Out with the mould: dilapidated house on The Peak in Hong Kong is given new lease of life
After tackling three years of mildew build-up, this unloved 3,500 sq ft house gets a quirky, lively makeover inspired by a jaw-dropping art collection
When Shari Moss arrived in Hong Kong five years ago, she couldn’t believe how lush it was. Her first flat, on The Peak, was surrounded by greenery and she was keen to replicate that after the redevelopment of their building forced Moss and her husband, Samuel, to move.
It is hard to believe now but the 3,500 sq ft house they eventually settled on, nearby, had been unoccupied for three years, and shut up without any ventilation or other means of combating Hong Kong’s notorious humidity.
Samuel had seen the house on a previous round of viewings but had discounted it immediately because of its appalling state. The couple, both Brits who work in finance, revisited it only because they hadn’t found anything else that came close in size and location.
“A lot of high-end rentals here come with an overload of gold and marble. I was the driving force behind our decision to take this house,” says Moss, who describes her family of four as “nomadic” (before moving to Hong Kong, they lived in Britain and America). “I could see the house’s potential – there were different rooms and levels that would suit everyone, big wall spaces and an abundance of storage – but I knew there was a lot of work to undertake.”
Even though the Mosses rent the four-bedroom, four-bathroom, three-split-level property, they were willing to invest in it emotionally and financially to make it their own. On went round-the-clock air conditioners, fans and dehumidifiers, and in came industrial cleaners, an army of tradesmen and interior designer Aviva Duncan.