How to make a rental flat feel like home: antiques, art and plenty of colour, says a Hong Kong banker
Having moved frequently over the years, Caitlin Walker knows just what’s needed to make her mark on a property
Although South African Caitlin Walker, along with her husband Jonathan, has hopped around the globe, moving from one rental property to another, she works hard to ensure that each location feels like home.
“Living in a place as if you’re only there on a temporary basis is awful because you never get that sense of home,” says Walker, a banker who moved to Hong Kong 11 years ago. “I can’t live as if I’m about to move on. I got to the stage where I didn’t want to buy one more thing from Ikea just to make do, so I now buy pieces that I love and have meaning.”
The couple’s 2,300 sq ft, three-bedroom flat in Mid-Levels is filled with an eclectic mix of old and new pieces that reflects who they are and where they have been. There is a chest made by Walker’s father for her when she got married; a wooden box once used for storing eggs, inherited from her grandmother; and a painting that her parents bought as a gift for her newborn daughter – a thoughtful alternative to all the soft toys a baby usually receives.
“The vintage silverware comes from my aunt. She hates cleaning silver so she gives me a piece every time she sees me,” says Walker. “Whenever I look at it, I think of her.”
Most of the furniture, such as the sofa, dining table and beds, was bought in Hong Kong but the artwork, ceramics and other decorative details were accumulated “along the way”, particularly from her homeland.
“South Africa has huge artisanal creativity. You can get some beautiful but quirky handmade things there that don’t cost the Earth,” she says. “It isn’t always easy finding them but that is what makes something a real treasure when you do. Many of the artists, for example, aren’t commercial and don’t market themselves.”