Interior designer at Ken Bangsar
Ken Bangsar has a story. Let your home tell yours.
Ken Bangsar is reported to have begun life as an office block before it opened as homes in 2009. We keep what still earns its place, and shape the next chapter around your household.
Stone, lit niches and a long table at dusk: the kind of evening room we’d plan in a Ken Bangsar living space, with any beam tucked into the joinery.
- Developer
Ken Holdings, converting what two accounts describe as an office block
- Completed
Mid-2009, as homes
- Homes
80 in one freehold block of 15 storeys
- Sizes
Studios from about 540 sq ft to triplex penthouses of about 6,600–8,500 sq ft
- Architect
DP Architects drew the conversion; KEN Grouting built it
Ken Bangsar layouts, and the office beams that shape them
Ken Bangsar is reported to have begun as an office block, so your home may have beams and columns a purpose-built condo wouldn’t.
We find where each beam runs first, then decide with you which finishes still earn their place.
Living in a converted building has its quirks. A beam might cross the bedroom where you pictured a wardrobe wall, and a column might sit where the sofa wants to go, and the first job is knowing where they are before anything is drawn.
We’re Sundays in Bed, a Kuala Lumpur studio that designs and looks after homes. Our studio is a few minutes away, in Damansara Heights. We haven’t yet designed a home at Ken Bangsar; elsewhere in Bangsar we have, at Bangsar Hill Park. Which rooms we take on is your call, and our fee for them is written down before we start.
By two independent accounts, Ken Holdings bought a 12½-storey office building from Danaharta, added two floors and opened it as serviced residences near the top of Jalan Kapas. It earned Singapore’s Green Mark GoldPLUS rating in 2009, which Ken Holdings reports as a first outside Singapore.
Ken Bangsar is one freehold block of 15 storeys and 80 homes, with units from studios to four triplex penthouses; sizes below are built-up.
- About 540–1,200 sq ftStudios and one-bedrooms, some with a small extra room
- About 1,960–2,100 sq ftThree bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, plus a helper’s room and powder room
- About 2,700 sq ftFour bedrooms, a small extra room and four bathrooms
- About 6,600–8,500 sq ftTriplex penthouses: five en-suite bedrooms, a sixth room and a private pool
Storage
If those accounts are right, an office frame sits under the plaster. Converted buildings often keep beams and columns where a purpose-built condo wouldn’t, so before we draw you a wardrobe to the ceiling or a cove of light, we'll find where each beam runs.
As described when the building was new, the original fit-out was generous: marble floors, Dornbracht and Villeroy & Boch fittings, rain showers. If you've loved living with it, much of it is worth honing and keeping. Seventeen years later, air-conditioners, water heaters and kitchen cabinets are usually due, and we'll plan for them with you.
Then there are the bathrooms. In a 3+1 here, every bedroom has its own bathroom, with a powder room besides. You may not need every one redone, and we'll help you choose which ones matter most.
Five awards, and the systems behind them
The 2009 Green Mark was only the first. Ken Bangsar went on to GBI Gold and The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award in 2010, then in 2011 a FIABCI Malaysia Property Award for sustainable development and a PAM Award, Silver, for high-rise homes, its jury praising how a commercial building had been turned into a green residential tower. DP Architects drew the conversion, and Ken’s own KEN Grouting built it.
Much of the green work sits in the shared spaces: the double-volume lobby is cooled by CHEEL, a two-storey evaporative waterfall designed by Sam Tan, and the 8 m pool on the top floor is open to the sky. Inside the homes, it is in the glass and the cooling, which is where a renovation meets it.
Ken Bangsar interior design, starting with what you’d keep
At Ken Bangsar, we start with what you’d like to keep.
In a well-built 2009 home, the design goes furthest on what has worn out, and what still works can stay.
If you dream of a wardrobe wall
Office floors were planned for desks, so a beam may cross your bedroom. We'll set wardrobes and curtain lines to tuck beneath it, and keep the rest of your ceiling high.
If you love your marble floors
One published visit describes two-foot marble tiles, and we check what yours has. Honed and polished, sound marble often looks better than anything we could replace it with, so we'll lift only the cracked or stained runs and keep the rest.
If guests stay over
With a bathroom to every bedroom, the two that matter most are yours and the powder room visitors use. We begin there, then refresh the others with vanities, mirrors and lighting, keeping good taps that still run well.
