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Looking splendid in the morning sun, The Karoo Moon Motel has retained a vintage vibe but is very different from the original stone-and-mud building with its cow-dung floor covering and thatched roof. Old fuel pumps, a business sign with a Koffiehuis ad and farm implements adorn the yard. The Pharos picked up these relics in towns like Prince Albert, Barrydale and Ashton on trips through the Karoo on their Harley-Davidsons. -
Rustic Barrydale Motel -
Arthur, the king of his renovated castle. On the wall behind him is a photo he bought from an antique dealer in Somerset West and in the foreground is a lamp from Smileys Restoration & Creation in Woodstock. -
Arthur found this wire lounger in a Kalk Bay shop and built the courtyard wall from local stone. -
A quiet spot in one of the bedrooms. The Madonna-and-child print was found at OnSite Gallery in Woodstock and framed with recycled wood. The green table and chair are from Nerf-af in Durbanville, the Hungarian yellow chair is from Koöperasie Stories in Simondium, and the lamp is an old Whirlybird turbine vent. -
The Pharo family’s old table and Cuban candelabra perfectly suit the elongated space of the enclosed stoep. They found the 1950s cigarette ad in Prince Albert and bought the benches at the vintage decor shop Nerf-af. -
When Arthur started to remove old plaster, these lovely stone walls surfaced. The Oregon pine window frame was salvaged from a 150-year-old church. Vintage French and Italian armchairs and a restored lamp from Smileys Restoration & Creation complete the picture. -
This scrubbed kitchen cupboard with its myriad of paint layers reveals new shades all the time. The half-moon window is originally from a monastery in Belgium.
PHOTOS Adriaan Oosthuizen PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Debbie Loots
Just outside Barrydale, the Pharo family have turned a derelict old house into The Karoo Moon Motel – next to their American-style diner Diesel & Crème.
For seven years, Capetonians Arthur and Louise Pharo eyed the piece of land adjacent to their Barrydale weekend house in the Little Karoo. On the property there was only a deserted old house, an outside toilet, an outside oven and a water trough – all dating back to about 1896 – yet the Pharos dared to dream big, American-style big: In their mind’s eye, they could see a roadside motel and a diner on the property.
When the land came up for sale they bought it quick as a flash.
Arthur ditched his job and moved to Barrydale. He persuaded his son Dean, who was living in Thailand at the time, to return home and lend a hand, while Louise stayed on working in the city and drove to Barrydale on weekends.
“I quickly realised the house was too small to turn into the kind of diner I had in mind,” says Arthur and laughs his throaty laugh. “So we stopped renovating it and instead built a brand-new diner.”
And so their dream American-style diner, Diesel & Crème, became reality: A grand raw brick building rose quickly from the ground and got wooden floors and a high corrugated iron roof. They furnished it from their collection of vintage finds and soon business was rockin’ and rollin’ on the popular Route 62.
There was, however, still the matter of the partially renovated house weighing on Arthur’s heart. It was crying out for attention, not to mention the rest of his and Louise’s precious collectibles they’d bought and stored all over in small towns during years of travelling around the Cape on their Harley-Davidsons.
With Dean minding the diner, Arthur hit the road to collect and bring his babies home. Soon, antique window frames and burglar bars, old French doors and all kinds of fittings and furnishings arrived in Barrydale.
First, Arthur tackled the construction part of the motel just like he did the diner, maverick-style. He knew exactly what he wanted, drew up the plans himself and got local builders to execute his vision – restoring the old house into the lovely three-bedroomed, two-bathroomed The Karoo Moon Motel.
Arthur’s talents are not limited to renovating and building and finding one-off gems; he’s a natural at interior decorating too. As he walks me through the neat-as-a-pin motel to look around – past the custom-made oval-shaped front door, through the entrance hall with its scrubbed table and mismatched chairs, and through the rest of the house’s charming spaces – Arthur’s hands are always busy. If he’s not straightening the twin towels in the pretty bathroom with its oddly shaped windows he’s tucking at the duvet covers in the bedroom, where distressed pressed tin ceiling tiles have been used as headboards. Louise’s special touch is noticeable everywhere, from the sheer French lace curtains to the wafting white roses blooming outside.
What with Dean dishing up all kinds of delicious meals in the diner next door, that vintage neon sign outside is bound to regularly flash: No Vacancies.
For more information, visit dieselandcreme.co.za.
