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A Room with a View: It's the Rolls-Royce of apartments
THE LIVING ROOM: (JP/Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo) Every room tells a story about its owner
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THE LIVING ROOM: (JP/Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo)
Every room tells a story about its owner. The Jakarta Post's Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo talks to apartment owner Kristina Roberts about her inspiration and ideas.
Please briefly describe yourself to readers. My name is Kristina Roberts. I have my own business: I make uniforms and supply them to hospitals, offices, factories and such. My husband is from the UK and he works for Rolls Royce, on their airplane engines. He has been working there for 37 years. This is my second marriage. I have two sons in the U.S. and grandchildren too. I have also adopted a girl, who's now one year old.
Apartment vs. house? Apartments are safer and more convenient. They have a fitness center and swimming pool. The security is much better. In a house, sometimes the security people aren't as good. We used to live in Kemang but I found the traffic was very bad. This apartment block, called the Park Royal, has a very strategic location. You can get anywhere easily. It's also close to the airport.
Can you give a brief description of the house layout? We have three bedrooms. The smallest one I use as a study and the other one is a playroom. We also have a service area by the back door.
This building is very strong. I think the Park Royal is actually the oldest apartment block in Jakarta. It's about 17 years old. The second oldest is the Hilton apartment block. Back then, things weren't as expensive as they are now, and the area was not as expensive. So they were able to make a hallway inside the apartment. Every floor has only six units, so they are not too crowded.
I love the hallway here because if I sit (in the living room), and there are some guests coming from outside, they cannot see me. So it's nice. I have been to many apartments, but I still love this one even though it looks worn compared with new apartments. But we had to renovate this too. I opened up a wall to make the bathroom bigger.
What changes did you make from the original layout, and why?
The kitchen used to have a wall and we knocked it down. I changed everything and only the floor remains. I did the design myself. I am the head tukang. I'm not an engineer but I love to do the designs. It's a hobby of mine. I'm also a painter. The paintings inside this apartment are mine.
Did you have a theme in mind when deciding upon the changes?
No. It was just me, my own self-expression. When we moved from Germany to Jakarta, we stayed at the Mulia Hotel.
Many of the elements inside the apartment are stone or stone-like. The stone element makes the room cooler. I think in a previous life, maybe I was a stonemason or a sculptor. I go to the (home hardware) store and I just love the tools there even though I'm not an engineer.
Are there any aspects of your design that you are particularly proud of?
Because I did all the design here by myself, I'm proud of all the aspects. I know what I need. In the bathroom, I made a special space beside the sink to put my cosmetics. I have a lot of drawers. I like the breakfast bar there and the kitchen. The water dispenser is hidden inside a cabinet. Even though it's not perfect, I'm still proud of my experiment. Because the apartment is such a small area, I had to think a lot about how to arrange the space.
Renovating bathrooms can often pose particular problems. What were some of the issues for you?
The main problem was with the tukang (workers). Once I asked for something in my kitchen to be 15 centimeters long, and they made it 17 centimeters. They thought it was no big deal. I said, "Why did you make it 17? That's not OK." Other items, such as the window glass, were made exactly to fit in certain spaces.
Another difficult area is often the kitchen. What changes did you make here?
Everything there is new, except the floor. There was a window on the back door. There was also a wall and we knocked it down so the kitchen is open. The kitchen floor was also raised to create good feng shui. We cook everything there. We also have a good, strong exhaust, which was not in the original design.
Where did you get the inspiration for these changes?
Even though this apartment is high and far from the garden, I still wanted to make this place cozy.
Like I said before, I put many kinds of stone here and there. They can have a positive force. I bought a (flower) pot once in Senayan. And then I decided to have the same kind of material and texture of the pot near the living room, because I thought if I put in granite it would be just like a hotel.
We have a maid to take care of the inside of the apartment. I just have to keep an eye on it. The apartment management people take care of maintenance.
Could you describe some of the problems you encountered when physically undertaking the renovation?
The problem with this apartment was we could not work on Saturday and Sunday, so the renovation took a little bit longer. We lived in the Mulia Hotel during the renovation, which took about four months.
Would you do it again? Do you think you will make any more changes?
I have a new project in Bali to design bungalows, drawing and all that. I sketch the layout myself and then I hand it over to the architect. Our plan is to move to Bali when we retire.
