Wwhen

Bennie Bouwer and Gawie Wolmarans moved into their old, run-down house in December 2014, they began renovating almost immediately. “The entire place was painted in shades of brown, dark red and dark grey, with dated tiles and finishes,” says Gawie.

But the pair soon got stuck in and slowly but surely put their stamp on every room. The dark kitchen with its old-fashioned tiles was the space they liked the least, even though the cupboards were actually still in fairly good condition.

“We wanted to retain the layout of the spacious kitchen but give it a more contemporary look and make the most of the natural light,” says Gawie.

So, instead of demolishing the kitchen and building a new one from scratch – and at great expense – they made a few superficial changes that totally transformed the drab space into their dream kitchen.

In March this year, work began in earnest. The existing cabinets were given a fresh coat of paint, trendy new metro tiles were installed on the walls and new cladding was installed behind the pizza oven in the adjacent courtyard.

The kitchen now looks so impressive, it’s difficult to believe it’s the same space!

Most of the work was carried out over weekends with their gardener Lucky Kamurai helping to rehang the cupboard doors.

“For four weeks, the entire open-plan area was permanently covered in dust. It really needed a good spring-clean when we were finally done!” says Gawie. >>