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A barn with wings : Anna and Alex, the two eldest daughters, share this bedroom. -
A barn with wings : Even Maison’s horses — from left are Lilly, Pepper and Mo — are filled with a lust for life. -
A barn with wings : Alien blue-gum timber creates an artful wall at the opposite end of the front patio. The 200-year-old elm Chinese cupboard is from the Shanxi province, the vase is from the Philippines and the Dulan candles from Indonesia. -
A barn with wings : The outdoor living room on the front patio: A Linteloo platform table is surrounded by Kenneth Cobonpue chairs and a Kai Arc lamp, all imported from the Philippines. The coffee table of tulip wood and organic chair of monkey-pod wood are from Thailand. -
A barn with wings : Porcini the naartjie orchard. -
A barn with wings : The house viewed from the back: The pitch-roofed “barn” forms the heart of the home, flanked by the flat-roofed wings that run in the direction of the mountains. -
A barn with wings : This living and TV room with an indoor fireplace (not visible) looks out over the front patio and is found in the wing that contains the main bedroom. (Chris and Kim rarely watch TV — “at most, a few minutes of news” — as they prefer to chat instead. -
A barn with wings : Kim arranged aloes in large glass bottles from Vietnam. -
A barn with wings : Biscuit prepares for a few lengths in the long, narrow pool. -
A barn with wings : One reaches the front door by crossing this little bridge over the water feature, which leads from the forecourt. The wisteria will eventually cover the pergola on the right to create privacy and shade. -
A barn with wings : This kitchen, by Kitchen Clinic, is where Chris and Kim kick off their shoes in the evenings to prepare dinner. The Voo Voo bar stools are from Weylandts. -
A barn with wings : This wooden path leads from the swimming pool to the back patio, and the open sliding door far right gives access to the main-bedroom wing. The patio furniture is from the Lolah outdoor range by Kenneth Cobonpue. -
A barn with wings : Chris and Kim’s bathroom, with double shower heads from Hansgrohe, forms part of a private relaxation area that includes their own pool. -
A barn with wings : At the back from left are Alex, Kim, Chris, Courtney and Anna, with Georgina in front. -
A barn with wings : The dining-room table, imported from Belgium, is made of French oak kiln-dried for six months, with white Shanghai chairs from Indonesia. Above the living area, with its St Helena couch and oversized chairs, is a chandelier that Kim bought in Paris. -
A barn with wings : Only a glass wall separates Chris and Kim from the stars at night and the glowing vineyard in the morning. The bed is flanked by Kenneth Cobonpue's Dimsum coffee tables. He also designed the green Yoda easy chair. The artwork is by Jackie Crewe-Brown. Yod
PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Johan van Zyl
A wine, olive and fruit farm just outside Franschhoek is where Chris Weylandt, Kim Smith and their four children live. We first visited the house five years ago in VISI 40 and this is what it looked like then. To see what it looks like now in 2013, get the new Autumn VISI 65.
They say only belligerent pigs never grow fat. Take a look at Porcini, snoring in the shade of the naartjie orchard: His fuse may sometimes be short but, as the hairs on his soft, black belly gently sweep the ground, it’s clear that he doesn’t make a habit of it.
And why would he? Here on Maison, even the pigs see the sun set over Simonsberg and, if he were a little more worldly wise, he could join the human inhabitants in picking naartjies, lemons, pears, artichokes or fresh herbs from the garden; he could sip on his own estate wine or lemon cordial, accompanied by a few of his own olives; he could dip his bread in olive oil pressed from his own harvest; he could saddle up a horse for a gallop into the beautiful surrounds.
No, folks, this is no fanciful tale: Porcini lives in a truly idyllic spot discovered five years ago by Chris Weylandt and Kim Smith, then still devoted city slickers.
Kim: “We came to recharge our batteries in Franschhoek one weekend and it really felt as though we were very far away from the city. Shortly after that we decided to look for a place to rent here.”
Chris: “The estate agent showed us one, literally hours before we left on an overseas trip, but also let something slip about a 12-hectare farm that was for sale. ‘Would you like to have a quick look?’ she asked.”
