DIY diva talks about her successful house project
A Marloth Park resident who loves DIY projects invited Corridor Gazette to visit the house she helped design and furnish with some of her DIY creations.
MARLOTH PARK – It’s not often you find a woman equally handy with a sewing machine and a spanner, but Louise Marais wields both with ease and skill.
This can best be seen in one of the houses the retired teacher rents out as holiday accommodation. She had a hand in everything from the design to the soft furnishings.
Construction of the house started in March and it was finished by December. It was a long-term dream of Marais’ and is her pension package, which has paid off nicely.
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Marais is keen on crafting, design, “creating things” and home maintenance, and wanted to make something beautiful but functional. She took inspiration from Skukuza Airport’s design, the Internet and tried to incorporate as much of the surrounds as she could in the design of the two-bedroom house.
Some of the more interesting features are two oryx horns that she had joined to use as the front door handle and a beautiful silhouette artwork of birds sitting on a tree during sunset. The house also features a veranda with a view over the treetops and a lap pool.
She made all of the soft furnishings in the house, like the cushions and blinds and re-purposed several chairs and tables to fit with her theme.
Marais is an old hand at DIY, having won the Alert DIY Challenge hosted by Jacaranda FM in Pretoria in July 2008. She was nominated by a friend who she’d helped with DIY projects and had to face two men.
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The three competitors had an hour to build a table, which included drilling, sanding, assembling and varnishing. She was the only one to finish the table and says she didn’t realise she was that far ahead. The wooden fold-up side table earned her R10 000 and impressed women in the audience.
“Old tannies came up to me to say that I’d shown the men a thing or two and scored a few points for females,” she said, laughing.
As the topic turned back to her current occupation, Marais said she’s had interesting clients, from diplomats to drug dealers, and said it’s quite exciting interacting with such different kinds of people.
“I’d like to step up the level of accommodation here and encourage people to work more nature-friendly,” she noted.
Marais advised people looking to build in Marloth to embrace the natural materials and consider the environment.
“Try to accommodate indigenous trees in your design. Consider your neighbours too, especially when it comes to noise pollution.”
