Tucked away at the end of a discreet little panhandle in Cape Town’s Oranjezicht – a neighbourhood well known for its attractive Victorian era villas – interior designer Lynne Harris-Whitfield’s home is set back from the road, behind a squad of square-pruned trees. And the house soon reveals itself as something special, combining as it does a familiar sense of engaging Victorian poise with a different sense of scale: the building features a very untypical flat roof in its second-floor addition.
Lynne and her husband Gavin bought the house before they had a family, and at that stage it was a single-storey, three-bedroom cottage with good bones, good scale and an unusual double gable. A week before they moved in, disaster struck in the form of a fire that gutted the interior, but they decided to turn adversity into advantage. So, they rebuilt, replacing many of the original period finishes (including floors, doors and fireplaces) with more contemporary versions.
Several years later – at which point Lynne and Gavin had two young daughters and a son on the way – the family needed more space, but didn’t want to move because they loved the location. And so they embarked on a further extensive alteration and addition, which resulted in the creation of two additional bedrooms for the girls in a new first floor, and generated both better flow and a more modern, user-friendly ground level that also enabled better use of the outdoor spaces.
Denne historien er fra Winter 2023-utgaven av Modern Living.
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Denne historien er fra Winter 2023-utgaven av Modern Living.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Colour Compact
Interior designer Kim Stephen’s terraced home in Barnes, London, combines her signature flair for colour with a clever use of its relatively compact spaces
Paris Panache
Designer Robert Normand’s unerring eye for colour and aesthete’s appreciation of decor, objects and art are on full display in his Paris home, where a series of interleading, beautifully dressed spaces each contributes something unique to a house that is an artwork in perpetual progress
The Art Of Chic
The ideal recipe for eclectic chic 21st-century style? Combine the classic details of a Haussmannian apartment with owner Emmanuel de Bayser’s eye for the finest mid-century furniture and design objects – plus a growing collection of contemporary art. Parfait!
In The Zone
A tightly knit curation of design-savvy details, furniture and finishes makes for an innovative spin on apartment living in Cape Town
The Fabric Of All Things
With a nod to traditional English decorating and with references to its Asian locale, this Singaporean family home is a visual tapestry of pastels and patterns
Brute Force
Referencing the industrial architecture of Chicago and New York, the stylish design of a Sydney home offsets raw, Brutalist surfaces and hardware with softer, seductive furnishings
Black Magic
Dark colours and graphic forms combine to create an urban ‘bush lodge’ look in this luxe family home on KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast. The result is serendipitously sexy
I'll Take Manhattan
...and Italian summers too. A New York City loft remains true to its industrial roots while undergoing an upgrade inspired by the warm light and soft textures of the Med
Quiet Riot
By offsetting elegant restraint with strong notes of natural, artistic and design exuberance, architect Frederic Berthier’s Paris apartment combines architectural stillness with human energy to beautiful and refreshing effect
Fresh Start
Interior designer Lynne Harris-Whitfield has melded old and new in her relaxed family home in Cape Town, which combines considered space planning with a trove of creative touches
