Modern contemporary Hong Kong high-rise home oozes elegance with its khaki grey aesthetic and flowing design
- A family of four living in Hong Kong’s tallest residential building, The Cullinan, moved even higher when an apartment on the 77th floor became available
- High-end materials, designer-brand modern contemporary furniture and a khaki grey aesthetic make an elegant eyrie in which to literally live the high life
If you are used to living the high life, why would you settle for anything less?
From their home in Hong Kong’s tallest residential building, The Cullinan, the Lo family of four had been happily watching the world go by – until a flat on a higher floor became available for sale.
The 77th-floor eyrie above Kowloon Station not only offered an even better view, it was also bigger. However, there were some inherent “problems”, which Matthew Li Kai-lung, founder and creative director at Grande Interior Design (grandehome.com.hk), was tasked with correcting before the family moved in.
But this was to be a gentle renovation. Although cost was not an issue, both clients and designer agreed that gutting the home and replacing a perfectly serviceable fit-out in a building only 13 years young (completed in 2009) would be environmentally wasteful. So the kitchen and three bathrooms in the 1,361 sq ft (126 square metre) flat would be left untouched.
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The main pain point was in the living and dining room, which enjoys spectacular full harbour views but had a dearth of places for the television or to display the family’s collectibles.
So Li installed a full wall of open cabinets and shelving finished in wood veneer and marble. The use of high-end materials was key in creating a luxe, textured aesthetic, Li says.
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It also pairs beautifully with the owners’ taste for designer-brand modern contemporary furniture, their home oozing style from the touch of internationally renowned Eastern and Western names, including Hong Kong’s own André Fu. The whole scheme is in an elegant khaki grey, harmonising with the moody hues of the sky, harbour and cityscape below.
Realigning some of the doorways so the space flowed more freely left damage and gaps in the existing timber flooring. Rather than simply replacing it all, Li scoured suppliers to find more of the same. To overcome a slight colour difference in the batches, some of the original boards were lifted and interspersed with the new. “It wasn’t easy, but we did it,” he says.
The spectacular views are now on show throughout the home, but the son’s bedroom door opened directly to the dining room, which is not ideal. Li’s solution was to replace it with a slider so that the door becomes less obvious, making it appear part of a textured feature wall (see Tried + tested).
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At the far end of the social zone, he also replaced the solid door to the study (or fourth bedroom) with double glass sliders that may be opened to expand the living area when entertaining.
In a bedroom allocated to the daughter, who works overseas and returns home for only a few weeks each year, Li designed an electronic Murphy bed that disappears into a wardrobe when not needed. For a cost of about HK$30,000 (US$3,800), this has endowed the home with a useful multipurpose room.
Each of the bedrooms now feature built-in cabinetry for work, study or use as a dressing table. The parents’ bedroom had a high-quality Italian Poliform wardrobe already installed, but it was long and narrow, not big enough for two people, and they had to cross the corridor to access it. To connect the two spaces, Li added extra storage in the master bedroom, and realigned the doorway so the wardrobe now forms a more practical L-shape.
One problem remained: there was no shoe cupboard. The foyer was big enough to accommodate one, without detracting from the feeling of a grand entrance befitting the home’s status. Li designed a full-height shoe cupboard that flows seamlessly into the living room cabinetry – a final cohesive touch in elevating the home’s liveability to an even greater height.
Living room
The living room features a wall of storage and display shelves in natural dyed and multilaminar wood veneers from Tabu (tabu.it) and Tundra grey marble from Prestige Fine Marble (pfmarblehk.com), the cabinetry extending on the right-hand side to a shoe cabinet in the entrance foyer.
The dining table, dining chairs and tableware all came from André Fu Living (andrefuliving.com) and the canopy pendant by Haberdashery was from Archetypal (archetypal.hk). The formerly solid door to the study room was replaced with double sliding glass doors framed in black wrought iron for a visual connection to the living/dining zone.
Living room detail
The sofa and cushions came from Cassina (cassina.com). The coffee table and smaller table were from Rimadesio (rimadesio.it) and the tea set from André Fu Living.
Study
Built-in cabinetry on three sides of the study room includes a feature wall behind the desk replicating for consistency the look of the sliding glass doors leading into the room.
Main bedroom
Fitted veneer drawers and shelving on the left were custom made by Grande Interior Design. The chair came from JG Casa (jgcasa.com), the Marc Wood hanging bedside lamps were from Archetypal and the bedlinen was from Zara Home. The curtains, in Simoom linen, were made by Wallpaper Plus (wallpaperplus.com.hk).
Daughter’s room
The Murphy bed can be folded away into a wardrobe when not in use. The built-in dressing table/desk was made by Grande Interior Design and the chair came from the clients’ previous flat.
Son’s room
The bed with drawer storage beneath was custom made by Grande Interior Design, as was the shelving. The bedlinen was from Zara Home (zarahome.com). The desk and chair came from the family’s previous flat.
Tried + tested
To make the entrance into the son’s bedroom look less obvious, an existing solid door was replaced with a discreet sliding panel. Finished in PVC embossed wall covering from Wallpaper Plus (wallpaperplus.com.hk), and with a black wrought-iron trim, it now looks part of the feature wall on the dining room side.
