When long-time Macau residents Ze Diogo Vaz Pinto and Margarida Janeiro decided it was time to move from their Hellene Garden home, it was a tough decision to make.
“We loved being so close to the sea that we could hear the waves,” explains Margarida. But the apartment was run down, the owner wanted to renovate and sell, and in any case, they felt ready for a change of scene.
Major priorities on their wish list for a new home were that it had to have plenty of natural light, and a big kitchen and dining area as they enjoy hosting regular dinner parties, ideally another sea view, and it should come within their budget, which given Macau’s ever increasing rents, was a challenge in itself.
Fortune smiled however, and the perfect new home was found at last. The move was relatively seamless from their old place to new – this time to Ocean Gardens, with yes, a spectacular sea view of the harbour and Macau skyline. And the couple’s much loved art and furniture fit into the new space as if it were made for it.
On entering the apartment and living area, one is struck immediately with a sense of order and calm. Immaculately tidy and uncluttered, the dark grey feature wall with paler grey sofas, taupe throw cushions and white-grey rug offer that tranquil welcome, just as they did in the Coloane home. Light pours in from windows at either end of the room, and from the French windows opening out to the balcony. There is warm reflective light everywhere from the stunningly beautiful teak wood floor.
Several floor lamps with oversized shades, together with the clean lined furniture, create a modern contemporary feel. Unlike most homes where the living room is dominated by a central coffee table, here there is none – only strategically placed side tables, and thus the area is more spacious.
In the adjacent dining area, which is somewhat narrow but compensated by a huge wall mirror that opens the perspective, sits an impressive dining table. Designed to Margarida’s specifications from a photograph she had spotted in a magazine, it was made by Kelly So (www.wh-macau.com) who has a showroom by the Red Market and is well known in town for making custom designer furniture. The table’s base looks like solid wood, but is in fact veneer on a core of lightwood, so easy to move. The huge glass top provides size but not bulk, and is able to show off the base as if it were a piece of art in itself. The super-comfortable dining chairs with dark wood legs and high backs on wood struts were also made to Margarida’s specifications – and given the amount of home entertaining this couple do, these chairs will surely have many dinner stories to tell!
One of Margarida’s passions in life is cooking, so her kitchen and her collection of cook books form the heart of the home. Her collection began in Prague in early 2000. She was working as an account manager for a technology company and often travelled to Spain to visit a major client there. The work of famous Spanish chef Ferran Adria, described as ‘the Salvador Dali of the kitchen’ and his restaurant El Bulli, named best restaurant in the world by many, inspired Margarida and prompted her fascination in molecular cuisine.
Other chef heros such as Danish chef Rene Redzepi, Americans Grant Achatz and Thomas Keller, and British chef Heston Blumenthal have all published the most tantalisingly delicious-looking cook books – “I buy books for the pictures” she smiles – and several hundred are lovingly displayed in her home office cum spare room.
The kitchen is substantially larger in the new home, thus accommodating her various culinary gadgets. The many spice shelves from the old home are now tucked away in a roomy pantry. A Kenwood bread maker and bread slicer for fresh bread every day, and the bright orange Kenwood KMix from New Yaohan, “the best toaster we’ve ever had!” exclaims Ze Diogo. And the piece de resistance, Margarida’s SousVide and vacuum pack machines. A lamb shoulder seasoned with thyme, rosemary, garlic and butter has been vacuum-sealed in special long-cook packets and set simmering at 60 degrees for 72 hours so that the meat falls off the bone – finished in a very hot oven for a few minutes to give a delicious crust on the meat.
The grey palate of the living room is drawn down the hall past the dressing room with its floor to ceiling wood cabinets and full size wood framed dressing mirror, to the master bedroom. Here there is a dark grey behind the bed, and softer grey on two other feature walls. The bed, with its rich chocolate brown frame and high headboard looks like another famous and expensive designer piece. But again Margarida had cleverly seen a photo on the Internet that she liked so much, she had it copied in a factory in China. Matching bedside tables come from AREA in Ocean Gardens, Macau. Behind the bed is a set of three much-treasured blue nudes that were discovered in a market in China.
Other paintings lean against walls to see how they best suit their new home. A Catherine Heredia piece in blues and greens used to take pride of place behind the sofa in Coloane and now awaits its assigned spot. Another favourite, already up; a nine-panel Buddha head painting in predominantly blues, greys and white. Margarida and Ze Diogo stress that much of their art is bought inexpensively on visits to China. Their eclectic collection is clearly in good taste and chosen with an artistic eye – going to prove that beautiful art doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.
Both work full-time, he a lawyer, she with one of the casinos, so they place high importance on being able to kick back, relax, unwind with some light jazz playing in the background, and a good glass of wine. Unpretentious and hospitable hosts, Margarida and Ze Diogo’s home reflects a perfect partnership in design and function, filled with a cosy friendly energy that puts their guests at once at ease.
