What do you do when a lifetime collection of books, DVDs and clothes threatens to take over your flat? You could sell some of it, dump some of it or call in the storage experts, as Albert and Teresa Tsang did when trying to bring some order to their Discovery Bay home.
Alain Wong, from interior design firm Comodo, thought of every storage possibility for the 2,000 sq ft apartment, which is made up of two units linked by an internal staircase. Where most people would hang art or mirrors, Wong installed built-in storage. Plus there's more storage space under the beds and the staircase.
'When the Tsangs first bought the flat, which was built about 30 years ago, it was in very bad condition,' Wong says. 'The apartments had been connected with a metal spiral staircase that was impossibly narrow.'
Wong replaced it with a wider L-shaped oak staircase.
Upstairs, in the master bedroom, Wong demolished a wall and installed a walk-in wardrobe and a row of floor-to-ceiling wardrobes, and built bookshelves that line the walls of what became two studies. He then built a bed on a platform, providing space underneath for books and off-season clothes.
'It was my daughter Janice's idea to place the books around the base of the bed,' Teresa says. The concept was also used in Janice's bedroom. 'The books are mainly my husband's. He loves to read and cannot bear to part with any of them,' Teresa says.