THE OWNERS Renier Botha and Nic Klopper WHERE Groenkloof, PretoriaSIZE OF HOUSE 316m²SIZE OF PROPERTY 530m²
When a friend asked architect Renier Botha to have a look at a house he was thinking of buying, little did Renier know that this would take his company in a whole new direction.
Renier established his architectural practice and construction company, Space & Shape SA, 10 years ago and his wife Marique, a qualified interior decorator and designer, joined a few years later.
When the friend’s circumstances changed, he asked if the couple would be interested in buying the house, which they could then resell or let.
“We gave it careful consideration and thought: ‘Why not?’. We’ve designed and renovated houses for clients, but this is the first time we’ve done it for ourselves as a business investment,” says Renier, who teamed up with Nic Klopper of Groenkloof Co-Op on the project.
“The clincher was that the house is in Groenkloof, a lovely old neighbourhood with tree-lined streets and fantastic parks. It’s ideal for families and very few properties come on the market,” explains Renier.
“Plus, the house was well-built, it’s north-facing and it’s situated on a corner stand. It was worth investing in.”
“When we first saw it, the house was just a little facebrick box,” recalls Marique.
“This wasn’t a bad thing because you can do a lot with a box, as opposed to a house with lots of angles and levels.”
Renier adds: “Built in the 1960s, it had the typical layout of the time with everything compartmentalised – separate living area, separate dining room and separate kitchen. The house also needed a new roof.”
Kitchen
“Even though the kitchen is open to the living areas, we set it back to give it its own space,” explains Renier.
The focal point is the 3m-long island, which is curved at both ends.
“We ended up cladding it with a KitKat tile,” says Marique. “We needed something with a little ‘give’ and, fortunately, KitKat tiles come with a backing that wrapped around the curves quite easily.”
An open-plan kitchen can look messy, so Renier included a scullery and laundry room accessible through the glass door on the left. This connects directly to the new garages.
Retaining the footprint
The renovations, which the Bothas project managed and their construction company executed, took about eight months to complete.
“We kept the existing footprint but added a bathroom to the bedroom on the south side and built new garages with access to the kitchen,” says Marique.
To make the layout suitable for a more modern lifestyle, the living areas were opened up to the kitchen.
The couple retained all three bedrooms on the ground level and added new 2.4m-high, floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors to bring in more light and offer access to the garden.
They also replaced the flooring throughout.
Entrance
Brick flooring laid in a herringbone pattern makes a statement in the entrance lobby.
“It ties in with the brick walls we used in other areas of the house,” says Marique.
Raising the bar
The ‘wow factor’ came in the form of a new upper storey which accommodates a bedroom, study nook and bathroom.
“This level was inspired by the simple straight lines and sloping roof of a barn. We used a portal frame structure that enabled us to have a pitched ceiling, which enhances a sense of volume and space,” explains Renier.
“I introduced the curved façade at the entrance under this level to soften it and make it more inviting,” he adds.
A lover of Art Deco style and the craftsmanship that goes into basic materials like brick, Renier cladded the curve with bricks laid in a stack bond header pattern.
“It’s like a piece of fabric wrapped around the building. “The entrance is west-facing and the light enhances the texture of the brick; the original house was facebrick, so this blends the old with the new.”
Other Art Deco elements include the round window, or oculus, that fills the stairwell with light and the opening at the top of the braai chimney.
Living room
Once the walls had been removed, Renier reconfigured the living space with a sitting area at one end and dining space at the other.
To accentuate the new modern look of the house, he included a sloping ceiling with a clerestory window to pull light deep into the house.
“We used pine for the ceiling to create a sense of warmth,” he says.
“While the living areas are connected to the kitchen, there are nooks for different functions and activities,” adds Marique. brees
“The floor-to-ceiling wooden doors on the right are pocket doors that slide into the wall to reveal a coffee station.”
Small lounge
Situated off the entrance is this cosy living room, which opens out onto the patio and pool.
The landing
Marique’s use of different textures is evident on the landing, where she has combined terrazzo floor tiles with a metal railing, a kiaat handrail and a half wall made from terracotta breeze blocks.
“Although this is a nod to the past, there are so many new breeze block designs and finishes available these days,” she says.
To make the railing, Renier laser cut steel posts and welded them on site, while the kiaat handrail was crafted by Marique’s father, Pierre Plekker.
Staircase
The stairs to the upper level are a combination of terrazzo treads and brick risers.
Garden
After building a retaining wall and levelling the garden, there was room for a small pool.
