Bigger on the inside: Tricks to create larger spaces in small Hong Kong flats

So you've decided to remodel, and make that pokey flat more liveable.

The freedom to pull down internal walls is a renovator's dream - but if structural or budget constraints don't allow it, can a worthwhile result still be achieved?

Many flats in Hong Kong do offer scope to scrap the internal layout and start again, but Clifton Leung Hin-che, founder of Clifton Leung Design Workshop, is seeing less demand for it these days. It is partly due to the mess involved, and the general un-neighbourliness of all that jack-hammering, but also because it costs so much just to buy a flat now, there's less left over for remodelling.

Leung estimates that more than HK$100,000 can be saved on the total renovation of a 600 sq ft flat if existing walls are retained.

The key to "making" space within an existing layout is, he says, all about illusion. "If you elevate furniture, it appears lighter. You get more floor space, and the room feels bigger."

Leung has tried this trick in many projects. A tiny bedroom in a Wong Po Gardens flat magically felt more spacious after he "floated" the wardrobe (fixed to the wall from behind), continued the cabinetry to the night table and bed in one streamlined sweep, and up-lit the whole from concealed lighting below.