It Started With Four Table Legs
On 19 January 2022, shortly after we reopened following the December break, a WhatsApp message arrived from a lady I had never met.
“Morning Brigitte. I received your number from Carrol Boyes in Sandton to assist me with putting Carrol Boyes legs on a table top. Will you be able to assist me? Secondly, I need to redo my entire home with curtains and blinds. Lastly, I would love some interior decorating assistance.”
Her name was Tanya.
Neither of us could have known where that simple message would lead.
The Story Began Before We Ever Met
The reason Tanya had my name was a story in itself.
Shortly after the COVID lockdowns ended, we were commissioned to manufacture a bespoke timber-and-glass server table for a client, using four beautifully crafted Carrol Boyes table legs he had supplied.
During assembly, one of those legs snapped clean in half.
It could easily have become an expensive disaster. Instead, it became one of the most valuable business lessons of my career.
A phone call to Carrol Boyes’ head office in Cape Town led to a replacement set of legs being supplied at no cost. More importantly, it introduced me to wonderful people at both the factory and their retail stores. Relationships were formed that I never imagined would shape my business later.
Looking back, I wasn’t simply solving a problem for one client. Something much bigger was quietly unfolding.
From Four Table Legs to a Whole Home
When Tanya first contacted me, the dining table seemed like the obvious place to begin. After all, those four table legs were what had brought us together.
But the table would have to wait.
We started instead with something far more practical, window coverings for the lounge and dining room.
That is often how I work. I don’t arrive with a grand plan to redesign an entire home. I listen first. I learn how the people who live there use their space, what frustrates them, what they love and, importantly, what their budget allows.
With Tanya, one project simply led to another. There was no master decorating schedule. The home evolved as ideas emerged, needs changed and the budget allowed.
And then we encountered the walls
Listening Changed Everything
Tanya had set her heart on wallpaper to disguise the rather unattractive walls in the downstairs living areas. It could have looked beautiful – but there was a problem.
Rising damp affected much of the downstairs area, and no wallpaper, however beautiful or expensive, was going to stand the test of time.
Sometimes good decorating is as much about knowing what not to do as it is about choosing something beautiful.
Rather than simply giving Tanya what she had asked for, I started researching alternatives. Stone cladding offered a possibility, but it needed to be installed in a way that would cope with the conditions. We decided to try it first on a small section around the fireplace.
It worked.
In fact, it worked so well that Tanya and her family looked at it and decided the whole wall would make far more of a statement.
They were right.
A Home That Began to Tell Its Own Story
Once the fireplace wall was transformed, the whole downstairs area began to feel different.
Over the months that followed, one project naturally led to another. Not according to some grand decorating schedule, but as ideas emerged, needs changed and the budget allowed.
The work happened around real life too. There were interruptions, travels, family events and periods when things simply waited. Then another conversation or voice note from Tanya would arrive, and we would pick up where we had left off.
Eventually, the stone cladding extended beyond the fireplace wall and into the other downstairs living areas. At the same time, other details began to change too: curtains and blinds, lamps and lampshades, desks and chairs, mirrors, pictures, tables and ornaments.
Sometimes I would find exactly the right fabric. Sometimes a supplier would help me source something unusual. And sometimes the answer came from a completely different direction.
That was part of the joy of working with Tanya. The house was never being “done” in one sweep.
It was evolving.
Sometimes The Answer Isn't in a Catalogue
One of those moments came in Tanya’s kitchen.
When the cooker hood was was removed, damaged tiles were left behind above the stove. The obvious solution would have been to remove and replace the damaged tiles. But they were no longer available, so the entire kitchen area would have had to be stripped and new tiles sourced and installed – expensive, disruptive and unnecessary if we could find another way.
Around this time, glass splash backs were becoming popular. It seemed like the perfect answer, except that they came in two standard sizes and neither would work in Tanya’s kitchen.
So I started researching.
We looked through different ideas and images until we found something that resonated with Tanya. My regular glass supplier turned the project down, but my trusted friend at Forest Art & Framing were prepared to tackle it.
The result was a completely customised glass splash back, distinctive, practical and considerably more affordable than stripping out all the existing tiles and starting again.
If the obvious solution doesn’t work, sometimes you simply have to find another one
A Little Light in the Early Morning
Tanya wanted to be able to make her early morning coffee without switching on the main overhead light and bathing the entire room with a blast of brightness.