“We wanted a round pool like a farm dam but there just wasn’t space,” says Marique.
Patio
A slatted meranti roof shades the patio. The fireplace and chimney are finished in the same Corobrik Rusty Satin Blend facebrick as the curved façade.
The circular opening at the top of the chimney echoes the oculus above the entrance.
“The fireplace can be seen from the entrance, living rooms and kitchen and forms a focal point when the fire is lit,” says Renier.
Overcoming challenges
One of the drawbacks of the property was that aside from the front and back doors there was no connection to the outdoors.
“In addition, there was a drop of 1.5m from the narrow area around the house to the garden. You had to walk around the house to a set of steps to access it,” says Renier.
“To create a level garden off the house, we had to build a massive double-skin retaining wall with steel reinforcement.
“It took 270m³ of soil to level the area and we had to call in the help of an engineer.
“We also had to install a huge agricultural drain. It was a tedious and expensive process, but it made all the difference.
“Not only does the garden feel bigger and more accessible, but being able to walk directly into it also makes the living areas and bedrooms feel much airier and more spacious.”
“When designing a house for resale or rental, you need to keep the finishes neutral so that the tenants or new homeowners can bring in their own preferred style of furniture,” says Marique.
“But the shell doesn’t have to be boring. We wanted to show that neutrals can be interesting and inviting if you introduce texture and subtle colour.”
To achieve this, Marique combined contrasting materials such as brick flooring laid in a herringbone pattern, terrazzo tiles, a kiaat handrail and breeze blocks which she used on the upstairs landing.
“I’m having a love affair with breeze blocks at the moment,” she says. “It’s an ode to the old 1960s-style house.
Bathrooms
To give the round mirror in the guest bathroom a lift, an LED strip was placed on the back.
“Light is often a problem in bathrooms and this creates extra illumination, which is very useful if you’re applying make-up,” says Marique.
To turn plain subway tiles into a feature, Marique had them laid in vertical and horizontal rows in the upstairs bathroom.
“Designing the bathrooms was another exercise in making neutral finishes look interesting,” explains Marique.
“For convenience and to save money, we decided to use the same vanities, sanitary ware, taps, shower glass etc. in every bathroom. But to make each one look unique, we used a different paint colour on the walls. Here, in the main bathroom, we used a neutral shade.”
Renovation
Email your renovation project to experts@homemag.co.za
Expert advice: Renovating for resale
- If you’re thinking of renovating a house as an investment, architect Renier Botha of Space & Shape SA has the following advice:
- Choose the area carefully. Do your homework and check whether there are good schools, shopping centres and other amenities nearby. Access to main roads and highways is also important. You’re more likely to get a return on your investment in a good area than in one that’s less desirable.
- A very important factor is orientation. The house should be north-facing. A light-filled home is much more appealing to a buyer than one that’s dark and gloomy, so make sure that the main living areas and bedrooms receive northern light.
- When it comes to the layout, less is more. Look for a simple floor plan with no unnecessary passages, nooks or crannies. With a straightforward design, there is less to demolish, which saves time and brings costs down. Such a space is also easier to redesign.
- Have a professional check the structure. It should be solidly built with no sagging roof ridges. If the external walls are facebrick or unplastered, that’s a bonus as a lot of bad building can be hidden behind a plaster render.
- I generally avoid houses with very complex roofs, such as tiled roofs with a lot of hips and valleys, as they tend to leak.
CONTACTspaceandshapesa.co.za
Q&A with Marique
- What was the most expensive surprise and why? We had to build a huge retaining boundary wall to create a level garden and a massive amount of soil was required to fill it.
- What was your biggest saving? The flooring in the open-plan living areas. We chose cost-effective, large-format tiles, which create a big impact for a small outlay.
- What would you do differently next time? We would try to salvage more of the building material from the existing house and reuse it in the revamp.
How they did it
The carpets, ceilings and other fittings were removed before taking down the walls separating the living and dining areas and kitchen.
All the original windows were removed.
A new boundary wall and foundations for the upper storey and new garages were built.
The original roof tiles were removed.
A portal frame structure was erected for the upper storey. Facebrick walls were built on this level.
The upper storey was encased in a curve cladded with bricks laid in a stack bond header pattern.
On the north-facing side, the roof was raised to accommodate the sloping ceiling above the patio and living areas.
A new pine sloping ceiling was installed.
Sections of the upper storey were cladded with Kliplok sheets and the whole house was roofed with Saflok 700 concealed fixed sheeting from Safintra Building Solutions.
