Design tweak gives Hong Kong home flow – and plenty of storage
By nudging a few walls back, a Beacon Hill family were rewarded with all the flow, space and storage they could wish for in their 1,000 square foot flat
A few inches made all the difference to Wendy and Philip Ng’s 1,000 sq ft Beacon Hill flat. “I didn’t change the layout, but we did move some of the walls,” says designer Dylan Tan Dar-luen, of WOM Concept. Doing so allowed him to fix the apartment’s biggest problems: awkward-sized bedrooms and a lack of storage.
The flat had undergone a basic renovation in 2004, when the Ngs, both doctors, moved in, shortly after the building’s completion. When Janet and Grace reached 10 years of age, however, the Ngs wanted to create more space for their twin daughters. Shifting the walls of the three adjacent bedrooms, to take space from the living room, allowed Tan to fit a single bed in each of the girls’ rooms, along with a floor-to-ceiling cabinet and a built-in desk.
“The girls have a lot of books,” says Tan, who also installed shelves above their desks. The work area, in both rooms, curves over a portion of a bay window ledge, to make use of otherwise wasted space. Another smart, subtle idea was to install sideboards behind the beds. “It’s so the wall doesn’t get stained and scuffed,” says Tan.
In the master bedroom, a wardrobe spans the length of one of the walls. “They really wanted the wardrobe because they needed more storage,” says Tan. “But they also wanted everything clean and simple.”
In some cases, that meant disguising the apartment’s storage space. The dining area and entrance hallway, for example, are lined with discreet cabinets that appear flush with the wall. The cabinets are punctuated by open cubicles, one in the entrance for keys and mail, another in the living room for the family’s Nespresso coffee maker.
Tan also created an alcove for the family’s piano, which had dominated the living room.
Tan made living room storage units into a focal point by mounting cabinets on the wall. The Ngs dislike clutter, so he hid two air-conditioning units behind a pair of screens. In the kitchen, which is shaped like a boomerang, Tan built a wall of storage and moved the entrance to the widest part of the room.
“I don’t like a lot of dead ends,” he says. “The space has more flow now.”
The Ngs’ desire for simplicity extended to the apartment’s aesthetics, which Tan wanted to keep minimalist without sacrificing cosiness. He decided to mix smooth surfaces and modernist furniture with natural-looking materials. One side of the living room, for example, features a textured white wallpaper that evokes the surface of wood.
“I tried to be very earthy,” says Tan. That effort extends to the flooring. “I wanted the whole place to have timber flooring, but you can’t have that in the toilet or kitchen,” he says.
Instead, Tan found ceramic tiles that had been stained and textured to resemble wood; they are so convincing that the Ngs called Tan after the renovation to ask if they were really timber.
Tan livened things up in both bathrooms by using contrasting patterns and textures. He chose a marble slab for the countertop in the guest bathroom because he liked the “random pattern”.
The cabinet is made with wood laminate.
“I don’t use veneer because it doesn’t last, and, in the past few years, wood laminate has started to look very good – previously, I wouldn’t have considered using it,” he says.
The master bathroom also boasts a sliding door, which Tan installed to free up space.
Sometimes a few extra inches make all the difference.
Kitchen The Whirlpool range and chimney hood were all from eCOX (194 Tong Mi Road, Prince Edward, tel: 2396 0166). The pendant lamp cost HK$640 at PLC Group. WOM Concept built the cabinets for HK$126,000.
Wendy and Philip Ng occasionally bring work home, which is why the bay window ledge in the master bedroom was fitted with a small pull-out desk that doubles as a make-up table. The windowsill with false-marble-topped desk was custom built for HK$9,000 by WOM Concept. The table lamp (HK$9,880) was from PLC Group.
