Initially, the apartment had three bedrooms, four bathrooms and two exits. Yu sealed the rear exit and foyer, turning the space into a huge walk-in closet that melds into a master suite, which also features a master bathroom and a study with its own en suite bathroom.

The en suite guest room, down the hall from the master suite, was not structurally modified, nor was

the guest toilet off the corridor, although it was given a complete face lift. The kitchen, which had been concealed, was opened up and merged with the already fluid living and dining rooms.

'We love to cook and entertain,' says Lau, 'and it works well to have the kitchen open so I can socialise while preparing dinner for our guests, even though some of my friends think it is bad fung shui to have an open kitchen.'

Yu retained the original kitchen cabinets but incorporated stainless-steel accents and changed the doors. The deep-scarlet lacquer fronts are more in keeping with the home's streamlined style. Appliances are kept under the new Formica Stone counter tops, leaving plenty of counter space for food preparation.

'Chinese cooking has so many strong odours, so most people like to have their kitchen closed,' says Yu, 'but because of the fantastic cross ventilation here we were able to open it up.'

Although Yu admits to being influenced by the 1960s, his style is simple. 'I hate trendy. In a few years, I want to still feel comfortable and not as though the place is dated,' he says.

This modern, timeless aesthetic is evident in the decor. Classic modern pieces in subtle hues are artfully laid out on rich teak-wood floors, with occasional bursts of colour. 'People add character to a home,' says Lau, 'so every time we travel we bring something back to remember the trip [by] and make our home cozier.'

The eclectic pieces that define their travels - ranging from Giacometti-like metal sculptures sourced in Bangkok's Chatuchak Market to perfume bottles from London's Portobello Market - draw the eye around the home and add dynamism.

'When people first walk in they may think the place looks like a boutique,' says Lau, 'but once they've spent some time here they can see it is very functional without being clinical. We love it.'

1 The open-plan kitchen, dining and living room, graced by a verdant hill on one side and a view of the Happy Valley racecourse on the other, is roomy, elegant and perfect for the dinner parties the couple frequently hold. The Living Divine modular couch and chair cost $87,400 from Anterra (The Ellipsis, 5 Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley, tel: 2525 9874). The rectangular cushions, in Saigon 540 mustard ($9,500 for five), are also from Anterra, as is the coffee table ($12,600). The leather rug cost $5,999 from Aluminium (shop D, 8 Kingston Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2577 4766). The dining table cost 239,000 baht ($48,300) from Orizzonte (137 Sukhumvit Soi 55, Klong Toey, Bangkok, tel: 662 714 8002) and the complementary chairs cost $2,800 each from Dimensions (shop 2, Green Valley Mansion, 51 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley, tel: 3162 3721). The Moooi dining-room light fixture ($15,430) is from Design Link (11 St Francis Street, Wan Chai, tel: 2105 9339). The painting above the Porro black lacquered sideboard ($63,400 from Anterra) is by Vietnamese artist Doan Hoang Lam, whose studio is at 13 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi, Vietnam, tel: 844 934 4433.

2 The master bathroom displays some of the good-looking functionality of the home. The towel rack and small wall cabinet were custom made.

4 The master bedroom is kept open and light with the addition of a glass wardrobe (see Tried & Tested). The painting, picked up while the owners were on holiday in Vietnam, is by Lam. The bed was custom made.

5 Avid chefs and hosts, Frank Yu Siu-fung and Tar Lau Kit-wan wanted a kitchen that was not cut off from the entertaining areas. After removing the concealing wall, Yu gave the space a complete facelift by replacing cabinet doors and adding stainless-steel accents. The red lacquer cabinet doors cost a total of $116,000 and are from Poggenpohl (G/F, Lippo Leighton Tower, 103 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, tel: 2890 9111). The extended counter ($17,000), from the Gobi Line Collection, is from Solitech (unit 305, Kai Tak Commercial Building, 317 Des Voeux Road, Central, tel: 2690 9020). The stainless-steel counter was custom made. The grey Luxaflex Venetian blinds ($2,990 for three) are from Life Interiors (flat E, 1/F, On Hing Mansion, 156 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, tel: 2866 6868). The large mask was picked up in India.

6 The half-sized guest toilet was given a style lift by the addition of an Alape sink ($4,850) from Color Living (333 Lockhart Road, tel: 2295 6881). The Dornbracht MEM Series tap ($9,800) is from the same store. The Grigio Rullato series wall tiles cost $533 a square metre from La Casa.

7 Yu selected these tiles ($395 a square metre) from La Casa as a textural counterpoint to the flatness of the paint used throughout the apartment. The Ligne Roset EOL floor lamp cost $10,000 from Anterra.

tried & tested

closet case

'I grew up in the 1960s,' says Frank Yu Siu-fung, 'and there was a lot of interplay between materials then.' Drawing on his childhood influences, Yu, head of architectural and design firm Gravity Partnership (tel: 3106 8711), selected corrugated translucent glass to encase a master bedroom wardrobe that is visible from inside the room and the hallway outside. Yu didn't want the closet to be 'solid' but required glass that provided privacy. To avoid the 'dead' look of opaque glass, he chose a corrugated translucent type, which 'has some motion to it. So now you can't see inside but you can still see the light source. It is more like a lantern.'

styling Esther van Wijk