Fresh ideas from nature
Rays of sunshine
Irma Herbst of Onrus decided to have a beautiful window she was gifted built into her boundary wall as a striking feature. Framed by lush ivy, the semicircle window allows the sun’s rays to shine through and brighten up what could potentially have been a dark corner.
Tree wall sculptures beneath the window complete the picture; the ivy around them is pruned regularly so as not to crowd them out. Because the window is positioned high on the wall and has opaque glass, Irma and her neighbours’ privacy isn’t compromised.
Tree sculptures from Garden Bleu
The lady in the mirror
Irma used an old second-hand steel door as a front gate; instead of transparent glass in the top half, it had a mirror – the back of which was not the best view from the house. One day a friend, Elmarie de Waal, arrived with a piece of Renaissance art on canvas and Irma immediately knew what to do with it. Together they carefully pasted the canvas onto the back of the mirror and treated it with crackle decoupage to protect it from the elements. >>
A living curtain
Janine O’Grady, owner of Makietie Fabrics in Paarl, used the burglar bars in this seating nook in her kitchen to create a lovely vertical garden. “I saw the plant containers at a garden centre and asked the owner to help me choose the right plants,” says Janine. “The containers can be hooked on and off and taken outside for watering.”
The shelf above the window uses the home’s high ceilings to best effect – it’s the perfect display area for Janine’s collection of tins and baskets, which are too large for the kitchen shelves built by her husband Michael. “It helps if your husband is handy!” says Janine with a smile.