House Tour: A Sprawling Bishopscourt Property Designed For Family Entertainment
Like all great stories, the interior design of this Bishopscourt home was brought about by serendipity. ‘The clients happened to walk into a home that I had decorated, and instantly fell in love with what they saw,’ says celebrated Cape Town-based interior designer Simone Katherine Hirsch.
‘They enquired about the designer, and it so happens that I knew the client from our school days. In that sense, it felt like this was all meant to be!’
Soon after, Simone met with the clients, and the project started. ‘Whenever I start working on a new project, I like to get a sense of who the client really is, and really understand how it is that they live their life. It’s not only about capturing the mood, but the lifestyle too, along with their habits and day-to-day activities. Then I take it all in, and try to imagine how it plays off against the physical space they live in,’ explains Simone.
‘I first walked into the home and realised that I had inherited the most amazing palette to start with, from Karen Newman, who had designed the house originally. This canvas allowed me to build and layer a mood that really spoke to the clients.’
Simone was inspired by the textures that already existed in the space: exposed wood, brick, and cement flooring, to name but a few. ‘This allowed me to create a juxtaposition of texture,’ she explains. ‘Against the rough floors, I was able to add textured and coloured rugs; against distressed walls, I was able to add high-gloss decorations; against aged wood, I could introduce leather.’
But while Simone was guided by the visual play on opposites, she also knew that the house itself was busy: with a working couple, their children, and family coming over to visit, there’s a lot of daily movement. ‘I knew that while the space had to be visually appealing in every way, it also had to be hard working, to allow for every corner to be fully functional for this vibrant family.’
'For that reason, I introduced high-performance fabrics throughout,’ she explains. ‘But beyond the functionality of the home I also introduced colour, which sets the mood for daily life; there are neutrals as well as more vibrant hues and patterns – it reflects the full scope of domestic life.’
Of course, throughout the house various statement pieces and art can be found. The family had an existing collection that Simone was able to incorporate into the final interior design. ‘It was such a wonderful process to use these incredible pieces – many of them have been with the family for years and years – and bring them to new life by placing them strategically against new additions to the home,’ says Simone.
Throughout the project, she also initiated larger structural changes in the house. The reason? The garden was begging to be seen. ‘The large A-frame window in the lounge, for instance,’ she says, ‘was completely blocked up with a cement wall. We opened it up with sliding doors softened by sheer linens, to lead onto the garden.’
And beyond the walls of the home, the garden awaits. Tranquil and lovingly tended, it’s a natural extension of the house, and surrounded by some of the most breathtaking vistas in the Cape.
As with the home, careful consideration went into every detail; striking and inviting, this outdoor sanctuary was brought to life by a woman who needs very little introduction. Mary Maurel has spent the past two decades doing what she loves most: creating gardens. Formally trained as an architect, it wasn’t long after Mary qualified that her innate affinity for nature and the landscape began permeating her work. Wall paint was soon traded for a kaleidoscope of blooms and plants; carpets became the living breathing variety; and trees, water and roots quickly took the place of electrical ducting and light switches.
She understands the mechanics and experience of how a space is covered, and it was growing up in a home filled with nurserymen and horticulturists, and the heady scent of roses – Mary’s parents are Duncan and Liz Henderson of Fairholm Nursery fame, growers of a coveted collection of roses, grasses and perennials – that was the ultimate push into the garden.
‘My approach is to create each garden to my client's lifestyle and desires,’ says Mary, whose gardens are often based on clean geometry that unfolds in rich layers of planting. There are always areas to relax, entertain and explore, all generously planted, each with its own mood and character.
‘Originally, the house had been designed such that the gable end had fixed glazing, with no access out to the garden at this end,’ explains Mary. ‘It made sense that the indoor living space flowed into a generous outdoor living space; and to avoid staring into the legs of outside furniture when looking from the inside out, I decided to set the outdoor living space 450mm lower than the internal house level.
A stone retaining wall frames the deck on two sides and provides a seating edge, while hedges frame it and safeguard the edges on the other two sides.’ By setting the deck away from the house, Mary allowed for a planting interface between the house and the deck. She added Celtis trees outside the glazed gable to provide some shade against the very hot glazed facade and baking interior.
‘While the upper level was extended, I still wanted to respect that the garden is on a slope and use this to our advantage in its design. The series of curvilinear grass steps was introduced to lead one down into the garden, but lead one’s eye up to the mountain.’
Mary also decided to locate a firepit at the lowest point, which gives the owners every reason to go down to this entertainment area. The harmony between Simone’s interiors and Mary’s garden allows for seamless movement between various spaces, which are just as well suited to business lunches as they are to entertaining friends. The result is a home that stands proud against the mountain, and offers its inhabitants every reason to celebrate comfortable living.