'Junk is my thing!'

This characterful home on the slopes of the Kleinrivier Mountains proves that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.’

- Shane Barnard

Stacking doors keep baboons off the outside lounge. “Architect Marcus Smit initially designed it as an open space, but I told him straight: ‘The minute you leave, we’re putting doors in.’ He just threw his hands in the air. What could he do?” says homeowner Carla with a chuckle. In the foreground, a Jacuzzi covered with a corrugated iron ‘lid’ blends in well with the rest of the house. The concrete seats were bought at a nursery some years ago.

Gardening tools and other accessories are kept in this bricks-and-mortar cupboard with its wooden doors.

Hermanus has always held special memories for Carla and Charles Duckitt. Charles’s family has spent many holidays there over the years, and the tranquil atmosphere of Voëlklip provided the ideal refuge for the couple’s student kids while they were still living abroad.

Carla knew from the outset that she wanted to buy the slightly run-down home when she saw it on a property website, but Charles wasn’t convinced. “He thought about it for two months – a lifetime when you should be making an offer!” Carla recalls. “One morning, out of the blue, Charles said the time was right and I should call the estate agent.” The timing worked in their favour as a slump in the property market meant they were able to purchase the house at a bargain.

That was in 2013, when they were living in Hamburg, Germany where Charles was working as an engineer. Only after his retirement in 2017, after first living in Johannesburg and Houston, Texas, could the couple settle down near the ocean. In the interim, the house remained unchanged, says Carla. “It was dark and cramped; especially the lower level, which had lots of damp issues. The finishes were also very old-fashioned.”