PUBLISHED ONSeptember 30, 2026 1:05 PMBYSyarifah NadhirahLocal actor Kishan J spent $20,000 to renovate his home but he doesn't own it.
In the latest episode of YouTube programme Kaypoh Room Tour, the 33-year-old revealed he's renting a Singapore Land Authority (SLA) heritage apartment built in the 1950s.
He told host Amy Ang he had to prove he had a certain amount in his bank account before being eligible to rent the home and put down a three-month deposit inclusive of the first month of rent.
He was given a handbook of how to care for the home, what to look out for and what he can and cannot do in and out of the place.
The 823 sq ft three-room apartment came bare and he spent $20,000 to $25,000 on renovating it.
Amy asked how he knew about SLA properties and he said: "When you study the history of Singapore, things like this were built from that dawn of time. Usually at places where I work, I would stumble upon these buildings."
Kishan said he wanted to move out to learn how to be independent.
"Around the world, people younger than me and in their 20s have already moved out and are living that lifestyle and learning a lot of valuable life skills. I didn't want to wait, I wanted to do it now when I'm younger," he said.
Kishan gave each part of his home a name, and the tour started with the "record shop" - his living room, decorated with colourful furniture against plain white walls.
"My uncle Ben and I are big fans of records because we love listening to music the old school way. So a lot of these are mine and his collection put together," he said as he showed the record player and vinyl records on display.
"I like to sit here, have my coffee, put a nice record on and then forget the world exists."
Next to the 'record shop', a wall was demolished to add wooden sliding doors leading into his open-concept bedroom.
The look of his entire home was inspired by a Jurassic Park poster from 1992, and it's more prevalent in his bedroom with his green bedding and brown cupboard lining one of the walls.
Past the black-framed windows of his bedroom is an air-conditioned indoor patio, which Kishan transformed into a study.
The theme is consistent with more wooden furniture and plants as decoration, and the view outside the patio is filled with greenery.
"In the morning it's like Jurassic Park because at 6am, all the chickens will come in one herd," he joked.
The study table is one from his childhood that he couldn't bear to part with.
Kishan said he kept the tabletop and bought it new legs. He also broke off one portion to make a smaller side table.
"I just wanted to keep a piece of history that was mine… This is my heritage of 13 [years]. If you look closer, you can see a lot of my handwriting from when I was 13 or 14 years old," he shared.
His cinema room has a 100-inch screen attached to the wall with a JBL L82 sound system, as well as an orange modular sofa which can be taken apart and shifted around.
Kishan shared that he plans to relaunch a podcast he used to do and the sofa was purchased with that in mind.
"The entire house is built in a way where it's production-friendly," he explained.
Besides the dinosaur posters and figurines scattered across the apartment, Kishan's love for Jurassic Park also extended to his bathroom.
"In the film, the kids ran away from a velociraptor and they shut a kitchen door which looks exactly like this," he said as he showed Amy the white sliding door with a see-through circular hole, covered with glass.
The bathroom is split in the middle with the toilet separate from the shower and the walls are lined with mustard tiles.
Kishan was hesitant to show his kitchen as he's "not in favour" of it.
The wall is partially covered in white tiles with the upper half painted a copper blue.
When Amy complimented the neat organisation of the space, Kishan remarked honestly: "You know why? It's because I don't use this kitchen. This kitchen is for show."
He has an "unpractical, beautiful" white fridge and an air fryer, and had to place his washing machine facing the cabinet due to the location of the drainage pipe, which blocked his plans of having a mini stove and induction cooker.
At the end of the episode, Kishan and Amy sat down for a chat and the former gave advice to younger people: "Don't take too long. Don't wait till you're my age to move out. If you can find any means necessary to move out at a young age, learn to live independently. Live and explore."
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