Maxed-out minimalist Hong Kong flat fit for a bride

Architect Wesley Liu Yik-kuen doesn't live life by halves. Last year, as well as managing his interior design firm, PplusP Designers, coming up with ideas for a range of furniture and accessories (to be launched online at the end of this year) and cooking singlehandedly for corporate clients in his private kitchen, he decided to renovate his 1,241 sq ft Mei Foo Sun Chuen apartment - just three months before his wedding day.

"I got the keys to the apartment in April last year, but I had to leave it empty for a few months because I was too busy," he says. "I started work on it the minute I got a chance, and me and my wife, Karen, moved in three months later - when we got home from our wedding."

Minimalist chic: a Hong Kong apartment shows how it's done

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment had been left in a terrible state by its previous, elderly owners, Liu says. But apart from demolishing the wall between the kitchen and living area to allow for a greater sense of space, he kept the apartment's layout intact.

"Mei Foo is famous for its old apartments with a lot of usable space and there wasn't much point changing the layout for the sake of change," he says. "I also like the area because I grew up here and my family still lives here, too."

Making minimalism pop in a Hong Kong apartment

He transformed a tiny helper's room into a wine cellar and substituted bricks for glass between the living area and the windowless study, to bring in natural light. He also replaced traditional 12-paned windows with much larger ones to let in more light and make the most of the views over Lai Chi Kok Park.