A colourful Cape Town house steeped in the English country aesthetic
Set discreetly behind an unassuming exterior, under towering trees in a lush garden, the house that interior designer Gregory Mellor shares with his husband Hector Meyer and their four-year-old twins, Josephine and Hugh, feels as if it could be in the English country rather than suburban Cape Town. It has such a sense of personality and soul, it could have been crafted over generations, when it is in fact a recent renovation of an impulsive lockdown purchase.
‘The house came along at a time when I was feeling nostalgic for a simpler time,’ says Gregory. ‘The twins were newly born and this house spoke directly to my childhood in sub-tropical KwaZulu-Natal, and my teen years in the forested suburbia of Johannesburg.’
The winner of the Andrew Martin Interior Designer of the Year Award 2023, Gregory moved to Australia in his early twenties before returning to South Africa to set up his studio in 2011. He was dividing his time between Cape Town and a farm in the semi-desert of the Karoo, and a move to the suburbs was not planned, he concedes, ‘Ten years ago, we moved to the Constantia winelands in search of space for our dogs. Then when the twins came along, the proximity to schools made more sense.’ By virtue of his profession, Gregory has more than a passing interest in property, so when an agent called to say a dilapidated late-Victorian house on a 1,000-square-metre plot of land had come onto the market, he was more than a little intrigued.
‘As soon as I walked into the driveway and saw all the mature trees, I pretty much said I would buy it there and then,’ he says with a laugh. The knee-jerk decision did, however, leave both Gregory and Hector with a serious case of buyer’s remorse. ‘It was a bit of a shock when we first went back to the house. The garden was totally overgrown and the interior felt dark, dank and depressing,’ recalls Hector.
Yet, despite its general sense of gloom, there was more than a glimmer of possibility to the place and Gregory felt a ‘weird sense of responsibility’ towards it. ‘I knew property developers had their eye on it for a medium-density housing development,’ he explains. ‘Although it is a heritage building and therefore protected, the usual modus operandi, which is to let a building deteriorate until it is eventually condemned and then eligible for demolition, was a real possibility.’
On the upside, the generously sized property had an enviable collection of mature trees and boasted an architectural history that Gregory could work with: ‘I was pleasantly surprised by the grand, 3.5-metre-high, steel-pressed ceilings in the sitting room, which make it feel almost like a small ballroom.’ Existing architraves and mouldings that made sense to the house were kept and restored. The round columns along the verandas are not typical, Gregory admits, but he and Hector liked them so much, they added more when creating the outdoor sitting room.
Set out on one level, the four-bedroom house has an unusual layout, with two bedrooms quite close to the front door and another two at the back of the house. ‘I actually liked the quirk of that,’ says Gregory. He did, however, decide to reconfigure the space to keep the kitchen and dining area separate from the sitting room, while opening up the areas with internal glazing that allows borrowed light to flow between rooms. ‘I’m not a huge fan of open-plan living, where everything is revealed all at once,’ he says. ‘We did away with the original dining room, as we prefer to eat in the kitchen anyway, and we created a larger, separate sitting area that now has a perfect line of sight to the garden.’
For Gregory, a well-designed space should have personality, with layers of interest that feel appropriate as well as an element of surprise. ‘I’m a collector – problematically so,’ he says with a smile. ‘The house seemed to be able to accommodate our collection of furniture, art and books – as well as my obsession with trunks and chests – with ease.’ Every room has a combination of custom-designed pieces and auction-house finds. There are walls of books, pyramids of antique trunks and a plethora of lovely fabrics in every pattern and texture imaginable.
‘It’s intentional to live in this layered way,’ explains Gregory. ‘It’s a point of comfort for me and therefore inherent in everything I do. I’m constantly learning about fabric and art. I love the idea that the children will grow up in a space where they will learn about the things that surround them, too.’
While there is a strong country-house sensibility, Gregory mixes it up in a balanced and sophisticated way. African fabrics such as kente cloth have been used for upholstery and curtains are made from Moroccan fabric. And the way the house is lived in is entirely South African. ‘We like to live outdoors and are not afraid to put sofas, lamps and other indoor furniture outside,’ says Gregory, explaining why he had to add an outdoor seating area. With shutters, awnings and a fireplace, this is an all-weather, year-round space. It is also the ideal environment for Hector’s collection of plants. ‘Creating a place of comfort was important to us,’ adds Gregory. ‘It’s not a perfect house by any means, but it’s home and we love every inch of it’.
Gregory Mellor Design: gregorymellor.com
Elsa Young1/6In the kitchen, a Persian rug demarcates the dining area, where Thonet bentwood chairs surround a teak table. Between a pair of glass hurricane lanterns are silver-plated trophies holding cutlery, a Batavian brass spittoon used as a vase and a pepper mill from Pezula Interiors.
Elsa Young2/6Cécile & Boyd chairs, a Balinese table and a mix of floral prints suit the indoor-outdoor setting of the veranda.
Elsa Young3/6In the main bedroom, a chair in an Uzbek adras suzani picks up on the kilim lining the lower walls.
Elsa Young4/6In the spare room, a George III-style chinoiserie breakfront bookcase from Piér Rabe Antiques and a bench in Schumacher’s ‘Persephone’ cotton mix in peacock stand on a Persian rug.
Elsa Young5/6In Josephine's room, walls in Whiteman & Mellor’s ‘Florence’ in mulberry showcase the Catalan Olot headboard.
Elsa Young6/6In the bathroom, artists Tess and Di Metcalf painted the Moroccan-style wall motifs and chequerboard floor.