If your afternoons are sunny
The windows are laminated low-E glass, specified to keep heat out for the Green Mark rating, so you can often choose lighter, prettier fabrics and let privacy guide your curtains.
If things have started to give up
Air-conditioners, water heaters and kitchen cabinets fitted in 2009 are now seventeen years old. Efficient replacements suit a building known for its green rating, and we'll help you plan them first.
If the clubhouse can take the party
Downstairs, the clubhouse has a pool, a jacuzzi, a steam room, a gym, a multipurpose hall and a playground, with a concierge at the front. A child’s birthday or a festive open house can move into the hall, so a 3+1 needn’t be planned around forty guests, and a spare bedroom can stay a bedroom rather than becoming the gym.
If your rooms are nearly square
When it launched, The Edge described the typical homes as four designs with square layouts, of about 1,926 to 2,672 sq ft, below four triplex penthouses of 6,818 to 8,557 sq ft. A square room furnishes differently from a long one: a round dining table and a sofa group floated off the walls sit easily in it, where a long room would want them strung along one side.
What interior design costs at Ken Bangsar
At Ken Bangsar, the Sundays in Bed design fee for a 3+1 is an estimated RM30,440–37,570, and for a triplex penthouse RM44,700–51,830.
It is a fee per room, agreed in writing before we begin.
- Each room we design
- RM3,565
- Living and dining
- RM5,485
Here is the Ken Bangsar design fee, from studio to triplex. Studios and triplexes share this building, and our fee follows the rooms rather than the floor area. A studio is only a few rooms on our list; a triplex brings stairs, a pool deck and more bathrooms than most households use at once.
Whichever you have, the first conversation is about what has aged since 2009 and what can be left just 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 lower figure covers the essentials; the upper figure adds extras such as a feature wall, LED strips and a kitchen island.
What the two levels mean
Curated. Melamine or laminate carpentry, quartz or sintered stone tops, the existing ceiling kept or a new plaster ceiling. Furniture from Commune, Cellini, Fella Design, Dezign District, Poet Living, Big Brain, Gudang, Crown Livin and Dadswood.
Bespoke. Detailed joinery, sintered stone tops, a plaster ceiling with detailing. 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.
How the fee works
The sum goes into a signed letter before the first drawing, and you settle it in stages. Choosing new stone over honing what you have changes your contractor’s figure, never ours.
Our fee plus a Curated renovation brings a 3+1 here to about RM281k–466k.
What has usually aged. At Ken Bangsar that tends to mean the services, the kitchen and the principal bathroom, while sound stone can stay. Pick your home type, then switch off any room you'd like to leave alone. Each figure stays an estimate until contractors quote.
| Home | Our fee | Curated | Bespoke |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3+1 About 1,960–2,100 sq ft | RM30,440–37,570 | RM251k–429k | RM474k–901k |
| 4+1 About 2,700 sq ft | RM34,005–41,135 | RM279k–501k | RM524k–1.05M |
| Penthouse From about 6,800 sq ft, on three floors | RM44,700–51,830 | RM347k–678k | RM638k–1.38M |
| Studio About 540 sq ft | RM12,615–16,180 | RM153k–269k | RM309k–608k |
Each lower figure is what most owners here would ask us to draw: the living and dining, the kitchen, the bedrooms and, in the bigger homes, every en-suite but one. The higher figure adds a room, or two in the bigger homes, such as that last en-suite or a separate wet kitchen.
October 2026 guides; only your contractors quote.
How these figures are worked out
Homes here date from 2009 and are priced as resales. We count three bathrooms in the 3+1 and 4+1 and five in the triplex, one short of each home’s total, since the powder room or a spare en-suite often only needs a lighter touch.
No kitchen plans are published. We’ve counted one enclosed kitchen in the larger types and check yours on the visit.
Seventeen-year-old air-conditioners, water heaters, kitchen cabinets and wardrobes are all priced for replacement. Sound stone and fittings that you keep simply drop out of the estimate.
In the triplex, we’ve counted the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and living spaces. The pool deck, roof terrace and any double-height walls are priced on the visit, on top.
Furnishing to let?
Some studios here are let by the month. For a home that changes hands between tenants often, our Essential level, with Ikea, SSF Home and Harvey Norman furniture, is quick to finish and easy to refresh; the design fee per room is the same at every level.
