Apartment Choice

Name: Melissa and James Lawrence Location: Vredehoek, Cape Town, South Africa Size: 1184 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, renting Cape Town- based interior designer Melissa and her husband James didn 't want to invest a ton of money in this home since they are renting it. But because Melissa is in the interior design field , they knew exactly what could to be done to enhance the space and in a cost effective way. They've been able to cleverly add their own touches to their rental apartment , creating a space that feels like home. The first task was to tackle the flooring, which was originally dark brown and in a poor condition. The light whitewashed floors that you see now required a lot of work, but the result is a brighter, more contemporary look they both love. Melissa and James love entertaining so updating the kitchen was a must — and the space needed a major overhaul and some serious TLC. The cupboards were originally a mix of dark wood and grubby white, an...

THE CHIMNEY-CORNER FOR 1866. VIII. HOW SHALL WE ENTERTAIN OUR COMPANY? “T he fact is," said Marianne, "we must have a party. Bob don't like to hear of it, but it must come. We are in debt to everybody: we have been invited everywhere, and never had anything like a party since we were married, and it won't do." "For my part, I hate parties," said Bob. "They put your house all out of order, give all the women a sick-headache, and all the men an indigestion; you never see anybody to any purpose; the girls look bewitched, and the women answer you at cross-purposes, and call you by the name of your next-door neighbor, in their agitation of mind. We stay out beyond our usual bedtime, come home and find some baby crying, or child who has been sitting up till nobody knows when; and the next morning, when I must be at my office by eight, and wife must attend to her children, we are sleepy and headachy. I protest against making overtures to entrap some hund...

IN THE 1960s and ’70s, long before helicoptering emerged as a parenting style, adults had far less interest in looming over their children, frequently urging them to go play outside or downstairs. The netherworld to which these parents pointed was usually a recreation room or finished basement, clad insipidly in wood-veneer paneling and linoleum. Furnishings typically included a saggy sofa, a scratched ping-pong table and a built-in bar never used for mixing drinks; instead, the kids commandeered it as a make-believe store or a stage for puppet shows. Not even Dad’s novelty naked- lady martini stirrers lured him down once the children moved in. And the closest Mom got was to stand at the top of stairs and yell, “Supper’s ready! Wash your hands!” Perhaps these ratty rec rooms weren ’t worthy of House Beautiful, but the stints of physical distance they offered parents and offspring arguably benefited both in ways today’s airy cathedral-ceiling’d great rooms can’t. These days, peopl...