This fun Hong Kong family home has been designed to suit its surrounds but can be easily moved
- Interior designer Lucia Tait Tolani injected elements that look perfectly at home in Hong Kong but would also translate to her expat clients’ native Britain
- Tait Tolani says you should always treat a rental property as your own but make sure the improvements can be moved with you
Although it seems counterintuitive to spend money on improving something that isn’t yours, Lucia Tait Tolani believes in giving rental properties a bit of TLC to make them beautiful individual spaces.
“Hongkongers pay some of the highest rents in the world so I get it that you might not want to spend more money on improvements,” says the American interior decorator and personal stylist. “I always say you should treat a rental property as if you own it but make design choices that are movable and flexible.”
Asked by a friend to help personalise this 2,300 sq ft, three-bedroom, two-bathroom Mid-Levels flat for her family of five, Tait Tolani began with colour, wherein her true passion lies. However, she let her clients lead the way and the soft blues, creamy pale yellows and soothing greens they gravitated towards were the hues on which she based her design vision.
“Living with colour is very important. It makes a big impact on mood so it has to come from the client and strike the right balance between harmony and contrast,” she says. “What I might love in my home might affect someone else in a totally different way.”
Because the family hail from Britain, they wanted a classic English feel for their home. Tait Tolani stuck to their preferred aesthetic but managed to inject quirky elements, such as the harlequin-patterned pastel wallpaper on the nursery ceiling, to make the apartment original and fun.