HOME TOUR | Maximalist Mid-Century Modern Cape Town Home

Generally people hire me because we think differently. It's not always the kind of work that's going to end up in the magazine. It's not always the kind of work that everyone's going to find palatable or beautiful. And it's something that's very personal to them. I think that's one thing that we do very well, is we're able to hone in on a client's personality and express that in a beautiful way. With a client there might be a concept, but for myself there's no concept whatsoever. The intention is not something that looks decorated. The intention is to collect beautiful things. I'm Liam Mooney and I'm the principal of the Liam Mooney Design Group and we're based in Cape Town, South Africa. Today we're in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa and this is my personal residence. It's a little bit more conservative. It's a little bit waspy. Perfectly manicured, boxwood kind of front gardens and things like that. I'd always admired the Shaffer House by Lautner that was in The Single Man and he had beautiful wooden framed windows. And when I saw these wooden framed windows I was like, perfect. I like a certain kind of undone-ness, so not too much perfection. I say to people all the time like an interior needs a little bit of dirt under the fingernails. The entryway, you kind of walk down the side alley. We've got olive trees and we've got these which are called clivias and we've got some red stars. And then you turn the corner over here into the kitchen which is the first kind of introduction you get to the house. Bowls of fruit, appliances everywhere. I think it's a kind of happy kitchen. I found a very slender wooden server that I have bowls of fruit and stuff on. It's completely impractical, you have to kind of like walk around this thing but it's my kitchen so I don't really care. I want to see the appliances, I want to see the food, I want to see bowls of wooden spoons. I want my kitchen to feel abundant and kind of happy and joyful. So this is the focal point that you see the second you come in through the front door. One is able to have a busier more abundant kitchen with appliances everywhere if you're able to give the eye somewhere to go. And so when people walk into the front door this is a very strong focal point for the room. You'll find that if you have zones the space feels a lot bigger because each area has its own purpose. So to create different zones in this open plan space I did a couple of things. The rug underneath the dining room table creates a specific zone over here but I also used this large rectangular mirror and that large rectangular cork board as a way to kind of say okay so this is one area and that's another area. I have a wooden dining room table right in front of the kitchen. What I like about it is that the kitchen counter you can put all the food on and people can help themselves right next to. Also it's great that it's right next to this window and there's something to look at out there. And as you come down from the dining area I've done a very loose kind of gallery wall. These incredible Jean Miro prints over here of exhibitions of his and I've recently just put a tree on the outside because I mostly entertain at night. I've got those great 70s spotlights which just kind of illuminate the tree. Candle light is best at all times and so I constantly have different colored candles all over the house. This is a pretty awesome place to have dinner guests. So this is the lounge area. It's about pattern this incredible kind of tapestry over here. It's about contrasting patterns. So I've put a zebra hide on top of a black and white keelam and so you've got these black and white stripes going in different directions. I've got these kind of ikat patterned chairs over here. As much contrast as possible I just think it's beautiful. There has to be a focal point and so I try to keep the focal point this beautiful like egg yolk chair at the end of the room. There's somewhere for your eye to go and you're not completely distracted by the masses of pattern and color. Some of the challenges with the home and the neighborhood in particular is that it is the wettest neighborhood in South Africa in an area behind Table Mountain that kind of funnels a whole bunch of water down. So we had to warm up the space. We had to soften the space and I've used a lot of drapes and I've used a lot of softness all to make it feel a little bit more cozy. So in my study which really to me is the most important room in this space. I spend the most amount of time there. I'm hugely inspired by an American decorator called Billy Baldwin and he was prolific in his day and the Vogue editor at the time Diana Freeland asked him to design her kind of drawing room and she said to him I want a garden but a garden in hell and so what he did is he layered red upon red. I chose to stick to the brown walls because I think it's kind of supports the red beautifully. The TV which is on the wall is kind of garish and so that's the reason I chose to do completely monotone art in this room. The black and white artwork has multiple kind of functions in this room. Disguising the TV, heightening the red. This is the space that I'm the least precious about. I like the idea of things leaning against other things. The Italians call it sprezzatura a kind of a nonchalance which I just think is amazing. I just want it groaning with art and books and I sit here smoking and my friends and I have drinks in here and when the curtains close at night it's a wonderful little red space. Red tulips, my favorite flowers, red candles. I mean it's a bit of fun. Green is not a color that I use very often and so I thought I would give it a try in the bedroom and I love the color of the walls and then I thought to myself what's the kind of oddest combination with green and I thought orange and I love checks and I love tartans and so the idea was to mix this kind of very like mid-century green with very bright orange. I think the room is kind of happy and colorful and bright and comforting but I spend very little time in here so it's not something that I wanted to be too challenging. I just wanted it to be comfortable and light and pleasant to be in from 10 to 6. The end result as you're looking at it today is colorful and layered and nuanced and interesting but it's probably all going to change and there'll be a new finished result in a month's time.