Tour the colourful apartment of these Parktown sisters

All images: Houseandleisure.co.za

Article summary

• Heritage buildings in up-and-coming neighbourhoods could offer great deals for first-time buyers.
• Art-Deco developments lend themselves to eclectic interior decoration style.
• Look out for inner-city revival areas that may offer up similar finds when looking for your dream home.

Heritage buildings lend themselves to revival in the hands of creative thinkers. Lyndon Hall was built in 1944 after being commissioned by cofounder of OK Bazaars Michael Miller and his wife Jane Lyndon. Designed by P Rogers Cooke, Lyndon Hall apartments offer two views – to the Hillbrow Tower in one direction and to Parktown in the other. The building is located in an inner-city renewal area where savvy developers have been investing in refurbishment of buildings and development of neighbourhood improvement districts. These are the areas that are likely to reveal great finds for first-time homebuyers looking for decent, affordable housing close to the city and its northern suburbs.

Lyndon Hall’s heritage status means that its Art Deco-style interior and exterior structures must remain. The wallpaper shown here is one of the elements that had to be retained by sisters Lucia and Nelisiwe Maseko who bought this dream apartment.

Chandeliers and light fittings are also protected in terms of the building’s heritage status. Nelisiwe and her mother are reportedly finders of things and hunted for trinkets to adorn occasional tables and shelves.

The sisters lifted the wall-to-wall carpets to reveal soon-to-be gleaming brown parquet flooring, giving the shell an immediate facelift. They found new fabrics to reupholster old furniture as well as vintage discoveries and pop-art pieces to add flair to the interior spaces.

The original windows are a feature that allow plenty of natural light into the dining area while Drum-era photography has pride of place on the wall.

The décor concept is eclectic, yes, but Lucia needed energy and symmetry. Balance is what she was after – lines meeting and couches lining up with doors.

Framed canvases and prints add a further artistic element to a homely and unpretentious kitchen. The retro wall tiles hark back to the ‘70s.

If you’re thinking of buying and renovating, take the first step towards buying and then designing your own marvellous home like the Maseko sisters. ooba, South Africa’s leading home loan comparison service, offers a range of home loan calculators to help people looking to buy a home determine what they can afford.

ooba home loans also has a free, online prequalification tool, the ooba Bond Indicator, that can help you get prequalified. Once you’ve worked out what you should budget for, you can apply for a home loan with ooba home loans.