About a year ago, I came upon a small vintage caravan, all battered up by rhinos, that has been forgotten in the bush for far too long. The free-spirited traveller in me simply saw past the dents I might have been able to fix should I have been a panel beater. This is the biggest thing I’ve ever owned, and I had free rein to do whatever I wanted with it!
And so the sanding began – inside and out. Then the base coats, kilometers (it seemed) of blue painters tape and who-knows-how-many days and layers of Sunshine Yellow and Burgundy Red enamel paint – inside and out. Doors were removed and carried inside the house to paint in front of the fireplace at night. The ceiling was covered with wallpaper, then painted as well. Those upside-down lines almost put me in a permanent state of vertigo for the rest of my life! 😁
For many months, and with the epidemic causing delays, I waited for the carefully sourced treasures to arrive from all parts of the world, including kilim cushions and a rug from Turkey. From India, there came a hand-stitched Kantha quilt, vintage silk sarees to be transformed into curtains, as well as hand-dyed bed linen in just the perfect shades. There are vintage amber glasses and decanters from France proudly standing in the kitchen cupboard. There’s also a Petrykivka-style painted plate and vintage velvet tablecloth (that became a bed throw) from Ukraine, with a beautiful Zhostova hand-painted tray, Pavlovsky shawl and small Kohklhoma wall plate from Russia close-by (my little haven blissfully unaware of wars waging in the outside world).
And through it all, my Golden Retriever Assistant, Buddy, was always close-by.
My husband even helped with the installation of an outside bath (water stored in JoJo tanks, of course) from where you can sit and enjoy a view of the African game roaming on the farm.
And so, between the never-ending flasks of coffee and paint strokes, the winter sun shone ever brighter onto a dream – La Bohème.
A place where arts, cultures, colours and sounds meet from all over the world in ecstatic freedom!