Royal Terrace Custom Made Furniture — Bay Window and Duplex Joinery
Every bedroom here has a large bay window, and what you do with that sill decides how the room works. See the full service, read the bay window decision method, or request a quotation.
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About Royal Terrace, Quarry Bay
Royal Terrace stands at 933 King's Road in Quarry Bay, within the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island. It was developed by Henderson, with an occupation permit dated August 2002 and intake from the same month, and Quarry Bay MTR station is roughly a one minute walk away — about as central a location as Hong Kong Island's eastern corridor offers.
Composition and layouts
- A single tower of 39 storeys, with eight units per floor
- 240 residential units in total
- Saleable areas from 379 to 1,487 square feet
- Standard units are two bedroom with living and dining, and an enclosed kitchen
- Double-window living rooms, giving unusually good light and ventilation for a unit of this size
- Large bay windows to the bedrooms; balconies in some units
- Duplex units on the 38th floor with four bedrooms including a suite and a helper's room, plus balcony and terrace with sea views
- Clubhouse with swimming pool and children's facilities
- Primary One Admission school net 14, secondary allocation in Eastern District
Why the bay windows define the brief
In a 379 to 500 square foot two bedroom flat, the bedroom bay window is often the single largest surface a designer can work with — and the most commonly wasted. Owners either bury it behind a wardrobe, seal it into an unventilated box, or leave it as a shelf collecting objects. Used properly it becomes seating, storage, a desk, or the base of the bed. Used badly it produces condensation, mould and a blocked air conditioning route. This page is mostly about getting that decision right.
What to Do With a Large Bay Window
Six steps, in order. Skipping the first two is why so many bay window installations disappoint.
- Measure the sill properly. Height from finished floor, depth from glass to room face, width, and any slope or drainage detail. Height alone rules most options in or out.
- Check what the sill conceals. Air conditioning pipe routes, condensate drainage, and window frame fixings. Nothing built here may block access needed for future window maintenance or air conditioning service.
- Accept that the sill stays. A bay window sill is part of the building structure. It is not removed to gain floor area. Joinery works around it, steps over it, or meets it. Any alteration touching structural elements requires proper assessment and the correct statutory route under the Minor Works Control System, carried out by a prescribed registered contractor — see our credentials section.
- Match the function to the sill height. Roughly 400 to 500 millimetres suits a seat with storage beneath. Roughly 700 to 750 suits a desk return. Below 400 suits a platform continuing into a bed base. Above 900 suits shelving, or is best left clear.
- Specify for sun and condensation. Light-stable finishes, a stone or solid surface top where seating, plants or drinks are likely, sealed edges, and ventilation so no void traps damp against the wall.
- Decide honestly whether to build at all. Where the bay window is the room's only open view and its main airflow, a clear sill with a loose cushion frequently beats a fixed box that nobody uses.
Pair this with the storage audit method so the sill is judged against real capacity needs rather than a vague wish for more storage.
Bay Window Treatments Compared
Seat with storage beneath
The most requested and the most often mishandled. It needs a comfortable seat height once cushion thickness is added, a stone or solid surface top if drinks and plants will sit there, and either drawers facing the room or a lift-up lid. Lift-up lids look cleaner but require the cushion to be moved every time, so drawers usually win in daily use. The cavity must be ventilated.
Desk return from the wardrobe run
Where the sill sits near desk height, continuing a worktop from the wardrobe across the sill produces a study position with daylight and a view — the single best use of a bay window in a child's or home office bedroom. Depth is set against a real monitor, and power is brought to the surface rather than left at floor level.
Platform continuing into the bed base
For low sills, running a platform from the sill into a bed base creates a generous sleeping ledge and drawer volume beneath. It suits compact bedrooms where a conventional bed plus wardrobe simply will not fit, and it works best when the head of the bed sits against solid wall rather than glass.
Shelving, display, or nothing at all
High sills take slim shelving or a display ledge. And in many bedrooms the honest answer is to leave the sill clear: it is the source of light, view and air, and a loose cushion costs nothing and can be removed when the room changes use.
