Good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon, everyone! This is Xavier with Luxury Homes Johannesburg
Today, we are in the beautiful Bedfordview area. Now, before we get started on this tour,
I'm here with listing agent Tanya who's the number one real estate agent for REMAX, as well
as, the architect Francois Marais from FM Architects, one of the leading architecture firms
here in South Africa. We are about to take a tour of this gorgeous timeless elegant family home.
Now, before we get started, specs on the house: 4 bed, 4.5 bath, 3 garages, and its
current asking price of R9.7 million. Without further ado, guys.... Thank you very much, Xavier.
Welcome to this exquisite double-story mansion in the heart of Upper Bedfordview. Absolute prime position
and timeless architecture, as Xavier mentioned, it's a beautiful home and who better
then to give us the lowdown on the architecture and what was behind the thought process when
designing this home for our beautiful family, so come on in! Thank you very much, Tanya and Xavier.
Many years ago, when we designed the residence, the owner had quite a specific request
that the entrance of the house and the garages be separated from one another to create a different
feel to the way that the residences are designed lately, so usually what happens is your garages are
very close to your entrance and he specifically requested, in this instance, that we separated so
that you've got this visual separation between the two, so the way that we actually achieved that is
we created the circular beam configuration which almost hugs the entrance as you arrive so this
area here almost forms like a turning circle or an entrance courtyard and then from there
what we've done is, we've recessed the garages further back and by creating this beam that goes
over the top it creates a visual separation between your entrance area and where your
visitors and your cars would be parked as your homeowners. So, coming into the entrance,
you can see, we've got a double volume from the outside with the lights that you can see from the road on
the outside already, so the entrance is beautifully featured from the roadside and as we enter as we
love to do in our residences, we love to feature our staircases and also the double volume and in
this particular residence, we have done a staircase as you can see the staircase actually mimics the
top and bottom of the stairs together, it creates this beautiful sculptural element in the entrance
hall and it becomes the central feature to this entire space the way that we have separated
the various levels on on the house as you can see as we enter here on this particular level
we have got the study which is on the same level as your entrance which demarcates that as a more
intimate or private space and then from there we have then steps going up into the balance of
the residence the rest of the residence is all located on one single level and the way
we've positioned the spaces in that the entire residence is made to live out to the outside
and there's a visual connection between all of the spaces and the outside so as we enter on the
left-hand side we have got your formal lounge area with a bar which is integrated into this space
and central to this area between the dining room and your formal lounge we have a fireplace in in
the center and as you can see all of the doors can open up to this area creating a beautiful
visual flow towards the outside and as we love to do in our architecture
blurring the boundary to the inside and outside of the various spaces so that
you actually pull the outside in and the inside out at the end of the design
so moving through the the residence we have got a configuration where your kitchen family and dining
room form almost a triangular setup and moving into our family room beautiful cozy family room
north facing views and beautiful windows facing to the outside and the way that we've done
it the client wanted the visual integration between the spaces we have included this
window here where you can see from the patio into your family room and vice versa from the patio
to the outside and the visual integration makes the residents feel very large open and integrated
with one another the way that we have planned the kitchen is that the kitchen is slightly
more separate from the rest of the residence as opposed to your conventional full open plan view
and it has a window which faces between the in and outside where one can then serve that area as well
as keep a visual connection between the children and yourself or the kitchen and your family room
beautifully integrated kitchen very nice spacious kitchen a very long linear kitchen configuration
and what we've done in this particular kitchen is we added on a separate breakfast
area rather than having an island configuration with your chest chairs around the island we have
we have got a completely separate breakfast area and the breakfast area has got windows
that face out to the outside it lets the light in beautifully in the morning and in the day
and it can then be used as formal or informal dining within the area we've got a beautiful
scullery which is just located behind yourself then and I think Tanya can tell us a little bit
more about the kitchen. Perfect okay. So, the center island which is lovely for food preparation
and as Francois said a nice visual onto your family lounge where you may be entertaining your
guests or your family you've got double integrated islands you've got a gas hob
electrical lots of different integrated appliances you have a blender and in this section here you've
got a gas griller so you get a griller and a deep fryer there as well, so in addition to that
and preferable area here for your preparation of food you've got the most amazing walk-in cold room
together with a freezer at the end, so this is fantastic such a big home you
do need lots of space for fridges so that is an absolutely great solution and once again on
this side, here you've got a lovely walk-in pantry cupboard for all your grocery stuff
so moving back into our entrance lobby area so here one gets the visual
integration of the staircase as a sculptural element within the center of the residence
and you can see all of the spaces look onto this and it becomes a very successful
feature in the center of the home as a central pivot idea within the design of the residents
and also working as just integrating the spaces and also with it being such a dynamic
