For our home tour we head off to the beautiful old house of the Le Cordeur family from Paarl. Heike Le Cordeur is a wonderfully creative florist and the home she shares with her husband Andrew, and their two children Luca and Indya, is just as lovely as the arrangements she dreams up.

The house is 140 years old and one of the original farm houses in the Paarl valley area. Patriot Street used to be the path down to the river for the cattle.

Heike’s father’s best friend lived in the house, and she grew up visiting his daughters Roelene and Nita and dreamed about living in a similar house one day – not once thinking that this would eventually become her home. The same swing her daughter now swings on is  the one Heike and her friends used to play on when they were little.

Images by the wonderful Yolande Marx.

5 Minutes with Heike: 

My style is best described as a mixture of old and new.

I am inspired by colour!

I love my home because it makes me feel happy. It is our first family home, where my daughter learnt to play in the garden, and my son was born.

My home DIY projects included quite a few hands on projects. What I am most proud off is the tiles around the fireplace (which I made and did from scratch) and my vintage vase window installation on route to our bathroom and all the décor in Indya and Luca’s room – even the headboard in Indya’s room was made by me and my mom.

I splurged on tea cups, vintage vases and good linen (and off the record, shoes).

My advice for other home decor enthusiasts are to not blindly follow fashion trends, create a home that you feel comfortable in, and that looks warm and full of love – and that can lend itself to being quite chaotic and messy at the same time!

The biggest challenge was using all this space but still make it feel cosy. I don’t like big open spaces, I love a home that feels like a place where rusks are baked and the kettle is always on. The ceilings of our house is high, and in order to create a warm cosy place I stuck to soft pastels and wood, old furniture mixed with modern touches and family friendly objects rather than fashion pieces.

What I love most about my home is the old floors, old door and window frames and ceilings.

My favourite destination is anywhere as long as there is good food and warm sea water!

My style hero is without any doubts Cate Blanchett!