Slow reno resumes
A quick recap of the past five years
Over the past five years, I’ve been sharing our Slow Reno story here. It’s a way for me to keep track of what’s been done and what it looked like before we started.
When we moved into our unloved 1955 Clovelly home in 2020 it was cold and dreary. Alterations had been made as tenants requested them, nothing was cohesive. Initially, we spent money on practical things like replacing the asbestos roof and installing a solar geyser. It took a while for us to get going on the inside, adopting a room-by-room approach.
The first interior room was the bathroom, then a bedroom, then creating a pantry and reconfiguring the main bedroom, and creating a studio space with an ensuite out of the first part of a tandem garage running down the side of the house.
This week’s newsletter is all about our slow reno recap and what’s next.
Slow reno recap
Watching Alone on Netflix I often think about how long I would last if I was dropped into the frozen Arctic with a tarpaulin, a knife, and a sleeping bag. Not long.
The best shelter builder by far uses boulders that he levers to his site with long branches. Genius. Use leverage.
Anyway, he digs out a space, builds a rock-solid back wall and two sides to the shelter, the front ‘door’ is a small gap in the stone, there’s flooring and a waterproof roof. Last time I watched he was going strong. Food, shelter, sorted.
I like the idea of small-space living but I’m not ready for a true tiny home. After staying in a tiny home on a farm up the west coast I realised that cramped living is not for me. Building with old shipping containers or straw-bales, where you can create the dimensions you want, is more appealing. But we’re not building, we’re renovating, slowly. The slow reno has been slowly moving along since we moved in three years ago. We share our lounge with a Kawasaki motorbike. Okay, there’s a pane of glass between us but if we want to, we can gaze at the Kawasaki all day.
It’s taken a while but we’ve finally fixed up one bedroom. Restored the parquet floor, installed new wiring, new cupboards (including inners, not just the doors, made of plywood), a new bedroom door (restored), new window frames, new blinds, new curtains, new furniture (bed and desk - we needed small and our other furniture is just too clunky).
The old cupboard was removed and redesigned by us with four doors rather than the clunky three-door cupboard there previously. The old doors went to the tip where they hopefully found a new use. Talent and his co-worker Norman made up plywood doors for the cupboards, and we gave them a single coat of Woodoc to seal them. Woodoc is water-based which is better for the environment than oil-based sealant. Thumbs up to Woodoc.
Talent from Timber Products, is based in Masi near Fish Hoek, Cape Town. He has set up his own small business and nothing is too small. Soon after completing this job he sent us a photo, taken at False Bay Hospital in Fish Hoek. “My firstborn” said the whatsapp. Thank you Talent.
Downsizing continues in the little greenish house in Clovelly. The family-sized 6-8 seater dining table from Restorabilia in Diep River was sold to a family from Durbanville needing a big seater. Glad it’s gone to a good new home.
We bought this table from Huisraad before we decided to go for plywood cupboard doors. It’s an authentic mid-century modern breakfast table with two drop leaves. The pedestal is solid wood, and the top is plywood with a birch veneer. A humble piece of excellent quality.
It’s time for a Slow Reno update
March 25, 2024
We have a small team of builders helping us with our stop-start slow renovation in Clovelly, Cape Town. Talent is a carpenter and Nelson a builder/bricklayer/plasterer par excellence. They live in Masiphumele near Fish Hoek.
Restorations and renovations take time - the planning and preparing in our case has gone on for three years - and money. Time we have, and the idea is to pay as we go and do as much of the work ourselves: a debt-free slow renovation. After spending lots of money on replacing the asbestos roof, and new and improved insulation it was time for some interior restoration.
We had two small bedrooms side by side - one was so small we couldn’t fit a cupboard in it. And there was, weirdly, no storage in the rest of the house - no hall cupboard or airing cupboard - so we modified the two rooms. We have made a storage/pantry room and created a big, airy bedroom (with a cupboard in the same room). We were able to restore the old wooden parquet floors in both rooms and it was also time to install the last two restored doors that we bought from friends in Glencairn.
The thing about renovating when you’re living in the building site is the noise, the dust, and the chaos can be extremely discombobulating. In the above images, you can see the mess behind the scenes - we had to close up one door and bash through a wall to put in the door for the pantry/store room. But it’s done, and it was worth it.
The point of the new roof, and insulation, plus new windows, is to improve energy-efficiency in our home. South African homes built before 1960 weren’t built for the chill or the increasingly hot summers we’ve been having due to climate change and global warming. I can already feel that insulation has improved temperature control, and this keeps heating bills down, reducing our reliance on Eskom. Other carbon footprint improvements include replacing the shower and bath in the main bathroom with a luxurious walk-in shower. Who bathes these days in the times of global warming and water shortages? I got carried away with tiles, choosing a handmade tile from Spain. It was a moment of madness, and although I didn’t want to buy imported tiles, I went for them.
Studio space emerges from tandem garage
Kitchen confidential
We decided to get in the professionals to design our ‘new’ kitchen and Holly Wood Design Studio came up with a plan for us.
Would you like to see some more slow reno stories? Our next project is building a garage and then converting the second part of the tandem garage (now studio space) into a shared workspace.
Save the date for friends
Join Friends of Silvermine Nature Area on Saturday, May 9 for a community work party in the wetland. Bring the family, there will be something for everyone!
Source to Sea walks raise R34,000
In more news from Friends of Silvermine Nature Area, Martin Scholtz says: “We are pleased to share with you that we collectively managed to raise a total of R34,325 for the 2026 Source to Sea Fundraising Hike. I think we can say we reached our R35,000 target! Thank you to everyone who joined on the day and contributed to this annual fundraiser, and the people who donated, even though they were unable to join. And to the FOSNA committee and other community volunteers who assisted in so many ways, we really value your support. See you in April 2027!”
Silent Book Club is back at Bertha House
Cape Town Silent Book Club is back at the Activist Cafe at Bertha House, one of its OG meeting spots!
Skacket and skirket - keep the names coming
In last week’s newsletter I wrote: “I cut up the paisley skirt and upstitched it to the top, and made myself a skirjacket.”
Silly me with my silly ‘skirjacket’. Eldest son Sam suggested ‘skacket’, and gorgeous Nicola-not-Nicole came up with ‘skirket’, which makes much more sense. Noted.
I’ve lived in many places, discovered green spaces, and found fellow greenies sharing our ecosystem. Sharing is caring, tribe. Corny, I know.
Currently living in Clovelly, Cape Town, within the Table Mountain National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
You’re very brave!!
I love the variety of your posts, but super interested in your slow Reno! You have an incredible aesthetic. Love all that you have done!