Private Paradise
Creative Direction Manager at the Singita group, Georgina Pennington channels her skill for appointing grand bush lodges into her characterful Johannesburg townhouse
For someone who’s used to vast open spaces overlooking beautiful bushland, Georgina Pennington’s two-bedroom townhouse in Johannesburg is, by comparison, decidedly modest. Her home away from home is a neutral, light-filled pied-à-terre with a deceptively large wrap-around garden. ‘It’s such an easy, safe space and I love the equal ratio of garden to house,’ she says. ‘The garden is very much part of the lounge and when I’m here I open everything up. The structure has good bones and that lets you make of it what you will, which I think helps.’ With her frenzied travel schedule, this spot functions as the perfect hassle-free, lock-up-and-go while still being beautifully appointed in pieces from her close friends at Anatomy Design. ‘I like spaces that are very clean and minimal but not too sterile either,’ explains Georgina of the paredback nature of her home. Decorated with mementos from her travels, from drawings of elephants to straw baobab trees in her entrance hall, she is never too far away from her passion and work. This is especially true in her second bedroom turned study, which presents a tree-house feel as one ascends the wooden spiral staircase. Thanks to the halfmoon shaped windows, the room leaves one with the lingering image of a sun setting in the veld, a visual that certainly isn’t too unfamiliar to Georgina. Her desk is dotted with gifts from family and souvenirs from several of her projects, all of them fitting perfectly with the earthy and neutral colour palette. ‘When I was nine I said I wanted to be an interior decorator for game reserves,’ she says, and what a prophetic statement, indeed. It’s also one that has been translated beautifully into her curated and comfortable home.