‘My house, My Haven'

In search of her ideal home, this designer found a ‘treehouse’ that ticks all the right boxes...

- Marie Opperman

Elzanne Woeke found her dream home near the Bot River lagoon, where wild horses graze and flamingos wade in the shallow water. Surrounded by tall trees, the house is nestled in a spacious garden.

The veranda on the first floor overlooks the mountains and glistening water, while the twinkling lights of Kleinmond can be seen in the evening. “It’s the house I’ve always wanted,” she says with a contented sigh.

Five years ago, this textile- and interior designer put together a “dream board” of the house she longed to buy and pasted the words “Happiness is ahouse by the beach” on it.

Alongside that she tacked up a roadmap on which she drew a dotted line from Cape Town, where she worked, to Fisherhaven, where she now lives. She added a written wish that by dividing her life between these two places she would find her balance.

But now this house, which she has named The Haven, has become her permanent home. “It was part of my awakening. It became the juxtaposition between the ‘Cape Town me’ and ‘The Haven me’. Inow live closer to nature and to my true self. My home is my haven.”

The shelf that now forms a partition on the kitchen counter was a cupboard before Elzanne broke it apart, revamped it and painted it white.

A treehouse to call home

Elzanne says that all her life she longed for ahome surrounded by nature. “I bought My Haven in September 2019. It was the first time Ihad ahouse where Icould do as Ipleased; these days, Ilove working in the garden and Ihave athriving veggie patch.”