What they did...
“Our plan when we bought this house was to renovate it gradually,” says Eleni Ayele of the house she shares with her husband Johan Boonzaier. But then in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the whole world changed and their budget with it, so Eleni started looking for ways to update areas of the house without breaking the bank.
Johan, a systems engineer, is a self-admitted DIY addict but Eleni, who hails from Ethiopia, had never even painted a wall before. However, having recently completed her LLM in human rights law, she believes in research.
“That’s how I came across Tjhoko Paint, which was an eye-opener for me.” Eleni was so intrigued that she watched all their videos, sometimes more than once, and this gave her the courage and know-how to get going with her own creative expression.
The first project she tackled was their lacklustre guest bathroom. “It had the same terracotta tiles as the rest of the floors in the house and white tiled walls with a navy border. There was a minute basin in the corner. It was so dull and outdated that I wasn’t comfortable with guests using it.”
Since a guest loo offers the opportunity to have a little fun design wise, Eleni decided to give it the ‘wow factor’ with a striking floor. “I planned to stencil the walls in the adjoining kitchen, so I decided that the floor would be the focus in this room,” she explains.
Eleni and Johan first removed the tiny corner basin and the toilet so that there was room to move. The upper walls, painted a neutral off-white, were in good condition so Eleni left them as is. “I taped the edges with masking tape to prevent the new paint from bleeding into this area.” She then cleaned the wall tiles thoroughly with lacquer thinners before coating them in a mix of Tjhoko Paint’s Cement Grey and Stone Wash, first using a brush and then smoothing the paint with a roller. “I let each coat dry for a few hours before applying the next.”
As the terracotta colour of the floor tiles was quite dominant, it took several coats of Tjhoko Paint Cloud White to achieve a clean background. To create an eye-catching effect, Eleni chose a stencil in a modern circle design (2020-30x30-14) from Tjhoko Paint. “The bold pattern in Tjhoko’s Cement Grey and Stone Wash instantly transformed the room,” she says.
“Even though we installed new fittings, I can’t believe the difference that painting the walls and floor has made,” adds Eleni, who was so inspired by the result that she’s since turned her talents to the kitchen and various pieces of furniture.
“I’ve also started working on one of the upstairs bathrooms.”