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Most of the furniture in the living area are second-hand buys the couple spruced up with new upholstery and a lick of paint. -
Tonic, the resident feline, blends seamlessly into the carefully curated space. -
The focal wall featuring laser-cut vinyl crosses forms a backdrop to a Hammerstein radiogram that the couple gutted and refurbished to contain all their modern sound equipment. The drinks trolly, another second-hand find from Vamp Furniture, is used as a gin bar. It’s stocked with an impressive range of the couple’s favourite tipple. -
The Rouxs breathed new life into the kitchen – the scene of many a culinary experiment by Lené – by painting the tiles white, adding a modern worktop and incorporating a contemporary black lampshade, echoing the colour scheme of the rest of the flat. -
Taking pride of place in the foyer is an ever-changing collage of black-and-white pictures and postcards, inexpensively fixed to the wall with black electrical tape. -
Danie’s love of guitars – playing is his hobby – is incorporated into the decor. The instruments cut an arresting picture against the bedroom wall, which Danie painted in Plascon’s Urban Rock. The bedding is kept neutral and the side tables echo the style of the living room furniture. -
The adorable ceramic bull terrier salt and pepper shaker set is a purchase from Thailand, where the couple went for their honeymoon -
Friends who visit have a lot of fun composing risqué phrases with the Afrikaans fridge-poetry magnets. -
This chest of drawers has been a fixture in Lené’s life – first in her childhood room and now in the couple’s bedroom, where it houses the Nespresso machine. It was inexpensively updated by replacing the knobs with strips of leather. The mirror, too, was beautified by fashioning a handle from a leather belt. -
A favourite hangout of the couple and their friends, the stoep boasts a beautiful view of Table Mountain. Visual interest is added with geometric wall prisms, a floor covering of artificial grass and a carefully tended bonsai. -
Setting a humorous tone at the flat’s entrance, the doormat was a gift from Danie’s sister.
PHOTOS Jan Ras PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Annette Klinger
Couple Lené and Danie Roux didn’t let a niggly detail like a lack of space stand in the way of creating their dream home. Armed with a vision, they’ve proven every square metre can be utilised to its stylish best.
Upon being asked where the heart of their home is, Lené Roux, who shares a small albeit stylish flat with her husband Danie, laughs and says, “To be honest, there’s not a lot of space to go around, so I’ll say the whole home is the heart.”
Indeed, 60 m2 isn’t a wealth of space, but with two resident designers, finding a sophisticated solution didn’t pose too much of a problem.
Lené says it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. Despite being ideally situated in Cape Town’s City Bowl, the flat was dominated by dated grey-and-blue tiles and walls painted in yellow and green. Being creatively inclined, though, they saw potential. “We removed many of the tiles, repainted the remaining ones and the walls, added another kitchen counter and fitted more contemporary bathroom accessories.”
Next came the fun bit: decorating. “Lené is the one who comes up with the concepts and I’m the one who executes them,” says Danie. One such collaborative project is the picture rail that Danie fashioned out of inexpensive timber that serves as an exhibition space for prints in black and white that Lené updates when the mood strikes her. “It’s a simple and inexpensive way to change the look of the space,” she says.
Indeed, it’s an ingenious way to shake things up in a space where there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place – something Lené maintains is a necessity when there’s not much room. “In a small space, it’s important to keep things tidy; one or two things out of place will make it look really messy. You also need to be clever about storage. We put plastic drawers in our cupboards and under the bed, invested in a sleeper couch and bought a chest that doubles as a couch. We also try to keep things like toiletries out of sight. If it stays out, it has to be beautiful.”
The monochromatic collection of artworks in the lounge is a seamless extension of the rest of the milieu. All the walls are white except the bedroom’s, which Danie painted a dramatic blue-grey hue; the furniture is kept to a colour scheme of black, grey and white; and a dramatic wall feature comprised of perfectly spaced black crosses that Lené had laser-cut ties everything together. “We decided on black and white because it’s a classic combination and because, frankly, we’d probably get tired of any other colour after a while,” she says. Even Tonic, the cat the couple adopted from a shelter, fits in with the palette, though neither Lené nor Danie is willing to admit their adherence to a colour scheme is that strict.
That said, one can’t help but think it makes for quite a photographable moment when the black-and-white feline sits on the windowsill looking out at Table Mountain, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she looks like a prop in an expertly curated showroom.
