White-on-white minimalist Hong Kong home is a dream living space – two-bedroom flat is both designer-worthy and functional
- A minor update to a man’s two-bed home in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong, snowballed into a full-blown renovation – and a wonderful friendship with the interior designer
- The homeowner wanted a sleek, chic, clutter-free flat in crisp whites and contrasting matt black accents – the result is something both beautiful and functional
The renovation of Chris Yim’s two-bedroom Mid-Levels flat, on Hong Kong Island, was a bit of a chain reaction. One idea led to another and what started out as a fairly restricted brief for interior designer Amy Butler, of House of Butler, eventually snowballed into a full-blown makeover – and a wonderful friendship.
After Yim’s tenants vacated the 760 sq ft (71 square metre) flat, he decided to move back and enjoy a quieter side to Hong Kong than his then location in Central district.
He felt the property needed an update but didn’t want to overdo it. And because of a fairly tight budget, he was not prepared to go the full nine yards.
He felt there was little point redoing the kitchen, since he rarely cooks, and that replacing the flooring would be too much hassle. Instead, he concentrated on areas that were important to him, such as the bathroom and the creation of a spacious walk-in wardrobe in place of the second bedroom.
“The kitchen was old-fashioned but Chris initially didn’t want to renovate it, so I had to respect that,” recalls the Ibizan designer, whom Yim had chosen to work on the project thanks to their shared love of white-on-white and ultra-minimal design.
“Additionally, he’d had a bad experience with renovations in the past so was understandably nervous. By the end of the four-month project, he had completely relaxed and got on board with the whole process.
