Share your space: A homewares entrepreneur and new mum's stylish rental.

Mamamia's Share Your Space series asks everyday women to share all the juicy, specific details about their home. Who do you live with? Where did you get your furniture? It's pulling back the curtain on real estate, and allowing us to really see how the people around us live. This week Alex Tanya Weller, the co-founder of Australian rug company Miss Amara and a new mum, opens the doors to her stylish Hong Kong apartment.

Age: 37.

Job: Co Founder and Creative Director at Miss Amara.

Location: Hong Kong, Midlevels.

Who lives in the home: Myself, my husband, my baby boy Hayden George, my french bulldog Gigi and my munchkin cat Maya.

Lifestyle: I am a "Tinderella" who started a business with her then-boyfriend and now husband (we both swiped right), and decided to move to Hong Kong as it was a better base for us to fly to India, the US and Europe for work at a moment's notice! Fast forward to today and we are married with a new baby, cat and dog - it's chaotic and we love it.

Alex and her husband Aaron in their Hong Kong home. Image: Supplied.

Moving to Hong Kong was so different to Sydney. The vibe is electric, Hong Kong certainly lives up to its reputation of being the New York of Asia. Unfortunately, one thing we discovered is that like New York, property layouts and spaces are miniature, as developers are all vying for maximum return, which means smaller and more vertical spaces. 

It took us six years to find a flat that we are in love with. But it definitely wasn't pretty to start with. In the end, we found a needle in a haystack - an old, undeveloped, rundown apartment block - but with the high ceilings and generous layout that our expanding family craved. This meant that we had to work extra hard and flex the styling to really showcase our style and personality. This can be a challenge in a rental but it's always worth it. This space was craving some love and personality.

So, take us inside...

Nursery.

As the rest of the house is neutral, for my son's room I wanted to have fun with it. I’m so glad I did because these days I spend most of my time in here feeding him, and I can’t help but smile every time I’m in it. We always knew we wanted something gender neutral and I found this incredible vintage jungle wallpaper from Etsy.

Rather than have animals on the wall, we created a jungle-inspired space and then brought some animals into the space - so fun! Of course we had to bring in a Mickey Mouse, as I was obsessed with Mickey as a child.

Image: Supplied.

Image: Supplied.

Lounge area.

Upon entering, the first thing we noticed was that the whole apartment (and there was a lot of it) was covered expansively in old Colonial-style floorboards, which made it feel dated. It's a good thing we own a rug company! 

I genuinely adore the transformational power a rug has. It's the best kept secret of interior designers as the single most effective way to refresh a space. Because Hong Kong is nonstop, I wanted the feeling the moment you walk through the door to be one of calm and escape.

Because of the darker floors, the room, although expansive, felt dark and a little depressing. I opted for a luxe, high pile berber rug that you can instantly sink your feet into - let there be light, tone and texture. Immediately the space felt bright, airy and luxe. 

Image: Supplied.

A living room should always have one "oh em gee" item and for me that was the Mario Bellini sofa. I've wanted it since I first laid my eyes on it, and so upon finding an old one, we reupholstered it in a velvet beige. It still gives me all the heart flutters. 

Statement art is also something that is so important to us. We're still working on our collection, but as the rest of the house is wabi sabi and neutral in tone, I wanted to juxtapose this with anything but in the form of art. Colour is splashed around boldly and deliberately and I think this works.

I stumbled across [Sydney artist] Dina Broadhurst a few years ago. I love her themes of sensuality, love, and the female form. Hers was the first piece that I bought and we're always on the lookout for more. Art is never about price or trends but the way it makes you feel.

One of the couple's Dina Broadhurst artworks and their Mario Bellini sofa. Image: Supplied.

You have to work with the bones of your space. Our living room was long, so I embraced this and used low shelving from IKEA which I took down the whole length of the room. This feels modern and suits the space. IKEA has always been an old faithful for us, I think you can get some really functional, simple pieces.

Image: Supplied.

Dining room.

My husband and I live for food. We are constantly thinking about our next meal and some of our best conversations and experiences revolve around sharing meals together. 

I wanted to make a statement, and one thing I was absolutely adamant about was a booth seat - because when presented with seating options at your favourite restaurant, who doesn’t take a dive for the booth seat?

We opted for a long custom-made booth - my furniture maker wasn't sure about it at first - in white boucle. I love how the final product turned out, we've spilt so much on it and thanks to scotch guard it always come good. If you genuinely love your furniture and pieces, I find that you tend to treat things with a little more TLC. 

The booth seat and dining area. Image: Supplied.

Image: Supplied.

You should always contrast your furniture to your rug, so we opted for something darker but tonal - a classic rug called 'Moselle', which is one of my favourites. Timeless styles are always a good choice because you never get tired of a classic design. 

I have a coffee station in the dining room, because I always think about how we use the space and am intentional with what I put in it. My husband loves to make a cup of coffee in the morning, so no matter how busy we are in our day he will make us both a coffee. We always have that moment in the morning together when we get to share ideas and talk about our day ahead. It's very special to me. 

The coffee station. Image: Supplied.

Study.

We have three bedrooms, one that we use as a study. The study is definitely a space I feel we have neglected in our past homes - it's easy to shove a desk in here and park your computer. But this time around I was very intentional in making this a loved room. I love my work, so it makes sense to love the room you work in. 

For us this is where the magic happens; it's a room that gets a lot of action. Often we have our team work from here with us and my husband, and I regularly work from home. For our desk, we actually went with a dining table set-up instead of a study desk. I love how much space we have, and being a dining table, it encourages communal activity and collaboration - which is how we work best.

Image: Supplied.

Being creative, I am a super visual person so I actually made our pin boards myself with some linen, cork board and a hot glue gun. I love the final product, they are the focal point of the room where I can literally carpet my wall with ideas. Anything that inspires me goes up on the pinboard, whether it be food, fashion, a place or space.

Alex's moodboards in her study. Image: Supplied.

Final thoughts.

This by far has been our favourite home, and I think that's down to embracing the space and working with what we have, and being intentional about what we put in the home lining up with the way we want to live in it. 

I can’t wait to see my son crawl, walk and run through the rooms.

See more 'Share Your Space' stories here.

Feature image: Supplied.