What we never do
Seal an unventilated box against cold glass, cover an air conditioning pipe route or drainage point, block window frame access needed for maintenance, or build in a material that will bleach unevenly in direct sun.
Building a Wardrobe on a Wall That Has a Bay Window
Bedrooms here rarely offer one clean uninterrupted wall, so the wardrobe has to negotiate the sill, and sometimes a beam above it too.
Step the run, do not fake it
Full-height section on the solid part of the wall, then either a lower run continuing over the sill or a deliberate stop with a shadow gap. Pretending the sill is not there produces a cabinet that either floats awkwardly or loses depth for no reason.
Beams above the sill
Where a beam crosses the wardrobe wall, options are a stepped top following the beam, a full-height run stopped below it with a matching filler above, or a shallower section beneath. Each looks and costs differently, which is why it is decided on the shop drawing.
Depth against door swing
A 600 millimetre wardrobe on a wall opposite a bay window can leave a corridor too narrow to pass comfortably. In tighter bedrooms we reduce to a hanging depth that still works, or switch to sliding doors so no swing arc is needed.
Where the bed goes afterwards
The wardrobe decision and the bed position are one decision, not two. We draw both with real clearances, including the space needed to make the bed, before anything is priced.
Older building tolerances
A 2002 building is squarer than a 1970s one, but not perfect. Adjustable feet and scribed fillers absorb deviation, and final measurement is taken after any plastering or levelling is complete because joinery is cut to the built dimension rather than the drawn one.
Duplex Units — Staircase, Suite and Helper's Room
The 38th floor duplexes are a different project entirely: four bedrooms including a suite, a helper's room, a balcony and a terrace with sea views.
Understair storage
The void beneath an internal staircase is the most commonly wasted volume in any duplex. Drawers, pull-outs or a concealed door turn it into shoe storage, luggage space or a cleaning cupboard. Depth reduces as the stair rises, so internal divisions are graded rather than uniform.
Landing cupboard
Bedding, towels and cleaning supplies should live on the floor where they are used. A landing cupboard removes the daily trip between levels that duplex owners otherwise accept as normal.
Balustrade and cabinetry coordination
Where joinery meets a staircase, the handrail, balustrade and any adjacent cabinet must be drawn together. Retro-fitting a cabinet beside an installed balustrade almost always produces an awkward junction.
The suite: walk-in closet or dressing run
At this size a dressing area with open hanging, drawer banks and shoe shelving at adjustable pitch becomes viable, with dedicated lighting and deliberate ventilation. The detailed approach is on our Beverly Hills case study.
Helper's room conversion
Where no live-in helper is employed, fitted floor-to-ceiling shelving turns the room into a genuine utility store — suitcases, bulk purchases, seasonal decorations, vacuum, ironing board, tools. Ventilation and access to services inside the room are preserved, and a lockable section is worth considering for cleaning chemicals. The same logic applied to a family flat is on our La Splendeur case study.
Terrace and balcony storage
Weather-rated cabinetry for cushions, plant tools and cleaning equipment, so the terrace stays a terrace. Material selection for direct sun and rain is covered on our Poggibonsi case study.
Standard Two Bedroom Units, 379 to 500 sq ft
Entrance
A ventilated shoe cabinet with adjustable shelf pitch and an open drop shelf at hip height. Where the door opens straight into the living area, a return panel creates the hallway the plan never provided.
Living and dining with double windows
The double-window living room is this building's quiet advantage, so joinery should not fight it. Keep tall cabinetry away from the window wall, put the TV feature wall on the solid flank, conceal router and equipment with ventilated compartments, and use a slim console or wall-fixed bench with drawers where the dining zone is tight.
Primary bedroom
Wardrobe run stepped around the bay window, with long-hang, stacked short-hang, folded bays, drawers and a top box for suitcases and seasonal bedding. A bedhead panel with integrated reading light and charging removes the need for bedside tables in a tight room.
Second bedroom
Here the bay window usually decides the answer: a desk return across the sill for a study bedroom, or a platform running from the sill into a bed base where the sill is low. Both beat squeezing in a freestanding desk that blocks the wardrobe.
