Let there be light
A couple with an eye for potential transformed a dim and dingy Ap Lei Chau flat into an open and welcoming contemporary home
Text Adele Brunner / Styling David Roden / Photography John Butlin
If ever there were a competition for rooms with a typical Hong Kong view, Valeria Stockford's Ap Lei Chau apartment would be a strong contender for the title. From every window of the 605 sq ft apartment is a photo-perfect vista of Aberdeen's busy harbour.
"I fell in love with the view," says Stockford, an American-Italian graphic designer married to banker Andrew, also from the United States. "It is classic Hong Kong with its sampans and junks. We originally wanted something quite centrally located but prices in Central are extortionate. This is slightly off the beaten track but more reasonable and much more charming."
When the couple initially looked around the apartment, "charming" wasn't the description that sprang to mind. A textbook Hong Kong flat, it managed to accommodate three tiny bedrooms, two even smaller bathrooms and a closed-off kitchen.
"We have lived in Hong Kong for 11 years so we knew what to expect from an older flat [built in the 1990s]. It was dark and dingy, and you couldn't move in any of the rooms but we managed to look beyond the state it was in and see its potential," says Stockford.
She enlisted the help of French interior designer Peggy Bels, who demolished everything she could to open up the space and capitalise on the windows overlooking the harbour, which had been blocked by air-conditioning units and partitioning.