OPEN HOUSE
Light and bright with a glorious country location, Cornel and Neill Strydom’s house is all about sociable weekends – and some serious creativity
There’s something tranquil, informal and relaxed about an open-plan home, and Cornel and Neill Strydom have perfected this style of living. “We live for the weekends,” says Cornel. When they are fed up with traffic and the bustle of city life, they retreat to their country escape just outside Pretoria with their three kids, two Boston terriers, two Italian greyhounds, one whippet and one (rather scarce) cat.
The couple bought the land in the Blue Water Creek Estate in July 2008 and by December 1 of that year they had built and moved into the farm-style home. The setting here is relaxed and informal, but there’s a clear element of style in the bold fabric and colour choices they have made. The family loves to entertain and their home is really conducive to spending weekends hosting friends.
The Strydoms are the South African distributors for the Romo Group, makers of designer fabrics and wallcoverings, so they have access to all kinds of gorgeous textiles. In fact, Cornel has a love of fabric that stretches beyond the family business – she has been collecting since 1988. “I love fabrics,” she says. “I buy small pieces and keep them for when I find a use for them.”
As we all know, quality fabric is not cheap, so Cornel finds clever ways to make the most of it. Take the two-seat sofa in the entryway, for example, which has two different types of fabric on the arms and body. Cornel explains: “I didn’t have enough to cover the whole sofa, so I made a plan.” And sometimes, if reupholstering isn’t an option, she simply stitches a slipcover for the chair or couch in question.
Cornel is a DIY queen. Almost every surface, cushion or wall in the house has been lovingly upholstered or painted by her, including the striking mural above the Smeg stove, which she traced using an overhead projector. On the orange bar stools in the kitchen, she used leftover ceiling paint and simple floral slipcovers tied with ribbon. Even as we chat, she is busily stapling some floral fabric to the seat of a chair and painting an old frame a neon-yellow shade.
The yellow dining room walls (painted in Plascon’s Grecian Gold) contrast beautifully with the white ceramic leaves artfully arranged on them above a display cabinet. And opposite, two of Neill’s late mother’s landscape paintings have had their frames sprayed black. “I used this brilliant paint called Rust-Oleum to turn old-fashioned frames into something stark and modern, as a contrast to the bright yellow walls,” says Cornell. “As I get older, I get more experimental and bold with fabric and colour.”
What are her favourite places to source decor items? “Mr Price Home is wonderful for bits and bobs. You can walk in there once a month and find something lovely and inexpensive,” she says. “The same goes for markets and Typo, where an exciting buy is just a few rand away. I disagree with the idea that home items should be chosen in order to be useful in 10 years’ time. Live with what you love now.
“I love the quirky elements in the home, especially when something is a bit ‘undone’ and slightly unfinished. Romo South Africa takes clients to Paris each year for Maison & Objet and the thing that strikes me most is not the architecture, the plushness of interiors or the preciousness of the fabrics, but rather the handmade and unexpected decor elements.”
Cornel also doesn’t like buying cut flowers for her home, but instead uses little seedlings and aloes decanted (including soil) into pretty vases, pots and even vintage coffee tins. The result is a home filled with fresh, growing flowers.
The kitchen rolls into the living area, which – with its enormous fireplace – is perfect for winter afternoons. In summer, the wooden doors fold away completely to showcase the garden’s indigenous trees, ornamental grasses and beautifully fragrant white roses in box beds around the long but narrow pool.
The master bedroom also has an open and expansive feel: you imagine yourself getting out of bed and strolling through the doors into the garden, all the while gazing out over the hilly estate.
Pinterest is a constant source of inspiration for Cornel and the colour-coordinated books on floating shelves beside the bed are just one of the ideas from the inspirational website she has used.
The more time you spend in this house, the more you start to unwind. We soon longed to pull our feet up under us and simply relax with a cup of coffee on one of Cornel’s shweshwe-upholstered Queen Anne chairs, watching the birds by the lake. Which is exactly what this charming home is designed to do: make you stop and smell the roses – or should that be “watch the birds”?
• romosouthafrica.com