Renovation and furniture at Essential, before our fee
- 3+1
- RM142k–220k
- 4+1
- RM158k–256k
- Penthouse
- RM198k–349k
- Studio
- RM83k–131k
Begin with a conversation
Tell us whether it’s a studio, a 3+1 or a triplex, who lives there or will rent it, and what you’d like to keep. We’ll talk through the figures for your rooms on that first call.
Or begin with a figure
Answer a few questions about your space, and you’ll have an estimate to consider in your own time.
Hiring an interior designer at Ken Bangsar, with management and DBKL
At Ken Bangsar, we deal with management, keep your contractor’s DBKL permit on track and run the works, while a builder you pick from compared quotes does the building.
The same designer is with you until the rooms are dressed.
- A first conversation FreeStudio, 3+1, 4+1 or triplex; who lives there or will rent it; what of the 2009 fit-out is still in place; and roughly what you’d like to spend.
- Measuring the home RM200, waived if you go ahead with usWe measure every room, trace the beams the office frame left behind, check the marble and note which bathrooms and fittings are worth keeping.
- Agreeing scope, then designingRooms, the overall spend and our fee go on paper before anything is drawn. Then come layouts, lighting, finishes and joinery set to sit neatly beneath the beams.
- Quotes, comparedOne drawing set goes to every contractor, so their prices can be laid side by side. We read them through with you, and the choice of builder is yours.
- Works, then the finishingManagement’s approval comes first. Then each trade is checked on site against the drawings, and the rooms are styled once the last of the dust is gone.
Management, DBKL, a contractor, several suppliers and, if you’re letting the home, a tenant’s moving-in date: in a block this size, all of it has to keep in step. We hold the threads and let you know what’s coming. The full process
Approvals come first
Two yeses come before any work: DBKL’s permit, which your contractor obtains, and the building management’s.
Nothing public sets out Ken Bangsar’s renovation terms, from the deposit to the hours and the lift, so we ask the front office for them before anyone prices the job. With only 80 homes in the block, we plan the noisiest work in short, early stretches.
In 2019 the building ran a front desk with check-in, access cards for each floor and a video intercom in every home. Contractors need those cards too, so we arrange them with the desk before the first day, along with a slot in the three-level car park below, where each home has two bays.
Renovating a Ken Bangsar home around the people who live there now
At Ken Bangsar, we begin with who lives there now.
A home finished in 2009 may still carry someone else’s choices, so we keep what works for you and help you change the rest.
Maybe your 3+1 holds a couple whose grown children come home at weekends. Maybe it's a family with parents moving in. Or maybe you're getting a studio ready to let. Whichever it is, we’d like to know who does the cooking, whose desk needs a door, and who should have the quietest en-suite.
A Ken Bangsar home, room by room: keep, adapt, add
- KeepMarble, glassHoned marble floors, laminated low-E windows, good taps that still run well
- AdaptBathrooms, kitchenNew vanities, mirrors and lighting; a kitchen reworked where it has aged
- AddServices, storageEfficient air-conditioners and water heaters, wardrobe interiors, layered lighting
Based on the 2009 fit-out as published; many homes have been changed since, so we judge yours in person.
What similar Bangsar renovations have cost
We haven’t yet renovated a Ken Bangsar home, so we lean on what other studios have put on record for Bangsar. Nine of their projects list an area and a total together; ranked by cost per square foot, the one in the middle sits at RM114.
Araville, the next building along Jalan Kapas, at 2,100 sq ft much the size of a 3+1 here, came to RM240,000. At RM114 per sq ft, a 2,000 sq ft home would be about RM228,000, a little under the Curated range above.
Every record, building by building, is on the Bangsar renovation cost page.
FAQ
Keeping, renewing and letting at Ken Bangsar
Was Ken Bangsar really an office building?
That is the account two independent sources give: Ken Holdings bought an abandoned 12½-storey office block from Danaharta, added two floors and completed it as 80 freehold homes in mid-2009. For a renovation, it mainly means checking where beams and columns fall before planning tall wardrobes or a flat ceiling.
The Edge, writing in 2009, confirmed the purchase in 2005 and added that the conversion kept the existing main structure, with construction from August 2006. That is why beams sit where an office grid put them.
Is the original marble floor worth keeping?
