COMPILED BY Michaela Stehr PHOTOS Elsa Young/Frank Features; Micky Hoyle; Henrique Wilding; Jan Ras; Dear Heart Photography; Wil Punt; Grace Charlotte Photography; Greg Cox/Frank Features; Mathew Van Niekerk; Greg Cox/Bureaux
Dreaming of a beach escape? These seaside homes are the perfect inspiration for a sandy and salty retreat.
From big and bold to nautical chic, these beach homes are a welcome escape from the hustle and bustle of city living.
Kommetjie House
Nestled atop a dune in Kommetjie, the family home that architect and ceramicist Emma Day shares with her businessman husband, Chris, and their two teenage children is a triumph of intuitive design. It’s the realisation of a long-held dream for the couple, who had wanted to give their children the kind of coastal lifestyle they’d had growing up. “I grew up in Ramsgate on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, while Chris grew up in Kommetjie,” says Emma. “So it definitely felt like a homecoming for us when we found this plot in Klein Slangkop eco-estate.”
Read the full story on this Kommetjie house.
Onrus Beach Cottage
The little white cottage that Megan and Casper Geldenhuys built in Onrus 30 years ago speaks of precious times with family and friends, a life lived close to nature and a deep respect for the setting. The little white cottage is perched as though airlifted there on the shores of Onrus Lagoon. At first glance it is an unremarkable clapboard structure. Sitting off-kilter on a large stand, it is rectangular, made entirely of timber painted white from top to toe both outside and inside, and has big windows – not a burglar bar or ostentatious element in sight.
Read the full story on this Onrus beach cottage.
Modern Marine Home
A marine-meets-modern beach house on the west coast embraces open spaces and a peaceful palette for the ultimate low-key retreat. An intimate understanding of the small coastal town of Yzerfontein has made Evi Elsner something of an expert when it comes to creating beach homes in this idyllic enclave. Originally from Germany, Evi and her husband Jochem lived in Somerset West for 15 years before relocating to Yzerfontein, where they established themselves as sought-after dream-house developers. Combining architectural, interior design and building skills, the husband-and-wife team found a winning formula: Home Concept, their business, starts from the ground up, quite literally.
Read the full story on this modern beach house in Yzerfontein.
Yzerfontein Beach House
Built on what is probably the most perfect plot in Yzerfontein on the West Coast, this incredible beach house actually magnifies the effects of its beautiful surroundings. The house, named To the Moon and Back, is located at the very end of the southernmost beach road in Yzerfontein, bordering on Tygerfontein, a private nature reserve with pristine strandveld vegetation. The owners fell in love with “the best-kept secret of the West Coast” after attending an auction in town. As soon as this plot became available, they snapped it up.
Read the full story on this Yzerfontein beach house.
Bakoven Beach Escape
Struck by the magnificent mountain-and-ocean setting of this three-level Bakoven bungalow, interior designer Susanne Brodnik, founder of My Place in Cape Town, sought to create a unifying design language and a bright, light, open interior. The brief to Susanne from the property’s well-travelled international owners was for a home away from home. “As a parent myself, I immediately understood when the owners, who have a young son, said to me: ‘We want to arrive at this house and be at home.’ Everything is built around that sentence. I needed to create an easy living, open plan, holiday home; a second home for the owners to unwind and simply relax as soon as they arrive,” she says.
Read the full story on this Bakoven beach house.
Floating Dune House
Architect Johann Slee’s latest creation hovers over and among milkwood trees above the dunes in Sedgefield. The name ‘Floating Dune House’ comes from its minimal impact on the sensitive and unique dune vegetation. “The footprint of the house was kept as compact as possible,” explains Johann, “by introducing a cantilevered building edge that is raised above the vegetation, giving the illusion of floating on the dunes.” During the building process alien plants were removed, leaving gaps in the indigenous milkwood trees that created natural portals to the sea views. The brief was to embrace the milkwoods, and the result, in fact, was to be embraced by them.
Read the full story on this Sedgefield beach house.
The Boat House
Designer Rhett Williams-Jones and architect Lawden Holmes transformed an unused storage room in Yzerfontein into this tranquil West Coast hideaway, aptly named The Boat House. The renovation of the tiny space embodies a contemporary coastal charm, purposeful in its intention to connect to the exterior landscape.
The Boat House sits adjacent to a greenbelt in the ever-expanding West Coast town of Yzerfontein. Due to the increased development in the area and the threat it poses to the fynbos and ‘beach vegetation’ endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town, Rhett wanted to enforce the space’s connection to the outdoors. “It was something we wanted to be clear from the moment you step through the front door – the connection to the fauna and flora,” says Rhett. “That flow between interior and exterior also makes the small space feel that much bigger”.
Read the full story on The Boat House.
Scarborough Home
The inspired architectural design of this contemporary weekender works as a series of controlled openings that respond to the area’s wild weather conditions while cleverly merging African and Mediterranean design principles with the owners’ distinctive sense of style.
What started as an occasional getaway to the coastal village of Scarborough grew into a full-blown love affair for the owners of this home – a creative director and a surgeon. “Just 45 minutes from Cape Town, Scarborough is the last village before Cape Point – a little piece of heaven within walking distance of the beach,” they say.
Read the full story on this Scarborough home.
Llandudno Beach House Renovation
For the renovation of this beach house, architectural designer Hanno de Swardt of Onnah Design made use of texture and colour to give this outdated Llandudno villa a new lease on life.
“My clients wanted to maximise the view from this plot so our design brief for this project was all about increasing the outdoor entertainment spaces and giving the interior of the house a much-needed update,” says architectural designer Hanno de Swardt.
While the main house remained intact, the outside needed some major structural interventions. Hanno raised the previous lawn level by almost 750mm through the use of terraced terraforce blocks. “This allowed the inside to flow easily to the outside, and kept the lawn and pool all on one level. By raising the lawn level we actually reduced the amount of excavation needed for the pool, which benefited the final budget,” he says.
Read the full story on this Llandudno beach house renovation.
Vermont House
Location, estate agents like to say, is everything. And this newly built home’s position in Vermont – a holiday hamlet on the pristine shores of Walker Bay – is exceptional. Tucked into the fynbos just steps from the ocean, the plot of land on which it stands has been in the family of one of the two homeowners, Alida Kannemeyer, for 60 years. Throughout her childhood, Alida spent her holidays in the house next door (the rest of her family still does so); in 2014, she was given this adjacent plot by her parents.
In 2017, Alida and Piers Buckle – her partner in both life and work (they run a graphic-design agency together) – decided to build their own holiday home on the property. At the time, the couple were living in Observatory, Cape Town, and the new build was envisioned as a weekend escape from the city at which they could also spend longer holidays. The initial plan, done with the help of an architect friend in Cape Town, was a simple single-storey cottage; it was later amended slightly by Onrus-based architecture firm Engelbrecht & Scorgie, who also assisted with the build.
Read the full story on this Vermont House.
Don’t forget to sign up to our weekly newsletter for the latest architecture and design news.
