Home sweet home

The quest to find your perfect des res in the world's third most expensive city after Monaco and London, is a daunting challenge.  We knew when we were planning our move that we were going to have to downsize considerably from our three bedroom detached house with a garden, to something far more compact, for a far higher price.  Before my arrival in Hong Kong I spent many nights dream scheming and investigating the best areas for us to live in while we made friends and found our feet, and exactly what we could get for our money in these areas.  From browsing the property listings, it soon became apparent that things that we take as a given when we are moving into a new home - are considered a luxurious attribute here.  Such as 'bathroom with ceiling thermo ventilator' or 'bedroom with wardrobe'.

It wasn't until David arrived here and made the mistake of telling me that he was at a loose end one weekend - that I gained my 'on the ground' guinea pig - who I could email details of rental properties I liked the look of and cajole into arranging viewings.  Rapidly it became clear that the words 'cosy' and 'boutique' are simply estate agent acronyms for tiny and minute.  If an apartment is advertised as '2 bedrooms' - it doesn't necessarily mean that there is room to cram a bed in the second bedroom.  And we soon realised that key words to seek out were 'queen size bed', 'lots of storage' and 'new deco'.

So after a couple of false starts David finally found our new home with a queen size bed, lots of storage, new deco - and not forgetting the bathroom with ceiling thermo ventilator - on Peel Street in the Mid Levels.  In my opinion it is 'cosy' and 'boutique' but the location is perfect and I think we will be very happy here.

The queen size bed

Lots of storage

New deco