Colour Crazy

South African interior designer Sarah Ord has splashed colour and pattern across every room in her new family home

- TRACY CHEMALY

sound like a Mad Hatter, but I am actually not that crazy,' laughs Sarah Ord, as she tries to make sense of the melange of furniture, artworks, heirlooms and quirky curiosities filling her Cape Town home.

Last year, Sarah moved from a small house in the city centre to the family home her mother was previously living in, in the leafy suburb of Claremont, to ensure more space for their growing family. Her sons would need more room and a garden in which to play.

It had been an exhausting four years for the family: pregnancies, illnesses, opening their new property, and then a house move. 'I felt like I needed a new lease on life,' says Sarah, who immediately took to painting the walls of the dining room, kitchen and lounge in a vibrant forest green, inspired by the colour of a ceramic beer mug she'd found in an antique store, now used as a vase next to her bed.

It's such spontaneity that has her likening herself to Alice in Wonderland's whimsical friend. The kitchen cupboards changed from white to dashing blue, an old grey oak cabinet turned siren red, and the front door, which had lived through bottle-green, yellow and red incarnations, was coated in blue too. 'Once I start, I can't stop, Sarah smiles. White just looks blah!'