Step inside a Peggy Bels-designed interior, and it's easy to identify her bold, singular style. The smooth, cement-effect walls; the pale, unfinished wooden floorboards; and the bespoke metallic doors and handles bear traces of her signature design language.
While some interior designers find themselves needing to compromise their creative vision to satisfy a client’s brief, Bels strikes a balance between her clients’ needs and staying true to her definitive look and feel, as is evident in this project.
When this 2,800-square-foot flat in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels district was first handed over, the existing layout was boxy, closed in and clad with dated parquet flooring. Because of this, the French homebuyers enlisted Bels to inject some personality into the unremarkable space.
“They wanted to renovate the flat to give it a more contemporary look, and make the living and dining areas more open to enhance the feeling of spaciousness,” explains Bels.
The designer sought to combine the communal zones into one continuous area by removing a wall that divided the entrance and the living room. However, there were structural beams that needed to be kept; they were later covered in the same cement finish as the walls, transforming these design obstacles into interesting room dividers.
Contrasting materials were crucial in creating a sense of dynamism in the home, seen in the clash of severe, rough metals with smooth, pale-grey walls. Bels has achieved this particular wall finish by mixing cement with water to get a milky colour – it has become a key characteristic of many of the flats she has designed.
Similarly, the open, airy breakfast bar and dining area is marked by custom-made, black-metal cabinetry and a slick marble countertop. “These dark backgrounds allow the light colours to pop, creating more contrast and deepness,” the designer explains.
She’s also equipped the home with many of her favourite finishes, such as metal doors and grey oak flooring, which are in line with the predominantly monochromatic mood.
Wooden furnishings also soften the severity of the industrial materials. In the dining room, a wooden dining table and matching Norman Cherner chairs from Lane Crawford add a sense of warmth, as does the sideboard from Organic Modernism.
Bels also custom-designed personal touches to better suit the space, such as a carpet she sourced from Pakistan and had dyed black, along with a TV cabinet in the living room that she designed and had made in Hong Kong.
The narrow hallway leading to the couple’s light-filled en suite bedroom and their daughter’s adorable nursery is a seamless transition between public and private realms. The setting here is cosy and intimate, though the palette is still decidedly pared back. The highlight of the intimate quarters is a chic dressing room that’s lined with floor-to-ceiling closets on both sides, housing an exquisite collection of women’s fashion – which comes as no surprise after seeing the numerous fashion tomes stacked on the many shelves and side tables in the home.
On the other side of the hallway is the handsome study and TV room, furnished with a striking stingray-leather writing desk and a vintage leather love seat.
In this Mid-Levels home, it’s evident that there’s no shortage of space for all of the family’s passions and pastimes – it’s a truly well-thought-out space that’s suited to indulging in all of life’s little luxuries.
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