JOIN USWhen Clover Lee, director of plusClover, a Hong Kong-based design firm, was asked by a childhood acquaintance to renovate the latter’s apartment, she had a huge challenge at hand. Her client and her mother had lived in the apartment since 1994 and had several collectibles accumulated over the course of three decades.
Moreover, the long, narrow, 2000 square feet flat situated on Macdonnel Road in Hong Kong was familiar to the designer, so a lot of factors had to be kept in mind to keep the memories intact.
Without disturbing the three bedrooms (overlooking the hills) and two-bathrooms, the layout was left untouched. However the rooms were all different looking. So, to harmonise and blend them all together, Clover chose wall mouldings instead, to connect them into a seamless unit.
Since the apartment was wedge-shaped, Clover added a few false wooden walls and mouldings which also doubled up as storage space. The wood panels were so well designed, that storage was not an exclusive furniture piece, but instead, blended into the wall.
Also, the texture of the door frames was matched to the wooden panels such that, when the door is shut, it disappears into the wall.
Some other features that were incorporated were:
*a low shelf next to the door doubling as a bench to sit and put shoes on;
*a glass medicine cabinet facing the window in the mother’s room to catch the sunlight and get a better look at the contents of the cabinet;
*flooring done in wood to give ample anti-skid texture;
*study area with a sofa which could be converted to a guest bed and the walls above to hold the required storage;
*the client’s giant grand piano was placed next to a double glazed glass window and the wall behind was curved to match the shape of the piano, also taking care of the acoustics and sound.
While the wood panelling, moulded walls, wooden flooring and kitchen cabinetry were provided by Chip Mi Engineering, most of her client’s furniture was retained. Now, all the curios have designated display areas without cluttering the house.