EXPRESSION 35
“THE BEAUTY OF HAVING A HOUSE LIKE THIS IS THAT IT’S SUCH A CANVAS.”
“M
y ultimate dream was to have a New York loft in a wild forest setting, which I never thought would be possible. It’s like a big art studio,” says Button, her petite
frame dwarfed by the incredible, loft-like space she discovered and made her home on mountain slopes in Hout Bay, Cape Town. While house-hunting, the well-known designer was looking for a refuge where she could paint: she studied fine arts and recently rekindled her romance with oil painting. She found it in this unique house with its immense proportions, hand-built by the previous owner a decade ago. “As I walked up that driveway, I knew this was
where I wanted to live,” she recalls. The gate, incidentally, sports a sign that warns visitors “4x4s only” – and reaching the house requires you to hike up 40 coarsely cut stone steps. With its dominating reclaimed factory windows and simple silhouette, the exterior doesn’t reveal much of what you can
6 5
expect inside. It’s hard to capture the sheer volume of the space – though the word “cavernous” comes to mind, partly because it’s secreted into the side of a mountain, and partly because the building’s enriched with stone features, exposed brick walls and rough wooden floors. Button laughs that the house had many “Freddy
Flintstone” features when she purchased it and her initial focus has been on bringing the various elements of the two-level building together with a consistent stone grey palette – and, of course, taming the vast garden, which has taken up most of her time and energy. Clearly, it’s unlocked her creative juices: the large
wall in the lounge area is freckled with portraits she’s painted. While she admits to an affinity for somewhat masculine design, her treasure trove of furniture suggests otherwise. A self-confessed magpie, her portrait wall is flanked by an ornate, hand-carved antique door from India and
1. Button cleverly extended her dining room table by book-ending it with half-moon tables she found in an antique store in Cape Town. 2. Button and her partner, Richard Hebblethwaite. 3. With pieces sourced from or inspired by Africa, India, China and France all interacting in the living area, Button finds it impossible to be tied down to a single style. “I fall in love with individual pieces,” she says. 4. A collector at heart, Button’s filled this incredible cabinet from Cape Town’s On Site store with white crockery. The multiple panes mirror those of the factory windows facing them. 5. The feature wall of the living room is dominated by portraits done by Button since she resumed painting a couple of years ago. 6. Steps from the living space lead into a mezzanine section which contains Button’s en- suite bedroom.
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