Fresh ideas with paint and tiles
Home is where the hearth is
The Salt River, Cape Town home of contemporary visual artist Liza Grobler and her husband, painter and sculptor Norman O’Flynn, is filled with art and colour. When they had to work from home during the winter of 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, they immediately had a fireplace installed. The Kratki fireplace is finished off with cheerful blue tiles, with one cheeky red tile as a playful accent that also picks up on other red elements in the space.
Liza was thrilled when she found the free-form granite offcut on which the fireplace rests. “There are a lot of organic elements in the house and I knew it would look great here,” she says. Liza’s artistic home is featured in Home Paint It 2021, on sale now.
Street art
Paint expert and interior designer Sharon O’Callaghan Marais says a graffiti wall immediately came to mind when Monique Odendaal of Welgemoed asked her to decorate her sons’ bedroom. “Neil (11) and André (9) currently share this spacious room, but later they will want their own spaces,” explains Monique. “We were keen on a theme that they wouldn’t outgrow and that both of them would be comfortable with as teenagers – even if their personalities and interests differ.”
All four walls were painted white for a fresh look before Sharon drew the graffiti designs freehand with blackboard paint on the wall behind the beds and desks. Then she carefully coloured inside the outlines with water-based paint. “The entire process took about four days,” she says.
Monique initially considered vinyl stickers but says that would have been much more expensive than paint. “The new look was a surprise – the kids love it!”
Three-quarter bed from Eco Furniture Design; flip-flops from Veldskoen; ottoman, grey coffee mug and yellow desk lamp from Mr Price Home
A numbers game
Hadeda Mexican and South American Imports affixed their showroom’s street number in Dunkeld, Johannesburg to a striking dark blue wall (the Azul Colonial pigment comes from Mexico) and completed the picture with a cheerful collection of Talavera tiles.
The owner, Desiré Armstrong, says that during the 30 years she’s been in business, these tiles have become increasingly popular. “Other than being used with house numbers, they’re also great for adding a little colour around a postbox,” she adds.
A touch of romance
French chic from the entrance to the back stoep – this was Nellie Franken’s goal when she bought an old house in Durbanville in 2018 and started renovating it. This exterior wall is her handiwork.
Nellie first coated the wall with a cement slurry. When it had dried completely, she used leftover paint (mostly Creative Talents Chalk Paint) in blue, pink, yellow and grey to achieve the dreamy textured effect. For the technique, she mixed the paints and applied them in stripes with a brush; then she wiped with a cloth to create a soft “washed” look. Nellie mixed lighter and darker shades and applied them over each other until she was satisfied. To finish, the wall was sealed with Alumanation Sovereign Seal. Her collection of flower-filled bird cages is the perfect adornment for this special backdrop.