Often. One published visit describes two-foot marble tiles, so we check what your home has. Where the stone is sound, honing and polishing keeps a floor that suits the building, and what it saves can go to the rooms that have aged. We look for cracks, hollow tiles and stains on the site visit.
Does every bathroom in a 3+1 need redoing?
Rarely. Every bedroom has its own, plus a powder room. Most owners begin with the principal bathroom and the one guests borrow, then refresh the others with a vanity, a mirror and better light. Only the bathrooms we design count towards our fee.
What might a Ken Bangsar triplex penthouse cost to renovate and furnish?
For a 6,800 sq ft triplex, renovation and furniture are estimated at RM347k–678k at Curated or RM638k–1.38M at Bespoke, before our fee. The pool deck, roof terrace and any double-height walls come on top, priced on the visit.
The Edge gave the four triplexes as 6,818 to 8,557 sq ft at launch, each with five en-suite bedrooms, a sixth room and a private pool, so no two are quite the same size. We measure yours before any figure is firmed up.
Can a Ken Bangsar studio be furnished to let?
Yes. Some studios here are let by the month, others on longer leases, so the brief favours fabrics that wear well, generous storage and furniture that copes with a change of tenant. We design it as carefully as any home, with the fee written down before we start.
FirstClasse described the studios in 2019 as 540 to 1,200 sq ft, each with a bedroom, a bathroom, a living area and a kitchenette. The kitchenette is where a tenant’s brief begins: two cooking rings, a slim fridge, and a cupboard that hides the rice cooker and the kettle.
Will new air-conditioners undo the building’s green design?
Not if they’re chosen well. Ken Bangsar was built to Green Mark GoldPLUS, with efficient air-conditioning and laminated low-E glass. Replacing 2009 units with efficient inverter models, switching to LED lighting and using low-VOC paints keeps to that spirit.
By The Edge’s 2009 account, the original cooling was multi-split inverter and VRV systems, the walls were finished in low-VOC paint, and every window and glass door is laminated low-E tempered glass with a PVB layer; its April 2010 report added the GBI Gold Mark. Before choosing replacements we find out which system serves your home, because a VRV links several rooms to one outdoor unit and can’t be swapped room by room like a split.
What sizes and layouts are the homes at Ken Bangsar?
Ken Bangsar’s 80 homes run from studios and one-bedrooms of about 540–1,200 sq ft to four triplex penthouses of about 6,600–8,500 sq ft built-up. Between them are 3+1s of about 1,960–2,100 sq ft, with a bathroom to every bedroom, a helper’s room and a powder room, and four-bedroom homes of about 2,700 sq ft. At launch, The Edge described the typical homes as four designs with square layouts.
What facilities does Ken Bangsar have?
Ken Bangsar’s clubhouse has a pool, a jacuzzi, a steam room, a gym, a multipurpose hall and a playground, with a concierge at the front. The double-volume lobby is cooled by CHEEL, a two-storey evaporative waterfall designed by Sam Tan, and each home has two bays in the three-level car park below.
Who designed Ken Bangsar, and what awards has it won?
DP Architects drew Ken Bangsar’s conversion, and Ken’s own KEN Grouting built it. It earned Singapore’s Green Mark GoldPLUS rating in 2009, GBI Gold and The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award in 2010, and in 2011 a FIABCI Malaysia Property Award for sustainable development and a PAM Award, Silver, for high-rise homes.
Can I see a Ken Bangsar home you’ve designed?
Not yet: we haven’t yet designed a home at Ken Bangsar. Elsewhere in Bangsar we have, at Bangsar Hill Park.
What interior design services do you offer at Ken Bangsar?
Ken Bangsar began as an office tower and now holds 80 homes, and our condo interior design covers them all, from 549 sq ft one-bedrooms to penthouses of 6,800 sq ft, renovation design included. We draw the plans, compare contractors’ quotes with you and manage the works on site, and contractors do the building. Interior styling, furnishing through our Procurement Concierge, and Virtual Design for homes outside Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are offered as well.
Interior design Interior styling Condo interior design Virtual Design
Keep what’s sound. Shall we talk about the rest?
Studio, 3+1 or triplex, lived in or let? Tell us which, send a few photos of what the first fit-out left, and say roughly what you’d spend. The call is on us, and our likely fee is in writing before you commit.
Free · your fee is agreed in writing before we start · Read every review on Google