The little coffee station needed its own light – something practical for those dark early mornings, but also something that would sit beautifully within the room.
I set out to find the right little table lamp. And then this floor lamp presented itself.
It was almost perfect straight away. The delicate crystals were just right for Tanya, who loved a little bit of glitz, and its size and shape worked beautifully next to the coffee station.
But I knew it needed one more thing.
A lampshade that would make it uniquely hers.
And that is where the creative process began.
The Creative Process
When I least expected it, while looking for fabric for another client, this one jumped out at me.
The colours, the flowers and the unexpected combination of pink and aqua felt as though they belonged together.
I could see it immediately.
Not everyone agreed.
I was told the design was too large and that it wouldn’t work on the lampshade.
But sometimes, after years of working with colour, fabric and people’s homes, you simply have to trust your eye.
So I did.
And I have to admit, I rather enjoyed proving them wrong. 😉
And Finally, the Dining Room
And then, finally, we came back to where the story had begun.
Tanya was able to take delivery of the beautiful glass-topped dining table, supported by the four sculptural Carrol Boyes legs that had first brought us together.
But the table created another problem.
Her existing dining chairs simply didn’t do it justice.
I spent weeks looking for the right chairs and fabrics. Something that would complement the glass, allow those beautiful sculptural legs to be seen, and bring some colour and personality into the room.
I wanted Tanya to be brave.
She was prepared to listen, but I knew I had to be gentle. After all, it was her home, not mine.
A Little Voom
Then I found a beautiful botanical fabric with monkeys and butterflies
Tanya was sold.
The fabric had enormous personality, but putting it across an entire chair would have been too much. I spent weeks looking for the right plain blue velvet, that would tone the print down without it losing its impact.
The botanical velvet didn’t stay in the dining room either. I carried it through into scatter cushions backed in plain yellow velvet, to the lounge, where it worked with Tanya’s Tretchikoff cushions.
It was a small detail, but it helped the rooms speak to one another.
And suddenly, the dining chairs had become part of the story rather than simply somewhere to sit.
The Art of Letting Go
Originally, Tanya wanted photographs of Danni’s horse in the dining room.
The photographs of horses already on the walls were beautiful, but they had no real meaning for the family. What they wanted was something personal. A beautiful image of Pav, Danni’s horse, properly enlarged and framed.
We tried. But none of the photographs Tanya had were quite right for the job. To get the image we really wanted would have meant arranging a professional photo shoot, and that simply wasn’t in the budget.
So the original artwork stayed on the wall while the rest of the house continued to evolve.
Meanwhile, Tanya asked me to look for something else.
A Picasso, perhaps. Something with presence.
I searched, but everything seemed to be either the wrong size, the wrong colour, or simply outside the budget.
And then Tanya suggested Tretchikoff’s Balinese Lady.
I have to confess, Tretchikoff has never been my favorite artist. I’ve always found his work rather common and, at times, a little kitsch.
But Tanya loved his work.
And that changed the way I looked at the painting.
A Turban in the Wrong Colour
Tanya had already fallen in love with Tretchikoff’s Balinese Lady. I had previously used another of his prints in the entrance hall, beautifully framed to create an impact as you walked through the front door.
But there was a problem.
The Balinese Lady had a green turban.
And green simply wasn’t going to work in a dining room filled with vibrant turquoise.
Normally, you work with what an artwork gives you. But this time, we had an opportunity to do something different.
I turned to my trusted friends at Forest Art and asked whether they could adapt the colour of the turban.
They did.
The green became the exact blue we needed. And suddenly the artwork belonged in the room.
Finished with a beautiful silver frame, the Balinese Lady became the final piece of the puzzle.
And Finally, The Dining Room
And Somehow , We Had Come Full Circle
What began with four Carrol Boyes table legs had grown into a home that was completely Tanya – colourful, personal, a little unexpected, and full of pieces that had found their place along the way.
The house was never redesigned all at once. It simply evolved, one conversation, one idea and one unexpected find at a time.
What the Client Says
Tanya’s own words…...
Dear Brigitte
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for transforming my home. I absolutely love it. You interpreted my vision 100%, the space absolutely resonates with my personality and way of life. An absolute 10 out of 10 rating.
So looking forward to our next exciting project. You are so professional, kind and easy to work with. You always go out of your way to obtain the most exquisite pieces at a reasonable price. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you.
Tanya