Breathing life back into old properties in Macau can be a challenge but also very rewarding. Ambiente Managing Director Suzanne Watkinson takes a look at a recent home project in Old Taipa Village where an ugly duckling was transformed into a lovely swan! Pictures by Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro.
When it comes to a passion for property, and breathing new life into tired run-down places in need of a face-lift, Ashley Horne is right up there on the Richter scale! An Englishman in his early 40s, and an electrician by trade, Ashley has been living and working in Macau for about 6 years. And he has recently completed one of his most challenging projects – the purchase and complete remodelling and modernization of a 950 sq ft apartment in Old Taipa Village.
This is the third of his conquests. Like the previous two, this is in a low-rise walk-up in one of the high-demand, low-supply areas in Macau, where with a little courage and imagination and a relatively small investment, the capital gain in the property is considerable. “You can go and buy 20 Nova Citys, Supreme Flower Citys, or Wa Boas in central Taipa but in the village its very difficult to find available properties these days. The scarcity makes them all the more desirable, especially for those working on the CoTai strip” Ashley explains, “they make ideal rental investments as tenants can walk to work, and besides, the village is a great place to live”.
The apartment, located on Rua Direita Carlos Eugenio, the main bus artery leading into Old Taipa Village was on the market for about 3 months in early 2012. Advertised in the local Chinese newspaper and listed with three different agents, priced at HKD3.2, HKD3.1 and HKD2.95M …. in March 2012 the seller was finally persuaded to accept HKD2.9M. “At that time the market was quieter than it is today and the extent of the renovation needed was obviously putting off many potential buyers. If you’re going to have success with the older properties – whether to rent or to buy – you have to see the potential of a place, you have to have a vision”.
After 6 months of planning, designing, building site upheaval, a painfully slow contractor and a renovation bill of HKD300,000, Ashley was finally able to move in and start to make it feel like home.
“People ask my why I enjoy living here so much”, smiles Ashley. Apart from the obvious charm of the village with its narrow streets and quaint little houses, “what I love about Old Taipa village is the familiarity with the locals. At 8.30am each morning many of the old villagers congregate at the Community Hall on the other side of the street to my apartment. They sit around, gossip, sing and chant”. 
“Its a 3 minute walk to my local pub. It takes 15 minutes for me to walk to work and I have restaurants and shops all at my door stop”.
Ashley plays with a local football team, The Macau Muppets, and when he’s walking to football he’ll stop and buy his water at one of the local shops and have a chat with the shopkeeper. Then there’s the chaotic hustle and bustle in the centre of the village when a tour bus disgorges tourists to buy their ‘sawdust biscuits’ – “there’s a real life and soul to this place” he exclaims.
And what is especially important to him is that his home has plenty of outside space with a terrace and a rooftop which was lacking in his earlier two properties. “I like the fact that I can see the complete diverse range of Macau buildings from my terrace.” Looking out over his traditional Chinese red roof tiles, “there’s the old tatty village places across the road from me, Taipa residential high-rise behind, several traditional Portuguese-style buildings, and the shiny new casinos in the distance, all of which sums up what Macau is to me”.
So what exactly did Ashley do to get his apartment into the shape it is today? This time he decided to use a designer to help him. “I gave him ideas that I’d seen on the internet or in magazines to help explain my vision, then we basically had the whole place gutted, so the walls, floors, windows, everything was demolished.”
The wall between the kitchen and the living room was knocked down, the bathroom and master bedroom enlarged, all new double-glazed windows and sliding doors out to the terrace installed, attractive pale wood, engineered oak floors were laid.
“Where possible I like to source locally here in Macau”, so whilst most of the furniture, built in cabinets and some ceiling lights come from IKEA in Hong Kong (their functionality and modern lines suit his tastes), and a couple of the feature lights he brought on a visit to Australia, curtains are made up by local curtain and upholstery shop Fiona, the kitchen, bathroom and terrace tiles and bathroom and kitchen fixtures all come from ‘Contractor Street’ on the inner harbour.
As one enters the apartment, the bathroom with is spacious rain shower and smart black and grey tiles is to the left, and to the right, the open kitchen and breakfast bar and living area. As in most other older walk-up buildings the ceiling height is a not particularly high. An attractive feature however to the space is a clean, well maintained light well, and windows from the kitchen and one side of the living room look into this, giving an additional sense of space and light.
The focal point of the living space is the floor to ceiling sliding doors that fold up neatly to one side and leads to a terrace, with multi-brown tiles, muted-pink wall, a table and couple of chairs. From the terrace, up a few steps to the roof.
The kitchen wall tiles are a creamy-caramel with stark white grouting which ties the walls and the white cabinetry together. Oven, washing machine, electric hot water unit (no more gas for him, “I was fed up with gas bottles running out”) and electric hob are all built in.
Ample storage can be found in a walk-in under stair cupboard and floor to ceiling wardrobes taking up one whole wall in the master bedroom.
Ashley’s preferred colour scheme is predominantly white walls, with a dark caramel-brown feature wall, chocolate brown sofa and chair, cream rug and several framed black and white photos on the walls.
Leading off the living area are two double bedrooms. One is large enough for a study alcove, though being a true man at heart, at the moment it serves as storage space for Ashley’s bicycle and sports gear!
The downsides to living in the village? “Fifty buses going past every hour!”, says Ashley. The buses are definitely an irritant especially on Rua Direita Carlos Eugenio, “number 33 seems to go past every 3 minutes …”, hence the importance of the double-glazing.
When comparing Macau with other places he’s lived Ashley appreciates the simplicity of life here. “What I love about Macau is that its an easy place to live, everywhere is within a taxi ride away.” He used to have a car but now no longer needs one. What he misses? “Good pubs and supermarkets … and the greenery … you can’t beat a summer’s day in England. When I walk past the Venetian on my way to work in the early morning they are sometimes cutting the grass and that smell of freshly cut grass takes me instantly back to memories of family and England”.
But home is firmly in Macau for now. Any thoughts of another renovation project? He’s clearly longing to, but “I need to save some money first” he laughs. The good news – after the remodelling and modernizing of his current apartment the bank valuation stands at just over HKD6M, so that’s double his original investment in only 18 months – proof that giving old village properties a face-lift is a very much a winning formula.
