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After. Pendant lights by Spazio. -
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After. George's contractor was Louis Kruger of THAT Group. -
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After. The L-shaped sofa is the “Sven” from Coricraft. The coffee table was designed by George and repurposed from a previous one. -
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After. George designed the study/office nook. -
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After. The pendant lights are from spazio.co.za and the mirrors are from damngoodlooking.co.za. -
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After. The art and illustrations throughout are either by George of thestoepcollective.com or Amor Coetzee of dayfeels.co.za, with photography by Natasha Dawjee Laurent of papercutphotography.com. -
After. The rugs throughout are from Hertex. -
After. George's joinery designs were executed by Paul Botha of Lampas Creations. -
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After. The pendant lights are from spazio.co.za and the mirrors are from damngoodlooking.co.za. -
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WORDS Amelia Brown IMAGES Natasha Dawjee Laurent
It took just two months to renovate a dated two-bedroom duplex apartment in Queenswood, Pretoria, and transform it into a cool, modern, open-plan home.
Architect George F. Pieterse of The Stoep Collective is both the project designer and owner of the apartment. “Being my own client was a challenge in its own right!” laughs George. Other challenges included staying within the budget and ensuring economical use of the 100 m2 available space.
George took his inspiration from the city and urban loft-style apartments that combine an industrial aesthetic with slick, refined finishes. Light, both natural and artificial, formed an integral part of the design. “I approached it as an additional building material rather than an add-on,” explains George. “We couldn’t chop into the existing concrete slab to increase electrical points, so I designed the lighting installation for the downstairs open-plan space. The black conduits give the apartment that industrial feel I wanted to introduce.” The pendants above the dining room table and in the bathroom are from Spazio.
“Overall the apartment simply works much better: It functions as a cohesive unit rather than several compartmentalised spaces,”says George. “It was great to witness what was possible simply by revisiting the interior layout of these rooms. The result is a distinctly cosmopolitan, ‘big city’ feel; a space which lends itself to lazy Sunday afternoons just as well as it does to sipping wine into the early hours.”
Follow The Stoep Collective on Instagram and stay tuned for the online shop, coming soon. Check out more before and afters here.
