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PROPERTY
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January14
for a week to let them get everything
finished,” says Andreas. “We laugh
about it now, but it was very stressful
at the time.”
Working the space
The open-plan living, dining, kitchen
and bedroom area is the perfect set-up
for a couple. When they have guests,
the floor-to-ceiling Chinese doors are
a stylish way to partition the space for
privacy. Exposed metal and original
stonework form the frame for the doors
from Just Anthony; they came from
Fujian province in China.
“The story is that the two warriors
are loyal generals, Qin Shubao and
Yuchi Jingde, who protected the Tang
Dynasty’s second emperor, Emperor
Tang Taizong,” explains Siew Bee.
“Legend has it that a ghost was
harassing him, resulting in him suffering
from insomnia, so one night the two
generals guarded the house so he
could have a restful night’s sleep. It is
now believed that these generals can
aid sleep, so they are perfect for our
bedroom,” she adds.
The couple knocked down existing
walls to create an integrated bathroom
and walk-in wardrobe; the latter has a
glass wall and air vent, a clever feature
that lets light and air into this corner of
the apartment. The replica pig-trough
sink has a moveable mirror above it,
“so you can see the view ahead and see
what weather is coming in the morning,”
as Andreas says.
It’s impossible to ignore the enormous
Buddha statue sitting almost like a guard
at the end of the bed. They bought it
from Eastern Discovery, a shop their
friend Darika used to run. “We felt
there needed to be a centrepiece in
the flat, holding it together, but also
keeping it separate,” says Andreas.
Due to the sheer number of Buddha
representations around the apartment,
I ask whether the couple are Buddhist.
“Siew Bee is a non-practising Buddhist
and I’m a freethinker,” he answers.
The large Buddha statue by the front
door was bought in Chinatown and is
more than 300 years old. “People would
sit at his feet, pray and burn offerings;
you can see burn marks around his
head,” says Siew Bee. Fresh jasmine
hangs around his neck, the aroma of
which mixes nicely with the slightly
charred smell of the wood.
A Mongolian “hell door”, bought
from Just Anthony and used as a wall
hanging, sits behind the Buddha statue.
Large wooden candleholders presenting
the eight gods, purchased from Shang
Antique in Dempsey, hang either side.
What’s fascinating about the space is
the eclecticism of the furniture, art and
sculpturecombinedwithdistinctivecolours
and interior style. The black concrete floor
and warm wooden Buddha statues work
alongside the clean lines of the more
modern pieces on the console by the front
door.“Wemade it likethisbecausewehave
a lot of old things we wanted to harmonise
with more modern pieces,” says Andreas.
The two
warriors
depicted on
the Chinese
partition doors
protect against
sleepless
nights