Carina ClaassensA light, airy colour palette of soft blues and greens gently echoes the leafy surrounds of this family home in Johannesburg
Overlooking a leafy park in Jo’burg, this cluster house is set in an amazing location. The owners enlisted the help of interior designer Peter Thomas to create a warm, inviting home that they could enjoy with their family.
The couple’s elegant console table with its distressed paint effect was the inspiration for the lounge. Mirroring the house’s farmhouse-style exterior, Peter added rusted wrought-iron lamps and teamed them with damask wallpaper and an oversized chandelier for a measure of sophistication.
Finished with a tin roof, bagged plaster and stonework, the house has beautiful proportions and a wonderfully light aspect. Peter’s brief from was simple: create a relaxed and easy-to-maintain space that could accommodate a brood of children and grandchildren.
Peter framed the windows in the lounge with decorative door panels and used shutters instead of curtains to maximise the light. Textured scatters give the room a cosy, comfortable feel.
The lounge and dining room share an open-plan space so Peter kept similar shades throughout, picking out the blue in the dining room and leaning towards green in the lounge to subtly highlight each area’s individuality.
The mirrors, positioned opposite the lounge window, enhance the sense of light and space in the open-plan dining room. The server is from G2 Furniture. The dining room chairs were made by Odd Chair to complement the existing dining room table.
In the dining room, Peter chose oversized pieces such as extra-tall lamps to balance and make a statement of the room’s wonderfully high ceilings. He added six weathered frames to the family’s original three and grouped them together to create a dramatic picture wall filled with photographs.
The family spends much of their time on the patio, so Peter transformed this area into a garden room that can be closed off from the elements if necessary. A grass rug gives the area a furnished look, while the wrought-iron daybeds maintain the feel of relaxed outdoor living.
The colour scheme of the main bedroom echoes that of the rest of the house. The second bedroom has a more masculine feel, with a darker choice of colours.
