CALM & COLLECTED
A heritage home in Cape Town has been reimagined as a relaxed refuge from city life
Serene schemes fill this heritage house in Cape Town
Tucked away in Cape Town’s Tamboerskloof suburb on the lower slopes of Lion’s Head mountain, this period home was just the place property developer Bruce Peach had been longing to find. Located on one of the area’s tree-lined cobbled streets, the house ticked lots of boxes for Bruce. It is secluded yet cosmopolitan, modern but romantic. ‘Bruce wanted to live in an urban environment that had a real sense of heritage,’ says Johannesburgbased fashion designer-turned-interior decorator Lindie Ferreira, who was tasked with making Bruce’s style vision a reality. ‘He loves authenticity and history, having spent years living in London, so he opted for this smaller home that offered quality over quantity.’
The house had lost some of its lustre in the last few years and an update was in order. Previous owners had painted the floorboards black, lowered ceilings and left fireplaces in a state of decay, yet Bruce was unperturbed. ‘As you’d expect from someone in his industry, Bruce could see the potential immediately. He knew that the house had solid bones and he wanted to uncover and amplify that, rather than lose it altogether,’ says Lindie.
This would require a nuanced strategy that was equal parts renovation and restoration. The floorboards were sanded down to reveal their grain, ceilings were removed to show the hand-hewn planks above and the room entrances were widened to create voluminous, open-plan spaces. The new layout was complemented by a cool, serene interior with an ethereal quality. ‘What I love in decorating is a sense of tension; that it is both quiet and dramatic,’ says Lindie. ‘It can’t be easy or prescriptive – that would be boring.’ Her tonic to this ‘nouveau classic’ style was an eclectic yet monastic approach to furniture and finishes, which has yielded uncluttered yet richly layered spaces.
This sentiment couldn’t be clearer than in Lindie’s use of fabric. In each room, curtain material has been carefully considered according to its function; in the sitting room weighted linen introduces a stately sense of importance, whereas in the upstairs bedrooms lighter fabric creates a cocooning softness. Similarly, there is a raw naturalness to the upholstery that infuses the interiors with a feeling of light and air. When it came to furniture, Lindie opted for a mismatch of chairs and tables – a clever synergy between Cape antiques, touches of Quaker-style simplicity and bold Brazilian modernist collectables. ‘All of these feed into the materiality of the home; the grain of the wood, the flecks in the marble,’ says Lindie. ‘There’s an honesty that isn’t over-embellished. It is precisely because of these noble materials that the interiors of this property will never date.
‘I think the house is really successful because even though every room is so specific in its function and appointment, there is still a common thread, this feeling of congruency. That’s what we set out to achieve: spaces that both challenge and enthral.’