Birdsong gives seaside Sai Kung duplex the feel of a treetop home
The art, antiques and family heirlooms that turned a minimalist 'tree house' into a cosy nest will soon find a new home to transform
Text Charmaine Chan / Styling David Roden / Photography John Butlin
Take a bare canvas, add books, art, family treasures and other keepsakes, and this is what you get: a charming home full of stories and memories.
All that will soon be packed into boxes, however, because its owners are moving on to the next chapter of their Hong Kong lives.
Britons Anne Carroll Marshall and her husband, Roger, have for five years lived in their two-bedroom, 1,400 sq ft home in an idyllic corner of Sai Kung, surrounded by mountains, mangroves and the sea.
"The stupid thing was I fell in love with the place because it was a minimalist, white flat," says Marshall, a jewellery designer and gemologist who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 with her husband, who works in finance. "But it's just not our lifestyle. We've got so much stuff."
That includes two cats and a dog, plus artwork celebrating past pets (not all of them theirs). Then there are the family heirlooms, including a music cabinet from the estate of 19th-century English dramatist W.S. Gilbert, which stands between the open kitchen and dining area.