A Timeless Blend Of Past & Present

Behind the traditional architecture of this charming Little Karoo home lies a stylish contemporary living space.

- Marian van Wyk

The spacious and modern open-plan kitchen and living area is ideal for entertaining. The beautiful old dresser might have been the home’s original kitchen cabinet; apparently, it’s made from recycled timber from a church. The plywood chair comes from a restaurant where Hannes worked years ago and the wall behind the wood stove is unpainted plaster.

FS Star tiles under wood stove from Limegreen Sourcing Solutions; Dovre wood stove from MontSpa Meubels The extendable dining room table previously belonged to Anneke’s Ouma Kate. The wooden Globe chairs were bought by Hannes’s parents, Flip and Jacomi van Rooyen, at a school auction when they were a young couple. In the foreground, a prized artist edition print by Johann Louw adorns the wall.

Just as one starts searching for Anneke and Hannes van Rooyen’s house on a tree-lined Montagu street, the number5 jumps out – large, graphic and modern against a white boundary wall. The charming front door with its stained-glass detail stands wide open to reveal the view down the passage to the back garden. And then Kate, the Van Rooyens’ German Shepherd, trots out, tail wagging, followed by Anneke and the heavenly aroma of a freshly baked almond frangipani cake that wafts behind her.

That number 5 on the pillar next to the garden gate suggests that something unexpected awaits inside. The front part of the house is pure Little Karoo architecture from 1936, with shiny wooden floors and old steel-frame windows. But the back section reveals a contemporary open-plan kitchen-cum-living room built by the previous owners. Here, the light streams in through black aluminium window frames.