Natural tones and clever design make this holiday home a comfortable and stylish haven for the extended family.

A nuanced interior, clever design and natural tones that reflect the surrounding landscape make this holiday home in a favourite foodie destination a comfortable and stylish haven for the extended family.

“THE LAYOUT MAKES THE MOST OF THE LIGHT.”

At the foothills of the Wemmershoek Mountains in the foodie quarter of Franschhoek, a couple has built their dream home: a holiday house and eventual retirement abode in one. Built for all seasons, its high-tech, low-key combination means it serves equally well as a winter bolthole or a summer retreat. Making the most of a relatively small block by South African measures, the owners maximised the space by laying out a pair of rectangular, barn-like buildings with pitched roofs side-by-side that hug the property’s boundary and are adjoined by the dining area.

The U-shaped layout is reminiscent of Mediterranean homes and makes the most of the available light, while the views look both inward onto a private courtyard and swimming pool, as well as outward over mountains, vineyards and valleys. When it came to designing the space, Studio 19’s championing of timeless design and honest materials was a major drawcard for the couple.

“The house was a real love project; the two factions included a passionate technology junkie and his wife, who wants to make things look beautiful,” interior designer and founder of Johannesburg-based Studio 19, Mia Widlake explains. While this meant the project came with a fair amount of debate during the planning phase, it also resulted in a space with both brains and beauty. Clever solutions and smart functionality are the invisible foundation for a space that’s aesthetically pleasing.

TICKING ALL THE BOXES

“When the time came for my husband and I to consider our eventual retirement, my request was to look for a home in a beautiful environment, close to mountains and vineyards and farmlands, that we would be able to share with our grown children and extended family,” the homeowner explains. For her and for a great many ‘swallows’ (seasonal visitors) and tourists, Franschhoek in the Western Cape hinterland is the Holy Grail of destinations. Removed from the rush of city life, Franschhoek (the French Corner) is an historic village, lauded as the country’s epicurean capital claiming some of the region’s top restaurants, chefs and winemakers as its own. It’s part slow-paced village, part buzzing continental hotspot – with views of farmland, vineyards, mountain peaks and reserves.

The owners were fortunate to inherit a number of established trees, one of them a large oak, which gave

“BUILT FOR ALL SEASONS, IT SERVES EQUALLY WELL AS A WINTER BOLTHOLE OR A SUMMER RETREAT.”

“A MIX OF MILKWHITE, BITTER GREY-GREEN AND CHARCOAL PAY HOMAGE TO THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS AND VINEYARDS.”

rise to the home’s name: ‘Singlewood House’. Too large to be relocated, it now greets guests like a sentinel in the middle of the couple’s driveway.

“We decided on a very modern barn-style interpretation of the Cape Dutch vernacular,” the owner explains. At around 330m2 including the garages, it’s a compact fourbedroom house, but it manages to feel spacious thanks to 7m-high ceilings and enlarged windows through which the ever-shifting light and seasons can be observed.

“The owners had a very clear vision for the house and it comes across in the palette,” says Widlake. That vision represented a space that was resistant to daily wear, and uncluttered but textured – a hardworking home in which to gather together or take refuge as the mood calls. As such, Widlake used materials that were both ‘poetic’ and tough. Large, honed granite slabs laid flagstone-style on the floors, leathered granite countertops and terracotta klompies set the tone for an understated aesthetic. Made at the brickworks just down the road, klompies are traditional, small bricks that originated in the days of Cape Dutch rule when they were used as ballast during sea voyages. In this house, they lend a hand-hewn character to the floors.

The owner’s choice of colours includes a collection of tones that exist somewhere between restful and comforting. A mix of milk-white, bitter grey-green and charcoal, a palette which Studio 19 has fortunately mastered over the years, pays homage to the surrounding mountains and vineyards. Each of these shades was tinkered with until exactly the right nuance was achieved, usually seeking a subtler version of the original.

