remodel cape town house - sea & table mountain views

Briefing

Our Goal

Remodel a former guest house into an elegant, city home taking full advantage of the house’s mountain and ocean views. We want the house to be a 4 bedroom house (at least 3 with ensuite bathrooms). The current office should become a lovely 1 bedroom cottage. The property should look great from the street as well as from the back.

We have just bought this property. We take possession in early August, we want to finish the renovations in early November 2018.

We have thought a lot about what we want but we want to you be creative. We want to see what you can do with this property. We are open to suggestions, options and your vision.

We want the house to be beautiful and have high end looking finishes but cost does matter. We need beautiful value for money solutions. For example, the current roof is sound and will have to stay as it is. You need to design around it.

Below you will find lots of resources.
We have attached:
a video of the property ( a link)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g5u387lvktrne38/video%20of%20seascape%20house.mp4?dl=0,
lots of photos of house and views,
plans which were done for the property
Cape Town’s building regulations - boundaries, common walls etc
Mood board of what my wife likes - it is a pinterest board Cape Town house
https://pin.it/d2pw7f7aile7mm
Photos and measurements of our current furniture - use where you can and let us know what we need to have done with the furniture to make it fit with your new design. here is the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T5kUnyx1s5O7XYJKq6g7c-yuqoxL9cvm
THIS IS A NEW LINK FOR THE FURNITURE - ADDED MAY 10, 2018
We have also provided an aerial view so you can see what the house’s position is


So we want a 4 bedroom house, with great kitchen, open plan living and dining area on second floor that will continue to look out over Table Mountain, the sand dunes and the sea. And on ground/first floor we would like to keep 2 bedrooms (with ensuite bathrooms), and have a study/office that we can use as a 3rd bedroom if required when we have guests.

On the first floor we would want as open a flow from the front of house (where the pool is located) to the back of the house where the ocean and mountain views are. Our thought is to gain space by eliminating two of the bathrooms (they are along the front of the house) and one of the bedrooms. This can become an entertainment/family/library area on first floor since it would also give views of Table Mountain and the ocean. But our idea must work given the dimensions of the house.

As I said you must beautify the street facing exterior. But you also have to do the same for the back of the house. It has a balcony and a patio - and you should know that it is very, very windy on that side of the house. We also give you a photo of the exterior of the back of the house. This is the part of the house that has great views of the ocean and the iconic Table Mountain in Cape Town. Currently the back has a patio on the first floor - accessible from all the first floor bedrooms and on the second floor there is a balcony.

As you can see the house’s front is flat and plain. At some point in the future we may consider subdividing the house into two units - first floor and second floor - to rent out as rental properties or holiday rentals. Similarly we could do that with the external cottage/office. So think about that possibility as you design. But the main goal is having a beautiful home that maximizes the great views.


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1. Roof:

We don’t love the roof but we don’t want to pay to have a new roof done. We need for you make the house beautiful with the current roof.

2, Garage:
We would like a double garage for 2 cars. If possible it should allow entry directly into the house. As you can see in the video and photos, currently there are two wooden structures used for storage and one covering a seating area by the pool. These are the three structures on the plan with the red roofs. Only the small guardhouse will remain on the property - you need to place it somewhere else on the property. We will destroy or remove the other two structures. (All three are not in compliance with city regulations.)

3. Exterior of house:

We don’t like the front of the house, it looks an institution, not a house. We feel the same about the back as well. We want the house to be beautiful from the street, including changes to the large parking area in front and the office.


4. Energy efficient
Electricity is expensive in Cape Town so we want an energy efficient house. That means things like a heat exchanger pump (to help with heating water), solar panels, underfloor heating using water heated from solar panels, and small wind turbines for wind power. Also explore ramifications for glass since it is very sunny in the summer with glare from the ocean. Remember the back of the house faces the ocean and Table Mountain. It is very windy and we want to use that for wind energy - but it must fit into the external design of the house.

5. Water concerns:
Cape Town is drought prone so we will have a grey water system that utilizes such water for flushing toilets and watering the garden. This also means that the garden would have drought resistant plants that can tolerate salty winds from the sea.

6. Age in place possibilities
To prepare for old age we need wider doors for master bedroom on 2nd floor and larger bedroom on first floor, wide shower doors, no step up for showers in case need for wheelchair. If there are beautiful bath tubs that are accessible then let us know.

7. Kitchen
- needs to be a cook’s kitchen, gas for cooking is available and preferred, needs great lighting, storage and work space. Current kitchen needs to be enlarged so that kitchen is open to living/dining area by incorporating adjoining room which currently has ocean/Table Mountain view. Other thoughts include easy access storage as well as island possibility. Again it should look great but be value for money.

8. Bathrooms:
At least 3 ensuite bathrooms, all bathrooms should be high end looking with excellent finishes. Maybe one with a built in spa/steamroom in the shower. Double vanity in master bedroom. My wife may want a bathtub in the master bathroom. But want good value for money solutions.