Enclosed kitchen
Drawer stacks instead of deep base cupboards, a full-height larder, appliance housing at working height, a slim pull-out for the awkward gap, and under-cabinet task lighting. Opening the kitchen requires a non-structural wall — the fuller discussion is on our Poggibonsi case study.
Bathroom
A moisture-rated vanity with a stone or engineered top and a mirror cabinet, which in a compact bathroom is usually the highest-value single item.
Materials and Hardware
Several items on this list exist specifically because of bay windows and sun exposure.
- Stone or solid surface sill tops — where seating, plants or drinks are expected, in preference to laminate on a horizontal sunlit surface
- Light-stable door and panel finishes — for anything in the sun path of a bay window
- Sealed edge banding — the primary defence against condensation reaching board edges
- Ventilated cavity detailing — grilles or open backs so a sill box does not trap damp
- Carcass board — grade and thickness, with lower-emission eco wood options where preferred
- Back panel thickness — carries racking loads on tall runs
- Hinges — soft-close with stated brand and cycle rating
- Drawer runners — full-extension and load-rated, particularly under sill seats and bed platforms
- Lift-up hardware — where a sill lid is specified, gas-strut rated for the lid weight
- Sliding gear — where wardrobe clearance is tight opposite a bay window
- Moisture-rated substrate — for vanities, sill boxes and anything near glazing
Samples of these boards, laminates, stone options and hardware are kept at our Kwun Tong office, one MTR stop and a short walk from Quarry Bay.
Installing in a Single Tower With Eight Units Per Floor
An urban address one minute from the MTR makes materials and labour easy to move. The building itself imposes the constraints.
Shared service lift capacity
Eight units per floor across 39 storeys means lift slots are contested whenever several units renovate at once. Booking early is worth more than adding labour.
Panel sizing to the lift car
Oversized panels may not fit. Components are dimensioned to the lift, pre-assembled in the workshop where the route allows, and otherwise engineered as knock-down modules — the same discipline described on our Lung Fung House case study.
Protection along a busy corridor
With eight neighbours per floor, lift car, lobby and corridor protection is not just a management requirement but basic courtesy, and packaging leaves the same day.
The advantage of a central location
Being minutes from our own Kwun Tong workshop and office means adjustment visits, sample runs and defect rectification are quick — which matters more than owners expect during the snagging period.
Building Management and Compliance
- Works application — schedule, contractor details, insurance and a refundable deposit through the management office
- Service lift booking — timed slots, with protection in place before material enters
- Permitted hours — noisy operations restricted, shaping the installation sequence
- Waste removal — packaging and offcuts removed the same day rather than accumulating in corridors
- Window and external wall works — anything affecting windows, external walls or the bay window structure needs assessment before it is designed, not after
- Minor works — alteration of 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
- Structural repair — spalling or structural element repair handled under Spalling Repairing Works
How This Kind of Joinery Is Quoted
Cabinets are priced per cabinet or per running foot. Bay window pieces are different: quote them per piece, because a sill seat with a stone top, ventilated cavity and lift-up mechanism carries far more hardware and drawing time than a plain cabinet of the same length.
Line items to look for
- Bay window piece quoted separately, with top material stated
- Stepped or filler work where the wardrobe meets a sill or beam
- Top box itemised separately from the base cabinet
- Lift-up hardware or drawer hardware, with ratings
- Ventilation detailing for any enclosed sill cavity
- Understair and landing joinery, for duplex units
- Helper's or store room shelving as its own package
- Lift booking, protection, delivery, installation and waste removal
Where to spend first
The primary bedroom wardrobe and the entrance storage, then the bay window piece in whichever room will actually use it daily. A sill seat in a room nobody sits in is the most common wasted line in a quotation. Fee models and an 18-point checklist are on the quotation page, with warning signs listed here.
Custom Furniture FAQ
Send Us a Photo of Your Bay Window
With a tape measure in frame, that one photo tells us most of what we need. Free site visit, free measurement, written itemized quotation. Call 9135 3998 or email enquiry@designd8.com.
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