Novum East Custom Made Furniture — Multifunction Joinery for Compact Flats
In a 193 to 451 square foot unit, furniture is not decoration — it is the floor plan. Contemporary eco wood joinery where one piece does three jobs. See the full service, read the studio planning method, or request a quotation.
Custom Made Furniture — Contemporary, Eco Wood Home Furniture
D-8 Limited provides custom made furniture design and manufacturing services. Our contemporary, eco wood home furniture is tailored to fit your space perfectly.
About Novum East, Quarry Bay
Novum East stands at 856 King's Road in Quarry Bay, within the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, developed by Henderson with occupation from April 2019. It is a single-tower development providing 464 residential units, with King's Road bus stops within about a minute's walk and the Island Line stations of Quarry Bay and North Point nearby.
Composition and layouts
- One tower, 464 residential units
- Layouts from studio through one bedroom to two bedroom
- Saleable areas from 193 to 451 square feet
- Commonly transacted sizes include 216, 218, 234, 290, 299, 301, 384 and 451 square feet
- Occupation from April 2019
- Primary One Admission school net 14, secondary allocation in Eastern District
Why this building sets a different brief
A 193 square foot studio and a 451 square foot two bedroom sit in the same lift lobby, which means the same estate produces two entirely different joinery problems. At the small end, every function competes for the same floor area and the answer is multifunction furniture. At the larger end, conventional planning returns — a wardrobe run, a TV wall, a kitchen upgrade. This page covers both, starting with the harder one.
Planning a 200 to 300 sq ft Studio
Small flats fail for a predictable reason: they are furnished as though they were big flats with the volume turned down. The workable approach is to design around daily behaviour, not around room labels.
- Count the daily moves, not the rooms. List what actually happens here each day — sleeping, cooking, eating, working, laundry, occasional guests — and how often. Daily functions earn permanent space; monthly functions should fold away.
- Pick one wall for everything. Consolidate storage into a single dense full-height run and leave the other walls clear. Three half-height cabinets on three walls make a flat feel smaller than one tall wall does.
- Decide the bed strategy first. It is the largest object in the home, and everything else arranges itself around that decision.
- Make one surface serve three functions. Desk, dining and food preparation can share a worktop if height, depth, power and finish are specified for the hardest of those uses.
- Protect sightlines and daylight. Keep the longest diagonal view clear, stop tall runs short of the window wall, and eliminate door swing arcs with sliding or pocket doors.
- Design for ventilation and drying. Compact single-aspect flats trap humidity, so a defined drying position and ventilated storage are not optional extras.
Pair this with the storage audit method from our Grandview Garden case study — in a nano flat, knowing your real hanging length is the difference between a wardrobe that works and one that is full on day one.
Bed Strategy in a Nano Flat
Platform bed with drawers
The bed stays made, and its entire footprint becomes drawer volume — usually four to six deep drawers, which in a 216 square foot studio can absorb bedding, off-season clothing and luggage in one move. Runners must be full-extension and load-rated, because heavy drawers pulled from a low position punish cheap hardware quickly. Best for people who want zero daily effort.
Wall bed, folded daily
Returns the floor during the day, which genuinely transforms a studio used for work or exercise. The requirements are real, though: a sound fixing wall, clear swing space that stays clear, a mechanism rated for daily cycles, and the household discipline to actually fold it. We also plan where the bedding lives when the bed is up, because that is the detail most wall bed installations forget.
Raised platform with under-floor storage
Where ceiling height allows, raising a sleeping zone creates a large storage void beneath and defines the area without a partition. It suits units with generous floor-to-floor height and owners comfortable with a step.
Fixed bed with a top box
The simplest and least expensive answer: a conventional bed with full-height storage above and beside it. In many 290 to 301 square foot one bedroom units this beats every clever mechanism, because reliability has value too.
How we choose
We model at least two options on the plan with real clearances before recommending one. A mechanism that looks brilliant in a showroom and is folded twice before being abandoned is worse than a drawer base that works for a decade.
Dividing Space Without Building Walls
In an open-plan studio, a solid partition usually costs more floor area than the privacy it buys — and if it touches structure, it brings statutory obligations too. Joinery divides better.
Double-sided cabinet as a partition
Storage on the living side, wardrobe on the sleeping side, one carcass doing both jobs while defining the zones. Depth is the whole game: too shallow and it stores nothing, too deep and it swallows the room.
