Hong Kong couple brightens up Repulse Bay rooftop apartment with bold art and beautiful garden
A typhoon “blew” a gregarious couple to a new flat and life as green-fingered homebodies.
Where we live helps determine how we live. When Jane Straley and her American financier husband, Phillip, moved within Repulse Bay last year, their 1,700 sq ft, three-bedroom apartment ushered in a new era in her life. “I used to be such a city girl,” she says. “We were always eating out and going out, but now we stay at home much more. I cook, I garden – I never did either of these things before. My husband can’t believe it. But it makes me so happy. I get up early to do the watering, and I talk to my flowers every day.”
On her third career, Straley is no stranger to change: this year she opened a non-profit art space, Kong, in Central, having worked in fashion and interiors. This is also her third home to be featured by Post Magazine: her previous two were in Sai Kung and Repulse Bay. “Last time, I said, ‘I used to dress myself, now I dress my house.’ But these days, I dress my garden,” she says, with a laugh.
In a town where secateurs are a status symbol, the Straleys’ outdoor space is enviable. It’s a 1,800 sq ft terrace with unobstructed views of Repulse Bay. South-facing, it gets the sun all day, and Straley’s flowers are blooming. “I have grown more than 30 different varieties,” she says proudly. “I have a whole herb garden – I’m saving the sage for my Thanksgiving turkey – plus tomatoes, pomegranates, cucumbers, lemons, beans … I have grown so many cactus plants from cuttings that I’m going to have to start giving them away.”
See also: Raising the roof
Like the apartment itself, the terrace is mainly decked out with pieces from the couple’s previous homes – planters, sunbeds and an outdoor kitchen.
“We used to have a bigger place [2,400 square feet] with a rooftop, just behind this building, but there was an accident – during a T10, one of our sunbeds blew off the roof, right through some temporary scaffolding, and disappeared.” When it was found, it was so badly damaged it could not be repaired. “After that, even though we loved [the apartment], we were worried about living there,” Straley says.
Having grown used to the luxury of a large outdoor space, the couple made that their priority when searching for a new, less-exposed rental home.
“It took a year to find this place and even then Phillip nearly turned it down because of the flooring – typical dark teak,” Straley says. “But I knew we could fix that.”