, washing, cooling. The helper’s room and the finishes come after.
The island. Symphony Life’s photographs put the kitchen island in full view of the dining table. Heavy wok cooking there calls for a ducted hood with real extraction, a glass screen, or a closed wet kitchen for frying.
Up to five bathrooms. Listings give the 2,207 and 2,368 sq ft types five bathrooms, the 1,755 three. Designing all of them is seldom worth it: the master and the children’s get the money, the powder room a lighter touch.
Thirteen-year-old cooling. Air-conditioners and water heaters were part of the 2013 sales offer. Before a ceiling is redrawn, we find out which still run efficiently, because replacing them later means opening that new ceiling again.
The +1. Agents list the larger homes as 3+1, the +1 being a maid’s room. Families without live-in help can turn it into a study, a store, or a bedroom for a grandparent.
An earlier owner’s work. Many Arata homes have been let, so yours may carry an earlier owner’s or landlord’s update. Sound wardrobes, decent flooring and a good kitchen carcass can stay; we spend on what doesn’t.
What does it cost to design and furnish an Arata of Tijani home?
For the 1,755 sq ft three-bedroom, the Sundays in Bed design fee is estimated at RM30,440–37,570; for a large five-bathroom 3+1 of 2,207 or 2,368 sq ft, RM37,570–44,700. Your final fee depends on the rooms you choose, and is agreed in writing before we begin.
With our fee and Curated finishes (Commune, Cellini, Poet Living), a 1,755 sq ft three-bedroom here comes to about RM283k–463k in all.
Let thirteen years set the order. At Arata the kitchen, the bathrooms in daily use and the 2013 air-conditioning usually come first; a floor in good order, almost never. Toggle on only the rooms worth redrawing in your type.
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and the dry and wet kitchens: 7 rooms at RM3,565, plus the open-plan living and dining at RM5,485. The foyer and utility yard are designed free.
Within each level, the low end is the essentials; the high end adds extras such as a feature wall, LED strips and a kitchen island.
What the two levels mean
Curated. Melamine and laminate, sintered stone, a plaster ceiling. Furniture from Commune, Cellini, Fella Design, Dezign District, Poet Living, Big Brain, Gudang, Crown Livin and Dadswood.
Bespoke. Bespoke laminate, detailed joinery, a ceiling with cornice. Furniture from Space Furniture, Tekni, BoConcept, King Living, Ambient Living, Stanzo, Forest Furniture, Roche Bobois, XTRA, Urban Edge, Molteni&C, Nostaloft, Flexform, Janine and Chesters Collection.
| Home | Curated | Bespoke |
|---|---|---|
| Three-bedroom 1,755 sq ft Estimated fee RM30,440–37,570 | RM253k–432k | RM477k–908k |
| 2-bed 893 sq ft Estimated fee RM16,180–19,745 | RM179k–311k | RM355k–696k |
| 3+1 1,894–1,927 sq ft Estimated fee RM34,005–41,135 | RM272k–463k | RM507k–958k |
| Large 3+1 2,207–2,368 sq ft, five bathrooms Estimated fee RM37,570–44,700 | RM293k–519k | RM541k–1.06M |
Lower figure: an ordinary Arata layout, meaning living and dining, the kitchens, the bedrooms and all bathrooms bar one. Upper figure: two more rooms in the three-bedroom and the 3+1s, such as the remaining bathroom or, in a 3+1, the maid’s room as a study; one more in the two-bedroom.
At Curated, furniture comes from Commune, Cellini and Poet Living; at Bespoke, from Space Furniture, BoConcept and Molteni&C.
Because Arata dates from 2013, we treat every home as a resale and price one bathroom fewer than it has, since not every bathroom needs designing: one of two, two of three, three of four, four of five. The maid’s room stays out.
The three-bedroom and the 3+1s assume an island dry kitchen and a closed wet kitchen, checked when we visit. Air-conditioning, wardrobes, cabinets, appliances and laundry machines are priced new; anything recently replaced that you keep lowers the figure. October 2026 guides, not quotations.
Furnishing to let? Most Arata rentals are let partly furnished. A lighter, hard-wearing fit-out at our Essential level, quicker to finish and easy to keep tenant-ready, is one possibility, with furniture from Ikea, SSF Home and Harvey Norman. The design fee is the same at every level.
Renovation and furniture at Essential, before our fee: Three-bedroom RM143k–222k · 2-bed RM98k–153k · 3+1 RM154k–240k · Large 3+1 RM167k–269k.
How the fee is counted. RM3,565 for every bedroom, bathroom, study or kitchen on the drawings, and RM5,485 for the open-plan living and dining. Where an Arata 3+1 has both a dry and a wet kitchen, that is two rooms; any room left alone costs nothing.
We put the sum in writing for you to agree before anything begins, and you pay it in stages. Since it never tracks what contractors charge, picking marble for the master bathroom doesn’t raise it.
You set the figure. Whether it’s the 893 sq ft two-bedroom or a 2,400 sq ft 3+1, give us your number early. The design is drawn to fit it.
What has to be checked behind the walls of a 2013 Arata home before work starts?
Pipework, wiring, air-conditioning and the bathrooms’ waterproofing, mostly. Your designer is the same person from the first call to the dressed rooms; licensed contractors build, chosen from quotes we collect and weigh up with you.
