By Sungula Nkabinde, Project Consultant Monique Rankine, Property Co-ordinator Chantel Spence, Photography Nic Baleta
The owners of this beautiful home are in the business of building luxury homes exclusively for the high-profile rental clients. For this particular project, and indeed every other one, they set out to build a home that they would love to live in themselves.
“The design, style and finishes have to be of a high quality – it is as if I’m building my own dream home. I like to explore and try new ideas, and I approach every new project as an adventure,” says one of the owners, who works with her husband in the luxury home business.
She says her vision for this specific house was to cater for a large family from abroad to stay in SA for a few years – the home needed to accommodate (in addition to the family) a nanny, chef and au pair as well as have additional space for guests.
It consists of a guest apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room and lounge, and a flatlet attached to the house comprising one bedroom, a bathroom and living area.The main house has four bedrooms and spacious open-plan living areas.
The interior is finished in such a way that the tenant doesn’t have to do a lot to make the house feel homely. The large living area with open-plan kitchen is perfectly suited to families that spend a lot of time together, and has a massive double-sided gas fireplace adjoining the four living areas, making cosy winter entertaining possible. Crème-white, stone-clad walls recur in different areas of the home to give it a rough texture, which is broken by soft finishes, like the inviting maroon combination of double settees and a rug in the sitting room. The decor style is modern with a touch of Africa.
The home owner used clean lines and a variety of textures in the building materials like glass, mirror, wood, steel and water. She does all the interiors herself, buying materials directly from fabric houses and has a factory that manufactures all of their headboards, upholstery and curtains.
“We travel a lot and enjoy using all the ideas we see in five-star hotels, lodges and guest houses around SA, mostly coastal properties,” says the home owner.
The outside areas are separated by ceiling-high glass sliding doors, some of which disappear into the wall, so that it’s possible to just have a huge open hall in the garden surrounded by the pool. There’s an extended slab on the third floor covering the patio, and part of the pool and wooden deck around the garden for the hot summer months and unexpected rain. The home also has energy-efficient elements including solar geysers and solar pool heating.
“What I like most about this house, which we completed mid-2013, is the modern upmarket apartment look and feel with the space of a mansion. You can also divide the house into smaller areas by closing gates and doors,” she says.
The Ambassador Letting Agency, the estate agent for this home and many of the home owners’ other properties, is unlikely to have any problems finding tenants – who are mainly corporate CEOs, and presidents of motoring, mining, industrial and medical companies – as it is indeed a majestic homestead capable of catering for and entertaining a large number of people.
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