One floor; many stories
American interior designer Deborah von Eldik has been living in her Mid-Levels apartment for just three years, but she has spent nearly a lifetime preparing to decorate it.
Scattered throughout the 1,200 sq ft flat is von Eldik's collection of antique furniture, books and porcelain, which reflects three decades in Hong Kong as well as her family history. Many pieces are heirlooms - and each has a story to tell.
Like the tall oak chest in the living room, which was made from wood taken from fishing boats and inherited from her former husband's family, who were Dutch tea and coffee planters in Indonesia. Or the silver cutlery, intricately decorated with flowers, that once graced her grandmother's dining table in Virginia, in the United States.
Von Eldik moved to Hong Kong from New York in the 1970s, with her then husband. The couple first lived on a 67-foot junk moored in Causeway Bay. At the time, 'no one had flats to rent out and most of the expats came here on packages, so the companies owned the flats they lived in', she says.
Von Eldik worked in banking and finance for many years but switched to dealing in upmar- ket real estate 10 years ago. Her clients would ask her 'to prepare their flats before they moved here so that they could arrive with nothing more than a suitcase'.
Recognising the demand, she began offering a design service, which stood her in good stead when it came to renovating her own bathroom and kitchen.
'When I moved in, the bathroom was really disgusting - there was a lot of exposed piping behind the toilet so I built mirrored storage [to hide it],' she says. She also installed linoleum flooring with the grain and texture of wood and re-enamelled the tiles and tub. A glass partition was added to the side of the tub to create a shower space.
The kitchen was gutted, with new cabinets built and modern appliances installed throughout. Some of the cabinets cover once exposed piping while the stainless-steel splashback was extended over the window sill, ingeniously hiding old tiles. The con- tractor also squeezed in an island bench with a wine fridge and storage overheard.
Von Eldik rents space off-site in which to store the antiques she can't fit into her home. She says most of her vintage Chinese furniture came from village houses in Sai Kung.
'I would trade things with the villagers - offer them things like chicken wire if they gave me pieces they considered junk,' she says. 'For instance, I have a wood panel screen that was being used as fencing. It took industrial aircraft solvent to dilute the layers of paint on it. I then finished it using traditional shellac.'
She became so friendly with the villagers that one of them gave her a four-poster bed, which now graces the main bedroom of her two-bedroom flat.
'That bed was commissioned by a Chinese seafarer who came back from England and built a big family house in Sai Kung,' she says.
Von Eldik also installed an antique fireplace and fans taken from one of her former homes - a Victorian-era house built in a neo-Georgian style located at the old Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock in Hung Hom. The house - built in 1890 - has since been torn down to make way for development.
Von Eldik's instincts towards preservation are obvious in this Mid-Levels colonial - the only one in her building with original windows. Outside, a fish pond complements a flourishing garden in which von Eldik grows tomatoes, basil and beans.
'So many flats are cookie cutters but they're not very inspiring,' she says, adding that hers was designed to be a nest.
The intention, she says, was to make 'everything homey'.
1 Living room
2 Terrace
The garden sofa set was reupholstered for HK$1,700 by a shop that has since closed.
3 Bedroom
The four-poster bed was given to von Eldik by a Sai Kung villager. The bedside tables are Chinese cabinets circa 1930 given to her in Sai Kung, and the lamps were bought in Stanley Market about 20 years ago. The wool rug was made by a local carpet maker in 1975.
4 Kitchen
5 Dining area
The teak table was bought from a fisherman in Aberdeen in 1974 for HK$100. The dining chairs were custom made 20 years ago. The Irish crystal, Virginian silverware and rug are heirlooms.
6 Bathroom
Von Eldik had the bathroom re-enamelled for HK$22 per square foot by Chin Fai Company (tel: 9199 8211). The ESL NeWood (B303) linoleum (HK$24 per square foot) on the floor came from Forever Wallpaper (260 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2519 0278). Saved from the wrecker's ball in 1978 is the teak side table, which von Eldik painted glossy white.
7 Living area
The second-hand wing-back chair and ottoman were reupholstered years ago for HK$800. The blue and white China is mainly Ching dynasty. The cabinet is made from oak salvaged from fishing boats and was inherited from von Eldik's former Dutch in-laws.
Tried + tested
Power saving
Deborah von Eldik saved the black Bakelite switches along with the G&C Kingsway fans from a condemned Victorian-era mansion in Hung Hom.
Stylist David Roden
