Country chic

In her own home, Elize practises what she advocates: do the best possible within your budget, and camouflage what the budget cannot cover. She also recognises that clients want to retain most, if not all, of their furniture, and that the decorator must accommodate this within the overall look.

Her 1930s house was in a sad state of neglect. The first year was spent renovating the structure: adding cornices, removing metal sliding doors, sanding floors, redoing bathrooms. And when money ran out sooner than anticipated, the old kitchen cupboards were painted to complement the rest of the interior paint treatment. Decorating was a haphazard affair, with pieces thrown together from three previous households. By recovering a few pieces of furniture and adding new curtains, the home started to take shape. Being a family home, it was important that the interior should be relaxed and comfortable. Strong colours were used throughout, mixing patterns and textures at random, which gives the interior a casual, lived-in feel. Some people call the style Provencal, but Elize views it simply as "country".

Dancing with colour

When Nanita and Nico approached Elize Labuschagne Interiors to decorate their home, they had their mind set on a classic colour scheme of cream and gold. One look at the couple's art collection proved that neutral would never do. Their artworks sang a hallelujah chorus of brights: sunflower yellow, pea green and electric blue were used liberally and it was obvious that the couple would need a lot of colour around them to adequately reflect the rainbow tapestry of their lifestyle. Walls were treated to a rich ochre finish in the entrance hall and upstairs sitting room. Moving down the stairs the colour was lightened to a pale lemon which melted into the ice-cream colours of the furniture. This couple had a stunning, classic dining-room suite. The table was the perfect size for the room and with a little doctoring, the suite was transformed into a carnival of colour. The chairs were given a facelift by painting the arms and front legs silver and the rest black and having slipcovers made in orange, yellow, green and blue. The look was suitably finished off by an exquisite animal horn chandelier from which bellowed its approval from above.

In this compact townhouse, space played a major role in dictating the decorating style. A neutral palette of natural colours was chosen to give the impression of space. The lifestyle of the professional owner also necessitated a simple and elegant living space without sacrificing luxury.