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Building a new website from scratch? Our Frontend Developer shares it all.

What started as a hobby for him when he was in primary school, turned into a career more than a decade later.


That’s what Cove’s very own Frontend Developer, Hongchiong, shared with me during a casual conversation over text. During his school days, he actually downloaded lots of games and music, to burn them into CDs (do you still remember what are those?!), so that he could access those games and music for free! 


Shh, don’t tell anyone, it’s our secret! 🤫


He even joked that he should have made more copies to sell as a side business!


Jokes aside, those are the things that made Hongchiong realised that he has a thing for IT actually. And today, he builds and maintains both Cove websites for Singapore and Indonesia. As well as the upcoming tenant management dashboard.


Despite being with Cove for merely less than a year, Hongchiong has been heavily involved in building both new websites from scratch. 


“To reflect Cove’s new branding on the 2 new websites was a pretty challenging task, given the short time frame,” recalled the mahjong lover.


He shared that he had to understand the existing systems and also plan for the tech stack that he should use in order to meet the specifications and timeline. 


After countless discussions (and also late night coding!) with one of our co-founders, Luca, his teammate in charge of the backend, Jamie, and designers from an external agency as well as our very own marketing team, the new websites were successfully launched in October and November last year.


Hongchiong and his teammates were really relieved that the first hurdle was finally over. Now, he’s focusing on maintaining and improving the website experience!


According to Hongchiong, the initial phase of learning the coding fundamentals is the toughest and might seem overwhelming, but he encourages fellow aspiring coders to stick with it and never give up! Because just like life, it gets better.


So the next time you visit our website and love how seamless, user-friendly and how aesthetically pleasing it is, always remember that Hongchiong together with his teammates really put in sweat, blood and tears into it! And if you have any suggestions, feel free to drop us feedback at enquiries@cove.sg :) 


To read more about the talented people at Cove, check out our articles here!

Meet Melissa, the person in charge of beautifying Cove's property photos!

Not your typical intern

Have you ever wondered who is responsible for the beautiful property photos you see on Cove’s listings page, the detailed floor plans that you look at when surveying our homes, or the weekly email that you receive from us which features new properties and also special deals that we have?


Well, that has to be the marketing team’s hard work and one of them is our intern, Melissa! 


“When a new property is being furnished and onboarded, I would make sure we upload some initial photos of the rooms and common areas on the website so we can start advertising them to prospective customers.” 


She would also go on to arrange for professional photos and the 360 virtual tours once the place is fully furnished so that potential Coveys like yourself can actually view how the homes look like when you’re in it! 

One of the rooms at 132 Lorong Sarina, one of Melissa’s favourite properties!


Melissa herself would go down to these new units to beautify the rooms and common areas such as the kitchen and living room, and yes, all the little set-ups in the bedroom found on the desk or bed are arranged by Melissa, with guidance from our interior designer, Gabriel!


Besides that, the third year student at NTU Business School also spearheaded Cove’s LinkedIn content last month. When asked what her hopes for Cove’s LinkedIn are, she replied, “I hope to increase our brand visibility and awareness. Can’t wait to see it grow even more!”


Throughout her 5 months internship with Cove, Melissa has also showcased her Illustrator skills which she picked up by watching YouTube tutorials!


“I have not actually gotten the chance to use it in the working world, but at Cove, I was given the opportunity to learn and also use it.”


With the help of our in-house graphic designer, she managed to complete doing the floorplans within a shorter period of time, design Cove’s flyers and prepare assets for co-marketing partnerships.


Some of you might find Melissa a bit too familiar, as if you’ve seen her somewhere. And… you’re right! 


She’s actually one of our models for Cove’s latest lifestyle photoshoot, so you might have seen Melissa’s face on our Instagram or TikTok! 😉


Recalling her experience as a talent, she shared that it was one of the biggest takeaways from Cove.


“It was an eye-opening experience as I got to see the whole scene from a talent’s point of view which was really amazing. From having to take directions from the producers and then acting the role. It was a challenge initially, but thankfully, I met other experienced models that helped me!”


Melissa’s advice for future interns is that one should not be afraid to voice their opinion or share their ideas in this open and collaborative environment. As a young but growing start-up, the opportunities are endless, while new ideas and initiatives are always encouraged.


