For MTV's Charles Chau, a hectic business-travel schedule dictated the renovation of his Kowloon Tong home. Like the best modern hotel guestrooms, it is cool, convenient and stylish, and without a wasted corner. Black does not often feature strongly on the colour palette of Hong Kong apartments. After all, neutral shades are supposed to increase the illusion of space. But for television executives Charles Chau and Rainbow Fong, it was the obvious choice for their new, 1,600-square-foot home in Kowloon Tong. The colour scheme starts at the electronic glass entrance door, which is back-painted in black. It slides back with a shoom and the home stretches before you, all monochrome walls and shag-pile rugs - Austin Powers would love it. The apartment is 40 years old and has a simple floor plan: a long rectangle roughly divided into thirds. Each space has a different function and colour scheme, beginning with black for the kitchen and library/study, fading to grey in the living and dining area, and ending in the white, self-contained bedroom suite. 'There's a kind of charm with older buildings that no new buildings can offer,' Chau says. The pair did not target this particular Kowloon Tong neighbourhood in their search for a home, although its low-rise, leafy surroundings and views of Hong Kong Island make the apartment a rare gem. 'What we really needed was a simple, modern, stylish apartment where we could comfortably retire after hectic business travelling,' Chau says. Their busy schedules meant the couple had little time for input into the apartment's interior design. Chau trawled the internet for Hong Kong-based designers and came across William Lim at dwp CL3 Architects (tel: 2527 1931; www.cl3.com ). They met on the second day of the Lunar New Year, when most people were celebrating with their families. It was a sign of what lay ahead: Chau warned Lim the only time he would be available to talk at length during the design and construction process would be at weekends and on public holidays. Chau says he was drawn to the idea of hiring a firm that wasn't purely defined by residential projects. '[Lim's] portfolio is mainly commercial - hotels, restaurants, offices - and that's exactly what I wanted,' he says. 'I didn't want to work with a residential interior designer whose mindset is probably fixed.' Chau is by no means green to the process of creativity. The managing director of MTV Asia, he studied architecture, has dabbled in art direction and is an accomplished painter whose long-term goal is to be a full-time artist. Chau's only regret is the apartment isn't big enough to accommodate a studio. The previous occupants had lived in the property for 35 years and had left it largely untouched. Structural walls meant the interior couldn't be opened out completely, and dictated the functional layout. As for the aesthetics, 'I told William I wanted it to look like a very modern hotel suite but with extended facilities,' Chau says. He gave Lim examples from the Hip Hotels book series, and Starck/Schraeger properties such as The Sanderson and St Martin's Lane in London. The best hotel guestrooms fully utilise space, which was what Chau was after: 'I wanted every square inch of space to be really usable and practical. There's no area of this apartment which is seldom used or purely there for cosmetic reasons.' As the renovations started, Chau sketched a rough layout and Lim developed it, working inwards from the bigger picture and slowly building up the details. Every weekend Chau would return with ideas and pictures for inspiration. 'It was like playing ping-pong but we never let the ball drop,' Chau says. 'It's just perfect.' 1 The kitchen is lined with mahogany-clad cabinets, made to the architect's specifications by Ping Kee Contractor (tel: 2604 1337). Where possible the stainless-steel Miele appliances are built in (Miele Showroom, room 401, 4/F, AIA Plaza, 18 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, tel: 2610 1331), including the coffee maker, oven, stove and dishwasher. The walls are painted in black emulsion - the exact shade of true black was achieved on the third attempt. The island in the middle forms a convenient bar area. To reduce its bulk, the end is clad in a mirror, which reflects the adjoining library/study area. 2 Functional zones are distinguished by colour - black, grey and white - and flooring. The living room has a shaggy grey carpet made to measure by Kasthall ($150,000, 3.98m by 44.3m, from Design Link, 11 St Francis Street, Wan Chai, tel: 2838 8299). The floor of the dining area is a raw cement screed, which is raised to accommodate drainage for the guest toilet and master bathroom. The circular dining table is from Pacific Decor ($12,000; 2203 Chinachem Hollywood Plaza, 1 Hollywood Road, Central, tel: 2520 2122) and the Lux chairs are by Moroso from MCV Asia ($6,200 each; 5/F, Capitol Plaza, 2 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, tel: 2189 7065). 3 The living room has a 1970s feel, enhanced by the shag-pile carpet, heavy curtains (made to measure by Zu Design, unit 2102, 21/F, Kodak House II, 39 Healthy Street East, North Point, tel: 2561 7377) and sofa suite. The latter was left by the previous owner and Chau revitalised it with a black velvet cover ($15,000, from Sankon, 23/F, Lucky Building, 39 Wellington Street, Central, tel: 2543 3880). Original folding glass doors reveal the balcony, which is clad in black and white mosaic tiles ($25 a square foot from Conic Collections, tel: 2838 1693) with timber decking made and installed by the contractor, Ping Kee. 4 The walk-in wardrobe comprises a mixture of mirrored and mahogany-veneer sliding storage cupboards with circular, steel door hardware (bought in Lockhart Road, Wan Chai). The oil painting is a self-portrait by Chau. Between business trips, Chau went shopping in Lockhart Road, where he chose the white bathroom furniture and clean-cut fittings. The glass-enclosed shower cubicle is equipped with a 24cm-diameter Axor rain showerhead ($4,380 from Depot, 373 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, tel: 3106 6008), inspired by the new Grand Hyatt at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. 5 The study is an eccentric mixture of neo-classical and modern, lined with storage units hidden by sliding doors in glass, back-painted in black. A Swarovski crystal glass chandelier (about $8,000 from a shop in Morrison Hill Road) gives a glamorous glow to the brown leather writing desk ($5,500, Lane Crawford, Pacific Place, Admiralty, tel: 2118 3668) and clear plastic Louis Ghost chair by Philippe Starck for Kartell (currently on sale for $1,899 at Aluminium, 8 Kingston Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2546 5904). Two Moroso organic cushion stools ($25,000 for two from MCV Asia) sit on a Moss rug made to measure by Kasthall ($90,000, 2.55m by 3.15m, from Design Link). 6 The dining area has a mirrored ceiling, giving the impression of a double-height space. Facing the living room is a sheer wall of glass sheets, back-painted in white. 7 In the master bedroom, the owners created their own artwork by having 36 photographs of themselves with family and friends redeveloped in black-and-white (as suggested by Lim) and individually framed to create a wall graphic. TRIED & TESTED Circuit planning The master suite is cleverly planned so that bedroom and bathroom sandwich a U-shaped walk-in wardrobe. From the wide opening to the living room, turn left to the bedroom and right to the bathroom. Doorways on the far side of each open into the closet, completing the circle. The doors themselves retreat into wall slots or, as in the bedroom, are mirrored and slide across the bed's headboard so that planes and surfaces are kept clean and circulation is not constricted. Styling: Esther van Wijck