A Hong Kong family home takes one room and gives it several uses
A 200 sq ft room tucked cleverly inside a 1,750 sq ft Pok Fu Lam flat serves as a study, guest room, child’s bedroom, playroom and office
If the room above is not the hardest working 200 sq ft in Hong Kong, it is certainly a contender.
Once two rooms – a study and a child’s bedroom in a 1,750 sq ft Pok Fu Lam flat – this multifunctional space now packs in two double beds, two full-sized desks, a child’s table and chairs, a two-seater sofa, play space, a whiteboard, gym equipment, art supplies, filing cabinets, a printer, HEPA air filter, and all the toys, clothes and treasures a little girl could want. And with a sleek, clean aesthetic. It’s quite a party trick.
The study/guest room/child’s bedroom/playroom is the brainchild of Bruce Harwood, of BHI Design Studio. It is not the first time he has worked on the space.
Ten years ago, he renovated the entire flat for luxury travel specialist Shy Perez-Sala and her husband, Jay Sala, a management consultant, just after they had acquired the property. Harwood opened up the apartment, moving the entrance and redesigning the kitchen to enlarge the dining area, installing a larger en suite bathroom and creating a study and guest room divided by sliding doors.
Design details included hidden storage and cabling throughout the flat to keep the space looking clean and uncluttered, and a flexible gallery hanging system for Jay’s stunning blown-up safari photographs.
“We’ve changed the paint colour on one wall in the living room to complement a new painting from the Affordable Art Fair – it didn’t pop against the neutral walls and furnishings – and painted a wall in the dining room, but that’s about it,” says Jay.