After completing her degree in the near 2022, Melissa hopes that she’ll be able to continue to do what she likes which is marketing, and we wish the best for her too!

Meet the man who beautifies your Cove homes!

Secrets of an interior designer

Love the beautiful decoration of our Cove homes and how Insta-worthy each room is? Well, all of that is thanks to Cove’s very own in-house interior designer, Gabriel!


He’s also the person in charge of making sure you feel comfortable and right at home when you move in!

Gabriel, the guy responsible for making sure our homes feel like home!



If you ever wondered where he gets his inspiration from or if there’s any tips you can learn to make your room feel more cosy, keep on reading as we will be sharing all these from this experienced interior designer with 10 years under his belt!


For individuals with a tighter budget, where would you recommend them to shop for house decorations?


I’d recommend Ikea, Comfort Furniture and Jiji. And also Carousell! Carousell is great as you can nego the price and get the best deal out of it!


Any strict dos and don’ts one should follow when decorating rooms or houses?


Less is more! Avoid over-cluttering surfaces in the house. And if you wish to display photo frames, don’t line the same size together, it will look like you’re selling them!



For safety reasons, try not to use furniture with sharp corners in a small space. It also hinders movements.


Share with us some quick and useful tips for room decoration!


Avoid too much colour, the key is to keep it subtle. 


Liven up dead corners of the house with a floor lamp or a potted plant. That always works to brighten the area.


Talking about plants, how would you advise someone who wishes to start decorating their place with indoor plants, which is the trend right now?


Yes, particularly with the work-from-home situation that all of us have grown accustomed to, indoor plants are a must nowadays!


Well, if you’re looking at faux plants, consider having clusters of potted plants instead of single quantities of tall ones in a corner. A composition of tall to short plants would serve better to liven up a dead corner and convey the intent of bringing the outdoors in.

This display of indoor plants on rattan baskets at 460A Geylang Road took Gabriel 2 days to complete! 😱


For real indoor plants, always place them close to a shaded area with sunlight. Ensure that there is a surface below for water to drain to when you water them.


Other than plants, what’s the other “in-thing” for house decoration this year?


2020 has been an unusually eventful year for the world. The work-from-home situation has given us an opportunity to re-evaluate what makes us feel comfortable living and working in the same space.


There’s been an increased awareness in ergonomic seating for example, as we now spend more time in the same chair than ever before. 


For people without a dedicated study, the dining table now has to function as a study desk as well, possibly highlighting the need for access to powerpoints within the dining table itself.


We will be seeing more design solutions that incorporate what used to be workplace considerations into residential spaces.


Now it’s time for more personal questions! Where do you get your inspiration from?


This is somewhat of a Catch-22; there is a saying “you know not what you don’t know until you know what you don’t know”.


As creatives, we can’t create things out of thin air. We always refer to what others have done before and decide if it is creative or not. We look at Pinterest, we google keywords like ‘Scandinavian interiors’, ’minimalist home’, and more recently ‘Marie Kondo home’. 

Modern dining table arrangement by Gabriel at Pinetree Condominum


The danger in approaching design like this is the visual stimulus. It is all too easy to get lost in the information available online.


My approach is first and foremost grounded in the phenomenology of space (understanding the context of the space, how we perceive/experience it in our conscious and subconscious).


I always ask myself these questions: How high is the ceiling height? Are there any windows? Does the site feel spacious or claustrophobic? What are the access points? What are the existing finishes? Does the site have any cultural associations? 


So what made you venture into interior design?


As a child, I was always drawing. Anything from dinosaurs to monsters, anime characters, and as I get older, portraits of people. 


The very notion of being able to put my ideas/ thoughts on paper and seeing them materialize with every stroke, change in pressure or rhythm always intrigued me.


Over time, as I matured in my understanding of colour, perception of depth, and materiality, I began taking an interest in the visual and spatial composition of the physical world, which then led me to interior architecture. 


So in a way, what I previously did for fun foreshadowed what I would be doing for the rest of my career!


Don’t miss out on our other bite-sized lifestyle reads:

Simple tips on how to get along with your flatmates

showing blogposts with #Cove superstars

Building a new website from scratch? Our Frontend Developer shares it all.

Not your typical intern

Secrets of an interior designer

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