Interior designer at Desa Bangsar Ria
Forty-three homes, thirty-three years on.
Time for yours to feel new again.
Thoughtfully designed around the way you live, and what you’d like to spend.
What does a family home built on Bukit Bandaraya in 1993 ask of its designer?
Big rooms, few neighbours, and services that may be as old as the building. Here the brief starts behind the walls, then moves to how a household fills generous space.
Sundays in Bed designs and manages home renovations from Kuala Lumpur. None of the 43 flats here is one of ours yet; across Bangsar we charge by the room, with the total settled in writing at the outset.
Desa Bangsar Ria is one freehold block of ten storeys and 43 homes on Jalan Kapas, built by a UOA Group company and completed in 1993. Bangsar Shopping Centre is about 500 m down the road.
Desa Bangsar Ria units range from about 1,808 to about 3,000 sq ft built-up; most on the market are 3+1s and 4+1s.
- About 1,808 sq ftThree bedrooms, a maid’s room and up to four bathrooms
- About 2,070–2,100 sq ftFour bedrooms plus one
- About 2,900–3,000 sq ftPenthouses: four bedrooms plus one, and two store rooms at car-park level
Thirty-three years is long enough for a flat to pass through several owners, each changing something. However alike the plans began, no two homes here are quite the same now.
What often hasn’t changed matters more. Wiring, the distribution board, pipes and bathroom waterproofing may all be original. We look at those first, because a new kitchen fitted onto tired plumbing puts the money at risk.
The rooms themselves are generous. Three bedrooms in 1,808 sq ft leaves a wide living and dining area, so the danger here is furniture that looks lost, not a cramped plan.
Old pipes, a maid’s room, a kitchen to open or keep: what gets decided first at Desa Bangsar Ria?
The parts you can’t see, then how your household actually uses each room. Finishes come last, and they are the easiest part to get right.
Behind the walls. A 1993 building may still run on its original wiring and pipes. Before any tile is chosen, an electrician checks the board and the load, and a plumber the supply and waste. The drawings follow what they find.
Four bathrooms, not four projects. A 3+1 here can have four bathrooms. We usually start with the main one and the one guests use, and re-waterproof whatever we open, because a leak in a mid-rise block reaches the neighbour below.
The kitchen. Whether yours is enclosed or already open, we see on the visit. Opening it to the dining depends on what the wall carries. If a wok goes on most nights, glass keeps the light and holds the smoke.
The maid’s room. The 3+1’s fourth room was planned for a helper. Without one, it becomes a laundry, store or small study; with one, it needs proper air and light. Its purpose is settled before a line of the plan is drawn.
What’s worth keeping. Some homes here come with a store room at car-park level, and some carry built-in cabinetry from an earlier refit. Where either is sound, it stays, and the money moves to the bathrooms and the kitchen.
What does it cost to design and furnish a Desa Bangsar Ria 3+1 or 4+1?
Our design fee for the 1,808 sq ft 3+1 is estimated at RM30,440–37,570; for the 2,077 sq ft 4+1, RM34,005–41,135. 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 3+1 here comes to about RM281k–459k in all.
Spend where it matters. Skip what doesn’t. In a home this age, that means the services, the kitchen and the bathrooms you use, long before a feature wall. Pick your type, then switch off any room you’d rather leave as it is.
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and the kitchen: 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 3+1 About 1,808 sq ft Estimated fee RM30,440–37,570 | RM251k–429k | RM474k–901k |
| 4+1 About 2,077 sq ft Estimated fee RM34,005–41,135 | RM279k–501k | RM524k–1,050k |
Each fee starts from the usual brief here: living and dining, kitchen, every bedroom and three of the bathrooms. Its upper end leaves room for two extras, say the fourth bathroom or a maid’s room reworked as a study.
At Curated, furniture comes from Commune, Cellini and Poet Living; at Bespoke, from Space Furniture, BoConcept and Molteni&C.
We’ve assumed not every bathroom needs designing, so three of the four are priced; count only the ones you’d change. The maid’s room is priced as left alone.
The penthouses, about 2,917 sq ft with a 4+1’s rooms, sit close to that row. All of it reflects October 2026 prices, and a firm number only ever comes from a contractor’s quotation.
The ranges assume a resale home needing new air-conditioners, kitchen cabinets, a hob and hood, and wardrobes. If an earlier refit left any of those in good order and you keep them, expect noticeably less.
Rewiring and new pipework vary most between homes; contractors price them once they’ve seen yours.
Furnishing to let? One furnished 4+1 here was advertised for expatriate tenants. 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: 3+1 RM142k–220k · 4+1 RM158k–256k.
Your design fee adds up per room. A bedroom, bathroom, study or enclosed kitchen on our drawings is RM3,565; the living and dining together, RM5,485. Leave the fourth bathroom alone and it never appears.
That sum is signed off before any drawing starts and settled in instalments. Because it isn’t tied to what the contractors charge, rewiring all 2,077 sq ft or choosing marble over tiles leaves it unchanged.
Your budget is the first number we ask for. Give us the figure for your 3+1 or 4+1 and the drawings are made to meet it.
How does a renovation run in a 33-year-old block with 42 neighbours?
