The Lumineers x Rolling Stones Renovation Project

This delightful (and colourful) residential renovation (referred to as House D) is set in the Coastal town of Salt Rock on the North coast of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The starting point for the design pitch was...what if The Lumineers and Rolling Stones shared a holiday cottage here? This sparked the idea for a laid-back space perfect for effortless living along with playful elements for this young family.

The house was in need of an update to finishes and layout, and a fresher look and feel.

The kitchen finishes and spatial planning of both the kitchen and living area is where a huge transformation occurred. By re-orienting the kitchen, removing a redundant sliding door, and replacing an external wall with glazing, the space really took in some beautiful coastal light, and created much more storage and workspace.

After:

Before:

Before, the end wall of the dining area had only a narrow window:

By opening up the wall as much as possible, the space is lighter, and feels much bigger:

We also had more space for kitchen counters and storage along that wall, and we even created a window opening onto the new bar on the verandah.

Before:

After:

Through the new archway of the kitchen is the scullery and laundry:

Before:

And here is the space now, utilising a soft green for contrast to the adjoining kitchen:

You might have noticed the two different patterns of floor tile (both in the kitchen and the scullery) - the stack bond, and the herringbone lay. With renovations, there is always something unexpected that needs to be solved. In this case, a section of the floor tile was taken out to lay the gas and electric lines to the island, and the demolition of the walls to create the new scullery with archway entrance left the floor slab below exposed.

The problem was, this existing floor tile was no longer available in the large format - only a smaller one. So to save taking up the floor tile throughout the house, we put in a section of herringbone lay - same tile though smaller, cut into strips. Problem solved without blowing the budget!

More stories on this renovation to come...