Fix it with Flair: Meet our ‘Most Beautiful’ category winner

Photographs Greg Cox l Styling Marian van Wyk

Before

Marné’s brother-in-law Warren Strydom and his partner De Villiers Hattingh of Anvl Kraft, who actually build and restore motorcycles, constructed the kitchen from recycled wood and old pipes, and installed a laboratory sink. The kitchen island comes from the United States, where Marné previously lived.

In the middle of Sutherland, in the shadow of the Dutch Reformed Church, stands a house that at first glance seems a bit out of place. With black exterior walls and a woman on a broomstick instead of the traditional weathervane on the roof, Die Heks se Huis (The Witch’s House), where Marné Marais lives, is in stark contrast to the other homes – some built with Karoo stone, others painted white – in this small town.

While on the lookout for a place with authentic Karoo charm, Marné fell in love with this historic house that dates back to 1905. “I visited every Karoo town within a 350km radius of Cape Town in search of a house that spoke to me. When I came across this one in Sutherland, it was only the second time in my life that I had set foot in the town,” she says.

Since the Dutch Reformed Church bought the house from the first missionary, Reverend Gabriel Johannes Viviers, in 1908 it has seen quite a few alterations at the hands of the owners. It has been a doctor’s consulting room, a boarding house and a guesthouse.

“The house was in a terrible state when I bought it,” recalls Marné. “And it was painted a greenish colour. At that stage I had no money to sandblast the place and restore it to a stone building, so I simply painted over the green.

“The only items in the house at the time were a tiny wardrobe in the bedroom and a basin in the kitchen. My mother was mortified when she first saw it.” But Marné had a vision to restore the house to its former glory.

Two interior walls were broken out where the living room, dining room and kitchen now form one open space. Before the kitchen was completed in November 2017, Marné and Voodoo would eat out at one of the local pubs every evening.

In all her renovation projects, Marné likes to leave a section of bricks exposed as part of the finishes. The artworks form part of a series of 35 paintings she did during lockdown.

Casement windows and front door from Wood Strippers

Marné transported the Union #7 woodfired stove in the back of her hatchback all the way from Wellington to Sutherland.

Vintage rolling pins from Romantiques

Marné says the leather jacket hanging on the hallway rack is from her motorcycling days, when she travelled about 54 000km across South Africa. The old suitcases and trunks were bought on Craigslist when she lived in the USA. Front door stained glass from Hero Stained Glass

The old oak chest of drawers next to Marné’s bed was previously used as a toolbox by her stepfather. “When I got it, it was infested with beetles. I cleaned it up and sent the beetles packing,” she says with a chuckle.

The wall between the main bedroom and bathroom was demolished to create a bathroom en suite. The old hand mirrors adorning the wall were antique store finds. Slipper bath from Italtile, copper taps from Brassique

The renovation

Fortunately, Marné was no novice when it came to renovations and she has had a passion for old homes since she was a child – her parents’ house was the former Stellenbosch Hotel. For about a decade she lived abroad, including in Costa Rica and the United States where she studied at the College of Wicca and Old Lore in Denver, Colorado, the modern manifestation of the old pagan or witch movement, Wicca. In 2007 she bought a house in Denver that dated back to 1890 and worked on it for four years.

In 2012, she also renovated a Victorian house in the same city. “It’s a creative process,” she says of the manner in which she tackles a restoration project. “It’s extremely satisfying to turn something that is basically a ruin into a comfy, liveable space.”

The sale of the Sutherland house was concluded on 7 January 2017, and Marné started clearing the 2 141m² plot in May of that year. On 1 June, the renovation of the building could begin.

Marné enlisted the help of two local workers and decided to launch her own construction company, Witchy Worx Renovations. Marné and Voodoo moved into the main bedroom while the renovation was underway and she also set up an office where she could get on with work while keeping an eye on the project.

“I lived in a cloud of dust for six months while they demolished walls… and with a hole in the roof in the middle of an icy Sutherland winter!”

Any additions that were not part of the original structure were demolished so that the exterior of the house would go back to the way it looked in 1905. “The entire house was constructed with Karoo stone. In order to build the huge fireplace, we removed one of the outer walls and put it back afterwards, stone by stone,” she says.

In the midst of the worst of the demolishing and construction, Marné broke both her ankles. “I was in a wheelchair for a month. But with the help of an employee at my guesthouse Maison d’Bosch in Stellenbosch, a set of crutches and two moonboots, we were able to get the job done.

“I wanted this house to be as creative and eclectic as possible because it’s where I live. It had to be unique, but with typical old-world Karoo flair.”