Your keys came years ago, so the first job is learning what the flat is hiding. One designer stays with you from the opening call to the styled rooms; the building work goes to contractors whose prices we collect and compare with you.
- The discovery call Free3+1, 4+1 or penthouse; the household; the previous owner’s alterations; a rough spending figure.
- The site visit RM200, waived if you go ahead with usA tape on every wall, a torch in the distribution board and under each sink, a look at the bathroom floors and the car-park store, and a list of keepers.
- The scope, then the designOur fee, your figure and the chosen rooms go on paper and get signed. Plans, lighting and finishes follow, in the order the services survey dictates: pipes and cables before paint.
- Drawings and quotesEvery bidder prices the identical set of drawings, so a cheap quote can’t hide a missing item. You choose the builder after we’ve read each quotation together.
- On site, then moving inManagement signs off, the electrician and plumber go in first, carpenters and painters after. Each stage is checked against our drawings before the furniture, lamps and art arrive.
In a block of only 43 homes, every neighbour hears the drilling. Notices, sensible timings and a clean common corridor are part of the work we manage. The full process
Buying a resale home here? Desa Bangsar Ria was finished in 1993, so there’s no developer defect period left to call on: you inherit whatever the last owner did. A services check before you plan the works is worth having.
Jalan Kapas falls under DBKL, whose permit your licensed contractor normally obtains. The building’s management will usually want to approve the works too; its deposit, permitted hours and lift bookings aren’t published anywhere we could find, so those terms are the first thing we request.
Can a flat finished in 1993 feel as if it was designed for us?
Yes. The rooms are generous and many balconies are large; what a home here needs is new services where they’re due, and your household’s habits written into the plan.
Perhaps you grew up in one of these flats and have come back, or this is your first Bangsar address. Either way the rooms should fit the household living there today: grandparents at weekends, a teenager’s desk, a cook who needs a proper hob.
What an older Desa Bangsar Ria home usually needs
- KeepSpace, balconiesWide living rooms, large balconies, a store downstairs where one came with the flat, built-ins still in good order
- AdaptKitchen, the +1Open, screened with glass or left enclosed for frying; the small fourth room turned laundry, study or helper’s quarters
- AddServices, lightFresh cabling or pipes if the survey asks, several layers of lamps, cooling matched to rooms this size
UOA’s 1993 specification isn’t online, and owners since have altered a great deal, so recommendations wait until we’ve stood in your flat.
What renovating in Bangsar has cost
Without a project of our own in this block, the fairest guide is the neighbourhood’s published renovation records. Nearest in size: a 2,100 sq ft home at Araville, RM240,000 and twelve weeks of works.
Eleven Bangsar entries give both a spend and a size, and their middle value is RM114 per sq ft. Applied to a 1,808 sq ft 3+1, that suggests roughly RM206,000.
Our Curated range sits higher because it prices a new kitchen, wardrobes and cooling in every room. Read every entry in our Bangsar renovation cost index.
Nearby, with their own pages: Bangsar · Bangsar Hill Park · Residensi 38 · The Lantern
Beyond our wildest expectations
The transformation surpassed our wildest expectations, turning what seemed like mere potential into a breathtaking reality.
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 →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 →FAQ
Before you renovate at Desa Bangsar Ria
Is a 1993 flat on Jalan Kapas worth renovating properly?
Usually, if the hidden work is done well. Homes here are large and freehold, and only 43 exist. Rewire and replumb where the survey says so, re-waterproof the bathrooms you open, and new finishes have a sound base. The site visit checks this.
Can I open up the kitchen in my Desa Bangsar Ria home?
Often. It depends on whether the wall is structural and what runs inside it. After the site visit we suggest a full opening, a glass screen, or keeping it enclosed for heavy cooking. Structural changes need management’s approval and an engineer’s view first.
What can the maid’s room in a 3+1 become?
A study, a laundry with storage, a walk-in wardrobe, or a better room for your helper. It is small, so its job shapes everything. Drawn as a study it costs RM3,565 in fees; untouched, it costs nothing.
How much does it cost to renovate and furnish a Desa Bangsar Ria 4+1?
Our estimate for works and furniture in a 2,077 sq ft 4+1: RM279k–501k at Curated (Commune, Cellini or Poet Living), RM524k–1,050k at Bespoke (Space Furniture, BoConcept or Molteni&C), with our fee on top. Bangsar’s published records run lower: Araville, 2,100 sq ft, RM240,000.
How should we furnish a large balcony here?
For KL weather: outdoor fabrics that dry quickly, teak or powder-coated aluminium, and a blind or screen for the hottest hours. If yours is big enough for a table for four, it earns a place on the floor plan like any other room.
Does the building’s management need to approve my renovation?
Expect so. Most KL condominiums take a deposit and limit contractors’ hours; this one’s current terms aren’t public, so we get them in writing before booking any trade. Your licensed contractor handles the DBKL application.
Bought on Jalan Kapas, or been here since the nineties?
Send the unit type, a photo or two of what the last refit left, and your spending figure. There’s no charge for the first call, and you’ll see our estimated fee on paper before agreeing to anything.
Free · your fee is agreed in writing before we start