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.

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Decor and furniture shop owner Cobus van Niekerk recently went on a quest to unearth a very specific green from his childhood – and subsequently splattered it around his otherwise monochrome house as a delightful spot colour.

On the surface there is no physical resemblance between Cobus van Niekerk and Roald Dahl’s character Willy Wonka, yet the two have much in common. Willy Wonka’s factory is closed to the inquisitive eyes of the public while he makes magic with chocolate, and Cobus’s house is just such a private space where he conjures up interior magic. And, both Cobus and Willy Wonka throw their doors wide open for a big celebration every now and then.

Those who know Cobus’s house and Stanford Trading Store will probably tell you that his house is furnished exclusively in black and white, and dark wood, and he certainly has a strong leaning towards a classic monochrome colour scheme. However, if you look carefully, you will notice an orange ribbon here and a trough filled with oranges there, which lets you into the secret of his love for a colour that represents fire and excitement for him.

A while ago, however, Cobus immersed himself in green. He first flirted with jade green, but then he became a man possessed with his quest to find the elusive green of a childhood memory. We spent a morning together, excited like children on a treasure hunt, while we pulled every bit of green crockery I own out of our cupboards and compared Woods Ware’s delicate green with the rich green of Lucia Ware and the pale green hue on a Linnware vase. Three days later, the search was still on – I saw a cake of Sunlight soap perched on Cobus’s worktable, next to a pile of green tablecloths and napkins he had unearthed from his vast collection of fabrics.

In the end, he found it right under his nose, hiding in the background of a portrait of King George V in his studio. It was the colour of his grandmother’s kitchen in Barrydale, the colour of the enamel gloss paint that she had used to paint her whole kitchen; all the walls and cupboards and the ceiling. Cobus says it is his interpretation of the colour Eau de Nil, a pale yellowish-green that makes him feel cherished and at peace with the world. Not only is he besotted with the colour, he is also delighted with Plascon’s name: “Nature’s Abundance”.

Cobus’s designs fit all the buzzwords like upcycle and repurpose; he turns redundant army helmets into food domes and metal basins into light fittings. He is playful in both design and decor, but there is always a thread that connects the objects and the spaces. Look closely and you will see a story, a fantasy often infused with humour. His current obsession with the colour green has its roots firmly planted in his past; it is rekindling the colour of an era of whimsy to cosset a new generation. Like Willy Wonka, he has the capacity to rework, invent and delight, time and time again.

Stanford Trading Store 028 341 0449

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