- A first conversation FreeYour layout, whether the 893 sq ft two-bedroom or a 3+1, who will live there, what earlier owners or tenants changed, and the spend you have in mind.
- Seeing the home RM200, waived if you go ahead with usMeasuring up, lifting ceiling access panels, reading the age off the air-conditioners and heaters, testing for damp around showers, and noting what deserves to stay.
- Agreeing scope, then designingThe rooms, our fee and your budget go into writing first. Plans, lighting and materials follow, with the long living room split into places to sit, eat and read.
- Drawings, then quotesDrawings detailed enough for contractors to price each room. Quotes return, we read them through with you, and you appoint the builder.
- Building, then furnishingWe book the lift, deliveries and trades through Arata’s management office, inspect each stage on site, then place the furniture, art and soft things before you return.
Older homes reward a strict sequence: pipes and cables, then ceilings, then joinery, then furniture. Keeping to it, and to the building’s rules, sits with us. The full process
Permits on Jalan Syers. Arata is in Kuala Lumpur, so DBKL is the council: your licensed contractor applies for any renovation permit, and the building’s management will expect to approve the works before they start.
Arata’s deposit, contractor hours and lift-booking arrangements aren’t published anywhere we could find. We get them from the office in writing, then plan the programme around them.
How do you make a thirteen-year-old Arata home feel like yours, not the last owner’s?
Begin with the household moving in, not the finishes left behind. Since 2013 many Arata homes have been sold on or let; whoever lives there now should shape what comes next.
Behind the same 2,400 sq ft plan might be retired parents with grandchildren at weekends, or two working adults, three teenagers and a helper. Their days decide which room needs a desk and where the bags land. Style comes afterwards.
What an older Arata home usually needs
- KeepLayout, outlookThe long open living and dining, and tall windows onto trees or city
- AdaptKitchen, bathrooms2013 originals, or an earlier owner’s or landlord’s update
- AddServices, lightNew air-conditioning and water heaters where they’re tired, and layered lighting
Based on Symphony Life’s photographs, the 2013 sales package and current listings. Homes vary after thirteen years; the visit shows what yours has.
What renovations nearby have cost
Nobody has published a renovation figure for Arata itself. Eight Bukit Tunku and Taman Duta projects with both budget and floor area on record put the median at RM161 per sq ft, with a typical spend of RM300,000.
Applied to a 1,755 sq ft three-bedroom, that median gives about RM280,000, inside the Curated range above. The Kenny Hills & Damansara Heights renovation cost index lists these published renovation records by type and size, not by building.
Nearby, with their own pages: Bukit Tunku · Solaris Parq · Solasta Dutamas · The Peak
Beyond our wildest expectations
The transformation surpassed our wildest expectations, turning what seemed like mere potential into a breathtaking reality.
View on Google →Turned my condo into a home
Angelica has made my condo unit into a home. She is professional, decisive, and yet she truly listens to our wishes and needs.
View on Google →Committed to even the tiniest detail
She’s not just awesome at what she does, but she’s committed to perfecting even the most tiny detail.
View on Google →FAQ
Questions Arata owners ask
Is the maid’s room in an Arata 3+1 worth turning into a study?
Often, once there’s no live-in helper. Where it has its own bathroom, the maid’s room in a larger Arata home makes a quiet study, a grandparent’s room or a walk-in wardrobe. Drawing it adds RM3,565 to our fee; leaving it costs nothing.
Should Arata’s 2013 air-conditioners and water heaters be replaced?
Usually, if they’re the originals. Both were in the 2013 sales offer, and units of that age are often near the end of their working life. We note each one’s condition at the visit, so a new ceiling isn’t closed over equipment due for replacement within a year.
Can the island kitchen cope with heavy wok cooking?
With planning, yes. Fit a hood ducted to the outside, add a glass screen between kitchen and dining, or move the frying behind a door into a wet kitchen if your layout allows. Where the duct can run decides which.
How much does it cost to renovate and furnish an Arata home?
For the 1,755 sq ft three-bedroom, renovation and furniture are estimated at RM253k–432k at Curated (Commune, Cellini, Poet Living), or RM477k–908k at Bespoke (Space Furniture, BoConcept, Molteni&C), before our fee. Published Bukit Tunku and Taman Duta renovations have a median of RM161 per sq ft.
Who approves a renovation at Arata?
Two parties. DBKL, through a permit your licensed contractor applies for, and Arata’s management, which will expect to approve the works. Its deposit and permitted hours aren’t published, so we request them from the office before setting dates.
Some Arata homes face trees, some the city. Does it change the curtains?
Yes. A greenery-facing room can take sheers with a dim-out lining; a bedroom catching morning or west sun may want full blackout. Listings mention both outlooks, so we note your facing at the visit before choosing fabric.
Bought, inherited or home again at Arata?
Let us know your layout, from the 893 sq ft two-bedroom up to a 2,400 sq ft 3+1, plus a floor plan if one survives and a rough budget. Talking it through is free; after the RM200 visit, waived if you go ahead, you’ll have our estimated fee in writing before deciding anything.
Free · your fee is agreed in writing before we start