BISHOPSCOURT

This bright, airy home in Bishopscourt, Cape Town, wasn’t always so Sinatra-chic. When Alexi Hadjidakis bought the house a year ago, it was a time capsule from the 1980s – bathed in a pale colour pallete, with ad hoc renovations that didn’t flow together. But its location suited his growing family perfectly. Walls between the kitchen, living room and dining room were torn down to better integrate the spaces.  The Hadjidakis’s both love cooking and entertaining, and the kitchen was therefore switched to the centre of the open area, with the dining and living rooms on either side. All the lights were replaced and every finish was redone and the house was plastered over, the new walls made white. The well-worn concrete floor was torn up and replaced with Lifestyle Oak engineered wood flooring. The sleek and practical kitchen was designed around the family needs and countertops in engineered stone was added. The big boxy combustion fireplace in the main dining room was removed, opening the living space, and instead a sleek, barely there, flueless fireplace was installed. The intention behind replacing the existing grass lawn with a deck and pergola was two-fold – to increase the useable area of the home, and to provide protection from the glaring afternoon sun. A steel structure provides the base for a slatted wooden pergola, which is flanked by a comfortable boma on one side and the existing pool on the other. The deck itself is large enough for a 12-seater table and an entire lounge suite, making for great outdoor entertainment.