Sea view Hong Kong apartment gets a contemporary look with mood lighting and a statement sofa that ‘adds life to all the grey’
- Natural light complemented by mood lighting strips, a lot of grey and a bright purple sofa give three-bedroom, 2,483 sq ft Southside flat a sleek, modern look
- Ample storage, displays for collectibles and a play area integrated with the living space make it a practical family home where every day feels like a holiday
Stand on the balcony of Frankie and Kaman Lui’s 2,483 sq ft (231 square metre) flat and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at a beach resort. A large rectangular swimming pool and tennis courts lie immediately below; beyond are unrestricted views of South Bay on the south side of Hong Kong Island, dotted with lazy yachts in a glittery blue sea.
The Hong Kong couple hadn’t held out much hope, however, when they first received the apartment’s specs. The then four-bedroom property hadn’t been renovated since it was built in the 1980s and, having been vacant for five years, was fairly run down. It was the lure of multiple parking spaces – the family has five cars – as well as proximity to a beach and their children’s school that sealed the deal.
“We had been living in Bel-Air, in Pok Fu Lam, and wanted to upgrade our home to somewhere bigger,” says Frankie Lui, who works in fitness and sports management. “No matter how nice a potential flat was, though, if it didn’t come with enough parking, it wouldn’t work for us. This apartment had the parking but it wasn’t in a great condition. Yet we felt that, with the right designers and a complete renovation, it could be a great family home.”
The right designers came along in the form of Ada Cheung Yau-yu and Alain Wong Chi-hang, from Comodo Interior Design. Their concept for the flat tallied with their clients’ ideas for their home, which they moved into in August, nine months after the project began. Although the design team stuck to the original layout, they borrowed space from the fourth bedroom to transform a powder room into a proper third bathroom.
They turned the bedroom itself into a man cave for Frankie – a soundproofed audiovisual room, with a plethora of speakers, a vast television screen and a compact study, separated discreetly from the entertainment area by a slatted partition.
“We created wooden wall panels filled with sound insulation and wrapped them in textured grey fabric to absorb any sound,” Cheung says. “This is also the only room in the home that has wall-to-wall carpeting, as another barrier to noise.”
