From The Inside Out!

A clever revamp of this 1960s house has resulted in a light and spacious abode that flows effortlessly from the interior to the garden – without compromising its footprint or the many indigenous trees.

- Elna van der Merwe

In 1965, Rousselot and Antoinette Pienaar planted the first of52 indigenous trees in the garden of their brand-new home inStellenbosch. One of Rousselot’s favourites was a black ironwood, which the South African National Biodiversity Institute celebrates on its website (pza.sanbi.org): “Happy the grandchild who inherits a garden shaded by a black ironwood tree, for they have grandparents of great foresight and intelligence”.

It was these trees that led a young couple to buy the house in 2015 – and today their children and their friends play under their shade.

“It was definitely the garden that sealed the deal when we bought the house,” confirms Mona Haumann. “I started looking at houses without my husband’s knowledge and when I saw the trees, I knew that this was where I wanted to live.”

Mona and her family lived here quite contentedly for a year and a half before the painter in Mona began to long for a bigger studio.

“Paul wasn’t keen to renovate the house but I persuaded him to get an architect to draw up plans, and said we’d take it from there.”

Unsurprisingly, the original plan to create a studio above the garage soon expanded to include various other parts of the house.

“The architects proposed hundreds of other ideas,” says Mona. “They suggested that the studio should be part of the house and that the bathrooms on the second floor be redone. They also proposed a stoep for the back, with a new kitchen into the bargain.”