You will see in the video the current toilets, basins - if we can reuse them and you can design around them to make them look great then that is excellent!

Guest toilet on the second floor.

9. Fire place -

Gas burning fireplace is fine, there is gas in house. We are in Cape Town and winters are short, but cold, wet and windy. And as mentioned previously, underfloor heating using water.

10. Need air conditioning
In summer it can be hot. So air conditioning needs to be factored in - it will not be central air conditioned.

11. Wine storage

12. Reorientation & beautification of stair case

13. Access to pool from front of house, with flow to rear of house (current patio)

14. Secure gate from back of property to path that leads to beach.

15. We have a lot of books - need lots of space for that.

16. My wife has a lot of shoes and clothes.

17. Windy area - back of house facing ocean and Table Mountain - want to have wind power.

18. There is currently a small laundry room which we need updated.

19. Certainly for the master bedroom we want the bed to be oriented so that we can face the windows and the view as we lie in bed. Probably true for all the bedrooms since they all have views.


20. Lists:

Finishes - we want elegant, high end looking finishes that will last. But the finishes need to be good value for money.

Find places in Cape Town for your suggested materials including furniture. But in addition for furniture for example, you should present options from Ikea and we can consider shipping from their Dutch operation. They only ship internationally from their Netherlands (Delft) location or website.

We have quite a bit of furniture - use what you can and which fits into the concept of an elegant home. Please make sure to show how it would be redone (colors, textures, fabrics) and fitted into the new house you design.

The furniture we feel most strongly about is our bedroom dresser, side table, drawers, our dining room table and chairs, our china cabinet. To the extent we can reuse current furniture by redesigning it, please do so.

Looking forward to seeing you produce something outstanding! It should be timeless and elegant.

Let me know if you have any questions - when we get the official approved plans we will post them.

21. added April 28, 2018 - we also would like an outdoor jacuzzi. We don't think it can be at the back of the house because it is too windy there and the pool is at the front of the house anyway.

22. added May 8, 2018 - see links here attached. These points may be obvious but wanted to point them out since we visited the house a few days ago. The two videos will show that the ceiling trusses or rafters go in 2 different directions - like the roof does. The stairs are too steep. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kvecuwx6qco61i/cape%20town%20house%20ceiling%20rafters%20differ%20IMG_2348.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t15gsdbawpxmbmk/cape%20town%20house%20stair%20case%20is%20too%20steep%20IMG_2349.MOV?dl=0

23. added May 11, 2018 my wife has created some additional Pinterest mood boards
Living Room - https://pin.it/2ogqs4cxlkqjm7
Kitchen - https://pin.it/ieyjhzuslunm3v
Bedrooms - https://pin.it/ieyjhzuslunm3v
Bathrooms - https://pin.it/swyjhenblprlqx
Headboards for beds - https://pin.it/qcyfzfvhr2degf

24. added May 13, 2018 my wife created some additional Pinterest mood boards
Refurbished furniture - https://pin.it/2pewqzblsuapgw
Upholstery fabric - https://pin.it/mt2qcfw77apwtc
Study - https://pin.it/iqbqfkw3vmuahz
Outdoor - https://pin.it/5uzst6vkako43x
Laundry - https://pin.it/6gceekhyvgqr2e

25. Added May 15, 2018 - night time views we see of Cape Town from house or nearby. Adding so you can see
consider lighting for the house interior & exterior
Here is the link. Night time views from house or nearby - https://pin.it/rq3vvkh3ch7daj

26. Added May 18, 2018 - we think we want a conservatory, the logical place would be to use the ground floor patio. It would be a great place to spend time on Sundays reading the newspaper. It would also be a great place for my wife to have an indoor garden for growing herbs for example and other plants as well. As we think about it is also the best place for the jacuzzi. It has to be able to open to the outside since in the summer it will be in full sun and very hot. And as we described before the back of the house is very windy for large parts of the year, so this makes the patio usable when weather is bad - windy, cold or wet. (So we could have a gas fireplace inside it as well, along with underfloor heating for winter.) Remember however, we MUST make sure that the views of the mountain and sea are not obstructed. And it must be able to open to the outdoors.

27. Added May 18, 2018 - The downstairs - the ground floor - should have a living/kitchen area. So if we are downstairs we don't have to go upstairs for drinks, make a hot drink or get snacks etc. It is like a bar but more functional. See the board named "Downstairs Living/Kitchen Area" https://www.pinterest.com/bmoffat7797/downstairs-livingkitchen-area/ We do entertain guests.



28. Added May 25, 2018 - Got the official Cape Town City approved plans for the Cape Town house. It is a bit different than what the property is currently like. For your design and planning purposes, the most important information on the approved plans that should be on your plans is the information about the foundation and the sewer lines.

Resources