Kim: “The place was hidden behind a giant hedge next to the main road. On it was a pretty but rather dilapidated barn, another house over there, and many, many fruit trees…”
Chris: “And a vicious dog…”
Kim: “We fell for it. We were completely in love – with the place, the view, the big old trees. You call it intuition.”
Simple, organic, natural and warm
The contemporary – and, heaven help us, gableless – home the couple built with the help of Capetonian architects Macio Miszewski and Anya van der Merwe didn’t fill the heritage and aesthetics committee or the locals with great enthusiasm. Neither did the soaring wall incorporating a water feature that acts as a central axis to the farm.
Chris: “We’ve always loved the container look of the Van der Merwe Miszewski architects homes in Cape Town. We wanted something contemporary, but not too modern.”
Kim: “Simple, organic, natural and warm – with big spaces. Do you think we were difficult clients, Chris?”
Chris: “No, we knew precisely what we wanted: a central cooking, living and entertaining area in the barn, our own long, thin, flat-roofed wing with sleep, work, bath and chill areas, and a separate wing for the kids.”
Kim: “And no doors! I think it was a wonderful opportunity for the architects to give room to their characteristic style that works so well on small urban plots.”
Chris: “And to combine their style with the barn and farmyard concept in a meaningful way.”
Before building could commence, hundreds of fruit trees had to be removed. Then, three years ago, they planted a vineyard with Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Viognier vines. It’s been some months since the first bottling and, according to Chris and Kim, they’ve already imbibed “at least 1 000” of the 4 500 bottles but the rest will be available to the public shortly.
Space to breathe
In October 2007 the family finally moved into the big, white heart that had grown wings. The architects kept and strengthened the original beams of the barn, and a piece of the original wall is visible behind a few glass panels in the corridor to the wing housing the main bedroom.
Everything and everyone can breathe in this home. The inside and outside spaces are often only separated by glass, so you’re always aware of the giant oaks, and the expanse of indigenous grasses, wild garlic, arum lilies and watsonias Tarna Klitzner of Kala Landscape Architects planted around the house.
The scale is impressive, not something easily captured on film – in an ordinary suburb, for instance, the wing in which the children live would be at least three homes away from that of their parents. And yet the home also feels like an ode to the Weylandts brand, which celebrates its tenth birthday (in its current incarnation) in 2009. (Chris’s dad, Edgar, started the first Weylandts shop in Windhoek in 1964, the year of Chris’s birth, where he could indulge his passion for well-designed Scandinavian and Italian furniture.)
An eclectic mix
Kim: “Maison is deliberately a home job – 99% of the home’s contents is available in our concept stores – but also logical, as Chris and I are the only buyers.”
Chris: “We only stock items we have hand-picked, collected or designed… but ultimately, we don’t sell exclusive furniture and homeware – we sell a reflection of how we ourselves live, our travels, our taste, our appreciation for quality, spaces…”
Kim: “… simple food – we don’t do tortured carrots – good design, unique, handmade products, natural lighting, the environment, comfort, simplicity. It is this eclectic mix from across the globe that makes Weylandts so special. Our signature is complex because simple things are always more complicated.”
Chris: “Thanks to our wonderful climate and the luxury of space we have here, we have been able to incorporate international trends such as the appreciation of beautiful, handmade but, above all, functional products. The result is a safe, comfortable cocoon where the whole inside-outside movement really works.”
Kim: “The more overpopulated the world gets and mass production increases, the more we all want to be individuals who seek unique products to make us feel special.”
Chris: “Just yesterday a British couple stopped to ask where our gate is from.”
Kim: “So we invited them in, and here, on the verandah, they stopped in their tracks and exclaimed: ‘Oh my goodness, you bought everything at that fantastic shop we visited yesterday!’”
Weylandts Homestore, 021 914 1440 (head office), www.weylandts.co.za
Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects, 021 423 5829, www.vandermerwemiszewski.com
Kala Landscape Architects, 082 653 9350
