Fresh Start
Modern Living|Winter 2023
Interior designer Lynne Harris-Whitfield has melded old and new in her relaxed family home in Cape Town, which combines considered space planning with a trove of creative touches
LIZ MORRIS
Fresh Start

Tucked away at the end of a discreet little panhandle in Cape Town’s Oranjezicht – a neighbourhood well known for its attractive Victorian era villas – interior designer Lynne Harris-Whitfield’s home is set back from the road, behind a squad of square-pruned trees. And the house soon reveals itself as something special, combining as it does a familiar sense of engaging Victorian poise with a different sense of scale: the building features a very untypical flat roof in its second-floor addition.

Lynne and her husband Gavin bought the house before they had a family, and at that stage it was a single-storey, three-bedroom cottage with good bones, good scale and an unusual double gable. A week before they moved in, disaster struck in the form of a fire that gutted the interior, but they decided to turn adversity into advantage. So, they rebuilt, replacing many of the original period finishes (including floors, doors and fireplaces) with more contemporary versions.

Several years later – at which point Lynne and Gavin had two young daughters and a son on the way – the family needed more space, but didn’t want to move because they loved the location. And so they embarked on a further extensive alteration and addition, which resulted in the creation of two additional bedrooms for the girls in a new first floor, and generated both better flow and a more modern, user-friendly ground level that also enabled better use of the outdoor spaces.

This story is from the Winter 2023 edition of Modern Living.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the Winter 2023 edition of Modern Living.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM MODERN LIVINGView All
Colour Compact
Modern Living

Colour Compact

Interior designer Kim Stephen’s terraced home in Barnes, London, combines her signature flair for colour with a clever use of its relatively compact spaces

time-read
4 mins  |
Winter 2023
Paris Panache
Modern Living

Paris Panache

Designer Robert Normand’s unerring eye for colour and aesthete’s appreciation of decor, objects and art are on full display in his Paris home, where a series of interleading, beautifully dressed spaces each contributes something unique to a house that is an artwork in perpetual progress

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2023
The Art Of Chic
Modern Living

The Art Of Chic

The ideal recipe for eclectic chic 21st-century style? Combine the classic details of a Haussmannian apartment with owner Emmanuel de Bayser’s eye for the finest mid-century furniture and design objects – plus a growing collection of contemporary art. Parfait!

time-read
4 mins  |
Winter 2023
In The Zone
Modern Living

In The Zone

A tightly knit curation of design-savvy details, furniture and finishes makes for an innovative spin on apartment living in Cape Town

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2023
The Fabric Of All Things
Modern Living

The Fabric Of All Things

With a nod to traditional English decorating and with references to its Asian locale, this Singaporean family home is a visual tapestry of pastels and patterns

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2023
Brute Force
Modern Living

Brute Force

Referencing the industrial architecture of Chicago and New York, the stylish design of a Sydney home offsets raw, Brutalist surfaces and hardware with softer, seductive furnishings

time-read
2 mins  |
Winter 2023
Black Magic
Modern Living

Black Magic

Dark colours and graphic forms combine to create an urban ‘bush lodge’ look in this luxe family home on KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast. The result is serendipitously sexy

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2023
I'll Take Manhattan
Modern Living

I'll Take Manhattan

...and Italian summers too. A New York City loft remains true to its industrial roots while undergoing an upgrade inspired by the warm light and soft textures of the Med

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2023
Quiet Riot
Modern Living

Quiet Riot

By offsetting elegant restraint with strong notes of natural, artistic and design exuberance, architect Frederic Berthier’s Paris apartment combines architectural stillness with human energy to beautiful and refreshing effect

time-read
5 mins  |
Winter 2023
Fresh Start
Modern Living

Fresh Start

Interior designer Lynne Harris-Whitfield has melded old and new in her relaxed family home in Cape Town, which combines considered space planning with a trove of creative touches

time-read
4 mins  |
Winter 2023