I refer to last Sunday's article, 'The land of shrinking apartments?'.

Even if we have to settle for shoeboxes, we should spend our precious money wisely, choosing well-fitting boxes.

I saw in the sample floor plan of a Suites@Guillemard unit that there were two large bay windows forming part of the 258sq ft area, which at first looked big enough to accommodate another bed and sofa.

I understand the plan was only an approximation, but I measured the space depicted anyway and found that the bay windows took up 28.9sq ft of the area.

Another 9.6sq ft space attached to a bay window was unlabelled and might be an air-conditioner ledge or planter box. This left only 219.5 sq ft of actual floor space, or 85per cent of the original 258 sq ft figure.

If one wants to buy 258 sq ft of space, it would be a good idea to buy 258 sq ft of actual floor space, and not 219.5 sq ft, with the floor area shrunken by bay windows and other architectural gimmicks, which are usually there for the benefit of someone else other than the home buyer.

The use of such architectural designs nowadays commonly leaves the home buyer with only 70 per cent to 85 per cent of actual indoor floor space, and the buyer realises that only if he actually measures the floor space.

Alex Wee

This article was first published in The Straits Times.