Sliding and pocket panels
A single sliding panel can close a sleeping alcove at night and disappear by day, with no swing arc consuming floor. Track quality matters more than the panel, because a sticking slider gets left open permanently.
Half-height run with open shelving above
Separates without blocking daylight or airflow — particularly useful in single-aspect units where the only window has to light the whole home.
Curtain on a recessed track
The cheapest and most forgiving divider, and genuinely effective when the track is recessed into a ceiling pocket rather than surface-mounted. It also softens acoustics, which small hard-surfaced flats need.
When a real partition is justified
Occasionally it is — for a genuine second bedroom, or acoustic separation for shift workers. In that case the wall must be non-structural, and any alteration involving structural elements requires proper assessment and the correct statutory route under the Minor Works Control System, carried out by a prescribed registered contractor. D-8 Limited is a Registered Minor Works Contractor Class II; see our credentials section.
Multifunction Joinery That Actually Gets Used
The convertible work and dining surface
Set the height for typing, the depth for a real monitor, and add power and data at the surface. A fold-down leaf or a pull-out extension gives guest capacity without permanent footprint. Finish must survive both a laptop and a hot bowl, which rules out delicate lacquer here.
Entrance cabinet doing four things
Ventilated shoe storage, a drop shelf for keys and parcels, a mirror on the door face to widen the corridor read, and a return panel that creates the hallway the plan never provided.
TV wall as the utility core
Router, set-top box, sound bar, console and cabling concealed with ventilated compartments, closed storage below for everything that otherwise lives on surfaces, and a shallow niche at eye level so the wall is not a blank slab.
Compact kitchen storage
Drawer stacks instead of deep base cupboards, a slim pull-out for the awkward gap, a tall unit lifting appliances off the worktop, and an honest conversation about which appliances earn their space. In a studio, worktop area is the scarcest resource in the entire flat.
Laundry and drying, planned rather than improvised
A defined position for the washer, detergent, mop and drying rack. Skip this and the drying rack colonises the living area permanently, which no amount of joinery elsewhere can compensate for.
Bathroom joinery
A moisture-rated vanity with a stone or engineered top and a mirror cabinet that adds depth without stealing floor area — in a compact bathroom, the mirror cabinet is usually the single highest-value item.
Six Moves That Change Perceived Size
- One dense wall, not scattered cabinets. Consolidation reads as architecture; scattering reads as clutter.
- Keep the longest diagonal clear. The eye measures a room by its longest uninterrupted line, so protect that view from the entrance.
- Stop tall runs short of the window wall. Daylight along a wall makes the wall recede; blocking it makes the room close in.
- Eliminate swing arcs. Sliding and pocket doors return usable floor that hinged doors permanently reserve.
- Keep door faces light and consistent. A single tone across a long run disappears; three tones divide the wall into segments.
- Use indirect light, not a grid of downlights. A cove above the storage wall lifts the ceiling plane; a grid of spots flattens it and creates scallops on the cabinet faces.
Styling references across our completed work are on the portfolio page, and the style vocabulary is summarised on our home page style section.
Fitting Out a Unit for Letting
A meaningful share of compact units are held for rental income, and that brief is different from an owner-occupier's. The objective is lettability and low maintenance, not personal expression.
- Durability over delicacy — scratch-resistant laminate rather than lacquer or open-pore veneer
- Hardware chosen for cycle life — tenants are harder on drawers than owners
- Cleanable finishes — surfaces that survive turnaround cleaning without solvent damage
- Panel-level repairability — a damaged door replaced rather than a whole cabinet rebuilt, which is why the finishes schedule should be retained
- Neutral, widest-appeal layout — avoid configurations that suit only one household type
- Built-in over loose — fixed storage reduces the loose furniture inventory you must maintain and replace
- Fast reinstatement — simple, robust details shorten the vacancy window between tenancies
If you are preparing a unit for lease and only need drawings and specification, our Design Project service covers that without construction.
Handover Units and Resales
With occupation from April 2019, units here may be first fit-outs or resales, and the two are handled differently.
If it is a new handover
Document the defects inspection before any contractor enters, then build against finished floors, installed kitchen cabinets and installed appliances — protecting and matching rather than replacing. Fitting out before move-in is materially cheaper than afterwards. The full sequence is set out on our Harbour Glory case study.
