ELLE DECORATION
House Cullum Higgovale
"A recent renovation with the help of architect Tanya de Waal of Cecile & Boyd’s worked to open the house up even more. ‘When we first built we were on a tight budget, but we insisted on symmetry and simplicity and it’s lasted us well.’ The first thing to go were the Winblocks in the lounge, replaced with big picture windows and enough space to recess the cupboards and fitted items into the walls to create seamless slabs of white. ‘The clarity and serenity of what is essential to my comfort. There are a million shades of it in this house,’ says Anke. The kitchen, with its black walls, is the only counterfoil. ‘It’s such a small area. I wanted to create a haven here, that draws you in. It’s like a cave, and looks deeper and therefore larger than it is." — Anke
Its the perfect urban pad just five minutes from the centre of Cape Town. ‘I feel totally connected to the city — I hear the muezzin’s call to prayer at 5am, the noonday gun, the foghorn in winter and the harbour and city noise too. Then I remember that I’m right in the middle of the forest,’ she says with an appreciative smile. ‘I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.’