An abused and neglected apartment is given a new lease of life with some simple refurbishment and homely comforts
L’Royal Arc is a 55 storey hotel, casino and private apartments, located in the NAPE area of Macau. Being in the heart of the peninsula’s ‘casino-land’ with Starworld, MGM, Wynn and the Lisboas all within a 5 minute walk, there’s a sense of transience about the place. Considered a high-end, luxury property, the apartments tend to attract a smattering of overseas businesses who need a company apartment for their visiting executives and residents of the gaming persuasion, firstly because of the proximity to the casinos and secondly because they could afford the higher rents.
One such apartment belonging to a European investment firm was, during the hay-day of the gaming industry, being leased out for a healthy rent. With the crackdown on corruption in the Mainland came the rapid departure of many high rollers and like many other luxury residences, this apartment subsequently lay vacant for a number of months.
The owners of the apartment contacted Ambiente to ask for assistance – please go and assess the situation, and give us your recommendation on what is needed to make the place habitable again and back on to the rental market.
The place had taken a real hammering; ugly damaged areas to the wood flooring, strip lighting installed with exposed wiring (one supposes because there may have been gambling going on in the actual apartment and brighter light was needed), air conditioners clogged with yellow cigarette tar. And the tenants when they vacated, left food in the refrigerator, filthy toilets, overflowing rubbish bins, dead plants and utility bills unpaid for months. It was a shocker!
The next few months saw this caterpillar transform into a butterfly. First the apartment was repainted throughout, with feature walls in the dining room, living room, and all bedrooms. Air conditioners were replaced with new – this time using updated reverse-cycle models for heat and cooling. The boxed-in old air conditioning piping that ran the length of the living room was removed and the two units relocated to a less conspicuous location, making the whole space feel wider and higher. Ceiling lights were switched to modern track lighting. Floors were repaired. Custom-designed built in wardrobes were installed for the bedrooms. New window treatments were ordered from local curtain and upholstery shop Fiona; pastel blue for the guest bedroom, a modern green-yellow chartreuse for the smaller guest room/cum study, chocolate brown for the master bedroom – all with matchin
g window seat cushions and throw pillows.
The kitchen was sticky with oily dirt so this was scrubbed from top to bottom, including dismantling the false ceiling to be sure that no grease remained. Tile re-grouting, new toilet seats and a deep scouring 
was all that was needed for the bathrooms.
Then came the fun part – the furnishing! Ambiente’s interior designer Suzanne’s aim was to appeal to both an Asian and Western taste: “I wanted to have a mixture of simple, modern, clean lines and you can’t go wrong with IKEA for quality, styles and pricing in this regard, and also bring in an Asian element but with a modern twist”, explains Su
zanne. “I enjoy mixing the hardness of manmade metal, plastic and glass components with the softness of natural wood. I found a fabulous dining table with 8 matching chairs in China – the golden glow of the wood grains is stunning.”
The sofa was custom made to fit the room dimensions. Amazingly well priced from Man Heng Furniture store in Macau ([email protected]) – made in China obviously. The fabric is a soft almost suede feel in a dark grey that won’t show the marks and the cushion covers can be removed and put in the washing machine.
“I always think that good quality mirrors help ‘lift’ a place, giving off reflective light and making a space feel larger. Here I’ve used an elegant silver framed mirror in the dining room and a chocolate brown framed mirror in the master bedroom, both inexpensive and coming from IKEA and a huge very handsome but rather more pricey Chinese style mirror from in the living room.”
Suzanne is a st
rong believer in having original artwork especially in a rental property where she wants to create first impressions of a quality, well cared for home to potential tenants as they walk in. “But this can get expensive especially when you have a lot of wall space to cover and a strict budget to stick to. We carried back a number of canvases from the DaFen Artists Village just outside Shenzhen where there are about 300 artists producing paintings. I’m not interested in copies of the Old Masters which seems to make up the majority of paintings there, nor do I much like the very stylized Chinese country scenes. But if you take the time to look more carefully you can find some excellent modern originals by very talented artists. I especially like the highly textured impasto technique.”
Framing was by Vo Heng in Macau ([email protected]) – they’re the best in town for the high quality of frames and workmanship they provide.”
Beds, mattresses, linen and towels, crockery, cutlery, glassware, cookware, lamps and accessories all came from trusty IKEA. “And their carpets and rugs are really very good – fun and at
tractive, durable, affordable. I’m pretty addicted to their carpet section and can always find exactly what I’m looking for, and more!”
“I have to admit that at first I was reluctant to take on this project. The apartment was in such a depressing state and how ever simple it looks to give a 3 bedroom home a face lift, to do a proper job takes considerable planning and thought and can be very time consuming. But now I genuinely enjoy coming in to this space, it feels so cosy and smells all clean and new”, exclaims Suzanne.
“And within a week of being on the market, we found exactly the right tenant who, this time, will take good care of the place!”