If it is a resale
Expect to remove previous owners' joinery, patch the fixing damage behind it, and check that electrical points suit your new layout. Older tenanted units may also need repainting and floor repair before new cabinets are set against the walls.
Either way
Final measurement happens after plastering, patching and levelling are complete, because joinery is cut to the built dimension rather than the drawn one.
Materials and Hardware for Compact Living
In a small flat every component is touched more often per square foot than in a large one, so hardware specification matters disproportionately.
- Carcass board — grade and thickness, with lower-emission eco wood options, which matter more in a small enclosed volume
- Back panel thickness — carries racking loads on tall single-wall runs
- Door finish — durable laminate for daily contact; reserve delicate finishes for a single feature area
- Sliding gear — the most-used mechanism in a compact flat, so track quality is critical
- Wall bed mechanism — where specified, rated for daily cycles with a stated warranty
- Hinges — soft-close with stated brand and cycle rating
- Drawer runners — full-extension and load-rated, especially under platform beds
- Handleless profiles — push-to-open and J-pull keep circulation clear in narrow rooms
- Moisture-rated substrate — for vanities, laundry positions and window-adjacent cabinets
- In-cabinet LED with door sensor — because deep storage in a dim flat is storage you forget you have
Samples of these boards, laminates and hardware are kept at our Kwun Tong office — a short trip from Quarry Bay.
From Measurement to Installation
- Site visit and measurement — wall lengths, ceiling height, bulkhead depths, window and curtain details, door swings, existing service points and appliance clearances.
- Behaviour brief and storage audit — daily routine, hanging length, folded stacks, shoes, luggage, and whether the unit is for own use or letting.
- Option modelling — at least two bed and zoning strategies drawn with real clearances before a decision.
- Joinery shop drawings — every cabinet drawn with internal divisions, mechanisms, hardware, finishes and socket coordination.
- Final measurement after wet trades — taken once patching, plastering and levelling are complete.
- Workshop fabrication — sized to the service lift, pre-assembled where possible.
- Booked delivery and installation — lift slot, common area protection, agreed route, consolidated trips.
- Adjustment and handover — alignment, drawer travel, soft-close and mechanism tension, anti-tip checks, touch-up and cleaning.
The full eight-stage project sequence is on our process section, and the complete drawing set is listed on the Design Project page.
Building Management and Compliance
- Works application — schedule, contractor details, insurance and a refundable deposit
- Service lift booking — timed slots, with protection of lift car, lobby and corridor before material enters
- Permitted hours — noisy operations restricted, shaping the installation sequence
- Delivery route and waste — agreed route, with packaging and offcuts removed rather than left in common areas
- Minor works — any alteration to partitions or structural elements falls under the Minor Works Control System and must be carried out by a prescribed registered contractor, with Form MW03 as the notice of commencement and Form MW04 as the certificate of completion for Class II works. D-8 Limited is registered as a Minor Works Contractor Class II
Where the scope extends beyond joinery, we handle these submissions as part of a Design & Build engagement, and structural repair sits under Spalling Repairing Works.
How Nano Flat Joinery Is Quoted
Joinery is priced per cabinet or per running foot. Compact flats have fewer running feet but higher complexity per foot, because multifunction pieces carry more hardware, more mechanisms and more drawing time than a plain wardrobe run. A studio quotation that looks disproportionately high per foot is often simply an honest one.
Compare line by line
- Cabinet count and running length, with mechanisms itemised separately
- Board grade, back panel thickness and door finish per item
- Sliding gear, wall bed mechanism and hinge or runner brands with ratings
- Integrated surfaces, power and data provision, in-cabinet lighting
- Protection, lift booking, delivery, installation and waste removal
- Warranty period and coverage, especially on any moving mechanism
Where to spend first in a small flat
The single storage wall and the bed strategy. Those two decisions determine whether the flat works; everything else is refinement. Our fee models and an 18-point quotation checklist are on the quotation page, with warning signs listed here.
Custom Furniture FAQ
Small Flat, Big Decisions
Send the floor plan and tell us how you actually live in it. Free site visit, free measurement, written itemized quotation. Call 9135 3998 or email enquiry@designd8.com.
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