“They also didn’t want any frills, so we opted for shadow lines in place of skirtings and cornices,” Widlake says of a space that errs on the side of masculine. Crisp lines define the cabinetry throughout the home, all designed in oak by Studio 19 and topped with granite or terrazzo. This sharpness of form is balanced and softened with organic materials like timber, handmade tiles and bagwashed bricks.

The homeowner is fanatical about seeking out the highest-quality bedding for optimum shut-eye. That means Egyptian cotton sheets in a high thread count, and all-natural mattresses from Sleepwell Switzerland. And then there’s the matter of the home’s technical prowess, where a world of unseen solutions results in comfort, convenience and smart operation, lending this home unbeatable functionality.

Double glazing throughout ensures that when the windows are shut, the interior becomes a noisecancelling cocoon and temperatures are regulated to perfection.

Accentuating this are solar-heated geysers and underfloor heating, solar electricity, insulation in the floors, walls and ceiling, and two-wood burning stoves.

“We joke about the house now and have nicknamed it ‘the giant golden bubble’, because in winter it’s so cosy inside, one truly feels like you’re inside a light, warm bubble while the winter storms rage outside,” quips the owner.

The couple also loosely themed the rooms for their adult children when they come to stay, with one being more feminine and the other, in a little annexe, conveying a more masculine feel with a darker palette.

LOCAL ARTISTS

Of utmost importance to the clients was the inclusion of local design. “We’re a very design-minded family and have come across a myriad of young talented South African designers and artists.

“Our dream was to use and celebrate this wealth of talent, for our own enjoyment, as well as that of the many foreigners who travel to Franschhoek,” the owner explains. As a result, Singlewood is layered with homegrown brands like Mungo, Isobel Sippel Studio, Houtlander, Amanda du Plessis, Studio 19, James Mudge Furniture Studio and artist Lucie de Moyencourt. Most of the furniture was custom-designed by Studio 19.

For passionate foodies, Franschhoek is a location that you cannot beat. When the family isn’t gathering over a meal in their open-plan kitchen, they’re often to be found strolling down the road together to sample the town’s fantastic restaurants.

“We love the walk past the old graveyard on our way out to dinner and the overall tranquillity of this area – even the guinea fowl families that make a racket in the vineyards at dusk,” the owner says contentedly.

This page: The living room is dominated by leather, wood and exposed brickwork, and features sofas and chairs from Studio 19. Opposite page, clockwise from top: The dining area has a James Mudge Harris table paired with Studio 19 Smith Chairs. A pair of Lucie de Moyencourt artworks hangs in the background, while the pendants above the dining table are from Loft Living. The kitchen features original black zellige tiles from Opia, a series of Studio 19 nature-inspired plates, a granite kitchen island, industrial-style Weylandts pendant light and a steel and reed-glass cupboard.

Clockwise, from above left: The open plan kitchen is a streamlined space featuring Houtlander wooden stools, a Lucie de Moyencourt ink drawing of Table Mountain, Studio 19 Mia Black tap and a concealed scullery. A small study featuring Louis Olivier paintings is tucked away in the corner of the TV lounge, where an oversized leather sofa sits beneath a Rui Alves charcoal drawing of nearby La Cotte farm mill. Studio 19’s basins and Meir Black fittings are stylish additions to the main bathroom. The main bedroom’s muted colour scheme is given a jolt of fun with the leopard print scatter cushions and a Cape Dutch gable-inspired headboard with freehand Ghanaian stitching detail.

This page, from left to right: In one of the girls’ bedrooms, the bed has been fitted into a storage system of cupboards and bedside cabinets to maximise space. The air-conditioning unit is concealed within a slatted encasement above the bed. Indoors and out flow seamlessly due to material and tonal continuity as well as glass stacking doors. The small steel outside table was designed to ‘speak’ to the wooden one inside and can be added to the dining room table to gain length when needed.