Island life

Ben is Australian and Lisa is Swedish, and Lantau offered something that appealed to both of them. Lisa says, “It was fun to have lived in the city, but we knew it wasn’t for us in the long run; we liked the Lantau lifestyle and Shui Hau represented more value for money.

“After living here for a while, we’ve grown to love it. The expat community is constantly growing and we now have many friends we get together with every week. And the locals are friendly too and quite often stop by to have a chat when Ben and I are outside in our little garden – I think they like that we do most of the work ourselves, and they’re probably a bit surprised by it!”

After a brief stint in Sweden, the couple returned to Hong Kong three years ago and got to work renovating what was nothing but a concrete shell. Despite the fact that their jobs keep them busy, Ben and Lisa did a lot of the work themselves, from designing the home’s layout to sourcing fixtures and fittings. They even made some of the furniture!