Who: Mr Tyson Lim, 30, has been in the interior design industry for the last 10 years, marketing, designing and managing residential renovation projects. In 2020, he decided to strike out on his own and founded Homeez, a tech start-up that allows home owners looking to renovate to get an instant, online quotation. The platform has a free-to-use design software that can create three-dimensional computer renderings and provide estimated costs for materials and execution. Mr Lim describes himself as a workaholic and is focused on making his business a success, often working on weekends. But he also ensures he spends quality time with his real estate agent wife Annabel, 28, and their two children – Ella, five, and Mike, one.
“One of the fun things we do as a family on weekends is to go around Singapore exploring playgrounds and parks.
There are playgrounds around where we live in Farrer Park, but I feel exploring Singapore this way gives my kids more exposure to the outdoors as well as creates family memories for them. Ella also gets to learn about and experience things not found in textbooks.
When she was into dinosaurs and dragons, my wife and I did some research online and found a playground in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 that still has a Chinese dragon theme playground.
We also found a dinosaur theme playground in Toa Payoh East. A current favourite with Ella is the Adventure Playground at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. These are all free to the public.
When I was doing my national service from 2012 to 2013, I was in the commando unit based at Hendon Camp in Changi and often went to Changi Village Hawker Centre for meals.
There is a stall there called Weng Kee Ipoh Hor Fun that serves chicken chop hor fun. I still love it and take my family there to share the experience.
There is also a stall called Changi V. Dessert House that sells “Commando Dessert”, which is shaved ice topped with red tea jelly and longan. Commandos wear red berets, so maybe that is how the name came about. I order it sometimes out of nostalgia. My kids love it.
On Saturdays, we take Ella for her dance and Chinese enrichment classes, and in the evenings, we head to my in-laws’ home for dinner.
Annabel’s grandmother also drops by my in-laws’ place to spend time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sometimes we buy food and other times, my mother-in-law whips up her delicious prawn noodles or laksa.
If it is a long weekend, I may take my wife and kids to Johor Bahru, together with my mother, sister and twin brothers. We look for places to shop, eat and just spend time together.
When it was just Annabel and me, we would catch a movie almost every weekend. But now with two kids and my business to run, we made it to only two movies in 2023. So, on weekend evenings, after putting the kids to bed, we catch up on television shows together.
If our kids stay with my in-laws over the weekend, Annabel and I go for a date night – usually dinner and a movie.
There was one date-night dinner – at Nox – Dine In The Dark restaurant in Club Street – that left a deep impression on us. We were served by waiters and waitresses who were visually impaired, but we did not realise this while having our dinner. It was revealed to us only at the end of the meal.
That dining experience had us reflecting on how we should appreciate what we have, such as family and good health, not take these for granted, and to have more empathy and gratitude towards others too.”
