Renovating old village houses is hard enough without having to rely on sampans to deliver the materials and builders. But for one couple in isolated Luk Chau, the challenge was worth it.
Good things often come to those who wait. When Corinne and Lucas Fuller remodelled their traditional village house on Lamma Island they waited for the rain to stop, the tide to ebb, building materials to arrive by sampan and contractors to show up. 'In the end though,' says Corinne, an architect (tel: 2982 2971) who designed the renovations and managed the project, 'we were extremely happy with the results.'
And so they should be. The 1,400-square-foot home, perched on the edge of a small village without road access, is a study in adaptive reuse and languid sophistication. 'We wanted to keep the spirit of the house,' Corinne says, 'so we didn't demolish too much. But it was terrible in here so we had to make a lot of adjustments.' These adjustments included removing three layers of tiles in the kitchen, scraping away coat after coat of paint throughout the house, removing walls and resurfacing those that remained, re-laying floors, changing the angle of the staircase and adding a second bathroom.
'We lived here while the work was going on so there was a lot of do-it-yourself involved,' Lucas says. 'For that reason we hired a series of contractors who worked on specific projects.' One of the first Lucas undertook was installing air-conditioning. He then concentrated on issues such as customising doors throughout the home according to plans Corinne had drawn up.
With a large deck made from an all-weather local hardwood used in the production of pontoons and piers, the front of the house is striking, with sheets of glass interrupted by slim slices of concrete wall and a second-storey wrap-around balcony. The glass ensures a subtle transition between inside and out and effectively enlarges the open-plan look of the downstairs living-dining-kitchen area. The staircase, which extended into the room and branched off on both sides of the upper floor in the original floor plan, now hugs the back wall, increasing the usable space and creating storage underneath. A bathroom is tucked neatly behind the living area.
The open-plan layout continues upstairs. A large office and study area is framed by the glass balustrade of the stairwell, above which is an eye-catching feature wall made of panels of thick textured glass. 'We needed to add a second bathroom, but wanted to keep the open feeling so we used this glass wall,' Corinne says. The glass also ensures light enters the bathroom. The master bedroom and children's room front the second floor, benefiting from the calm sea views and sunlight.