How a design journalist’s Hong Kong village house evolved over 20 years as the homes she wrote about influenced its interiors
- A 1,200 square foot duplex in Sai Kung, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, became a ‘reflection of my enduring stint as a design journalist’ for Chan Keng Siew
- The blue, two-storey village house went through numerous upgrades as her life circumstances changed and the homes she featured influenced her
“What is home?”
In the past few months that question, printed on the side of an Australian museum’s cloth bag, has followed me around literally and in my head.
(Un)settled, with a new Sydney address, I find myself ruminating on my changed circumstances and about familial duty as well as final destination. My “homebound” answer, however, has much to do with a blue, two-storey village house in Sai Kung, in Hong Kong’s New Territories.
In the early noughties, that 1,200 sq ft (111 square metre) duplex gave me rooms of my own and a concrete reason to remain in Hong Kong rather than return to Australia, where I grew up. It also became a reflection of my enduring stint as a design journalist: homes I wrote about influenced my numerous upgrades to its interiors.
A major renovation in 2008, however, broke new ground chiefly because it began a lasting friendship with then newly minted interior designer Keith Chan Shing-hin. The founder of Hintegro took home a silver medal in the Best Residential category at the 2023 A&D Awards, a leading Asia-Pacific prize for architecture and design.
Several years later, I made another fast acquaintance in Paul Cowling. The old-style British builder helped tweak the three-bedroom, two-bathroom residence when nuptials made it an official home for two: a spare room became another office and some of my husband’s branded kit replaced odd fourth-hand furniture.
