Frank Yu Siu-fung and Tara Lau Kit-wan are no strangers to home improvement, having transformed a previous Mid-Levels home, also featured in Post Magazine, from chintzy ugly duckling to chic modern swan in less than three months. With two growing children, the couple decided it was time to move to a more spacious home and were delighted when they found one in the same building. Their new 3,200 sq ft duplex, two floors above the old flat, has the feel of a house.
'Eventually, we would love to find a house somewhere on the island,' says Lau. 'It's what everybody [with children] really wants: a house with a little garden to play in. Also, my husband could ... do what he wanted with it.'
Yu, principal architect at Gravity Partnership, is often asked to design interiors for clients but always declines.
'It's such intense work. I can only do it once every few years - which means I only have the energy for it when we do our own places,' he says. His latest effort was 'very much an expanded version of our flat downstairs', he says. 'The last renovation was such a rush job, so [for this apartment], we took our time getting a lot of the details right that we didn't before.'
A six-month renovation resulted in a complete transformation of the flat.
'It was just horrible,' says Yu. 'It had this wavy art deco-ish ceiling, these giant [air-conditioning] units hung up on the walls and the staircase was just unbelievable - I don't even have the words to describe how horrible. The layout was pretty awful, too. The area we've made into a bar [off the dining area] used to be this strange little room with no windows. Why would you have that?'