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Top Billing Features A Tropical Homestead
All Images By Chris Allan Photo
This week our dream home is the tropical homestead of the Jobert Reuvers family.
Surrounded by a mix of sea & tropical forest, this home has evolved into an open, breezy building style which is perfectly suited to climate found in the Indian Ocean town of Umdloti. This week’s picturesque dream home location is about stellar architecture which works with the surrounding environment.
The distinctive South East Asian rooftop of this home sits atop a framework of modern steel, glass, timber and stone amongst the sub-tropical fauna and flora of The Dolphin Coast.
This stunning piece of industrial design is home to Hough Jobert and Frans Reuvers who are both business and life partners. The couple has been married for five years and completed their family through surrogacy becoming parents to twins Adam & Joshua.
As undeveloped stands that bare the same view as their home is rarely available, the couple purchased an old beach bungalow and within local planning & building restrictions the two completed a swift re-build and put architect Hans Coetzee at the helm.
All the prominent lines found in this stunning home are rectangular and thus whether you find yourself indoors our out, you’ll be able to see and hear the vegetation, birdlife as well as the ocean in every room of the house.
As this was to be a family home, Frans and Hough decided that it should feature the right animal emblem for their two boys and thus they settled on an elephant themed room.
The very top floor features an uncanny resemblance to that of a cruise liner's view, thus getting there has to build anticipation.
One of the staircases leading up to this deck features a floating balustrade leading from the kitchen which is an immediate conversation starter.
The kitchen itself features cleaner lines found within the counters and fitting which allow for colour & mood to the hero and both change colour depending on the intensity of light and the time of the day.
The couple opted to keep within the Indonesian feel of the home by opting for furniture made from natural materials such as wood, leather and textured fabrics.
However, it was during the build where no staircases were to be found. Instead, they only had a ladder to climb while grabbing onto fabric swatches. The results paid off the fourteen-month-old twins now have a room which is just the right amount of boyish complete with mosquito nets draped over the beds which give off a regal feel.
The master bedroom, on the other hand, is minimalist and introduces the ever-changing colours of the horizon, ocean, sky and thus makes for a living design theme which is based on the moods of the Indian Ocean, just outside the windows.
It’s during the season that the couple finds solace at their pool area and it feels as if no-one else around in this space. The couple have an amazing home to raise two boys in which is near the city but with an island-life feel far from the throngs of the world.