element it's it's something that one almost wants to move up and down between the various areas
as we arrive on the landing, you can see how broad we've made the passages and walkways
in this area, it creates a very beautiful opulent feel in this particular area and the client has
quite a few paintings, so we've actually designed a recess for a particular painting which he has got
on display in his entrance here and just from a security point of view
something which we have done in this area here is there are vertical shutters that
shut down, so it can actually shut down the entire ground floor from the top, so nobody can get
up the stairs once we enter into this area and it forms a very impenetrable barrier in this space
so something that we've done with the design here we've got 3 bedrooms leading off of a
little lobby area that we've designed here, so this lobby area can then be used as a pajama lounge,
it can be used as a study area, or it can just be used as an area that can you can distribute the
spaces and move to the different rooms so we've got 3 bedrooms that are very closely situated
off of this area and by creating this effectively with negated the use of a passage so the passage
has disappeared as a result of the way that we have done the layout in this particular area
so this is one of the bedrooms all of the bedrooms have got full en-suite bathrooms
and all of the bedrooms have got access onto the balcony, or patio to the outside
so, if i may come in here please Francois. Quite important to note that the home is actually 20
years old - Believe it or not, so not only did the architecture hold its currency so to speak, but
Francois was so forward thinking as an architect in those days to already design all the bedrooms
en-suite and to actually introduce a pajama lounge which is something that has only occurred over the
last few years - it was something that you know it's a new concept that's only just come to
the forefront now, so that was quite good forward-thinking Thank you very much
I think selling in our industry which is very important it is always to try and be ahead of the
pack think about things that other people will not be thinking about now or doing things that
make you know think out of the box and create something that becomes timeless elegant
and can stand the test of time with with design
so once again this bedroom all en-suite
nice big full bathroom plus your bedroom and as we mentioned, all of the bedrooms having
access to the outside on little patio areas all of the bedrooms overlooking the main
swimming pool and entertainment area and so it creates a very beautiful feel where everything
looks out onto your swimming pool your garden area and this area then as your central focus
moving to the main bedroom - something that we particularly like to do is to do a wider door into
the main bedroom, so it could either be a pivot door or just a very large door as we have in this
particular situation the bedroom very nice and spacious and we've actually cut the corner in
this area here just to give you a better visual as you enter into the bedroom area with a nice
seating area in the lounge or in as a lounge with stacking doors that open on
both sides, so that one can actually access the patio from this particular area
so, off of the main bedroom, we've got then access to your bathroom and then also to your dressing
rooms so a very nice spacious dressing room with his and hers type of configuration off of a little
lobby as you enter - we then have your bathroom, a very spacious bathroom nice big shower
corner bath configuration nice big windows to light up the residence in
the bathroom
now you can get a nice view of the lounge area that we've situated in the corner here
so it creates a nice little retreat from the rest of the house so that you can have
your own space and your own lounge within your bedroom with a beautiful spacious
main bedroom then moving towards the outside, here you can see from here
the access that we have onto the balcony area here all of the bedrooms join onto one central
area where one can then sit in this area if you want and beautiful views from here down onto your
swimming pool and your entertainment area and your garden. Let's go have a look downstairs. Perfect
in moving downstairs and down the stairs and with the wedge shape of the stairs actually
following the curve actually creates a very easy transitional stay and if one walks on the
outside of the stairs, the stairs are actually very large and it creates a very comfortable and easy
walk towards the downstairs or upstairs. So, in keeping with the Francois Marais style
if you want is this integration of space from inside to outside we love breaking
down the boundaries from the outside and even the level from the inside to the outside is
on one level, so that when one moves between the spaces you know the space is completely integrated
we've got a very large lovely size entertainers patio where we've got a full lounge area on the
one side we have a dining room configuration on the other and we still have enough space
there for your braai plus your cabinets cupboards and cabinetry with your prep bowl etc
and then in the design of the shape of the patio we actually extended
out following the curves that we introduced at the entrance and also on your staircase
we've extended this the curve to the outside what it does is that if the weather is bad ,
one does not get drained that penetrates onto your patio into the seating areas and then with
the integration of the space with the stairs coming down into this area it forms a beautiful
entertainment area where the swimming pool actually becomes integrated with the house and
the way that we have planned it is that with all of your lounges we've positioned them away from
the residents so that the swimming pool becomes almost a central feature to this external area
and when one sits in this area you actually get the beautiful view of your house looking back
from here at the house and then just here you can just see the curves the same curved beams
that we introduced at the front entrance just to keep the language consistent we have brought those
beams in on this side as well and it creates various picture frames to various areas from
from this particular view okay so in terms of the additional features in the
home starting off with the garden there is a borehole irrigation system in the garden
you have beautiful rolling lawns so lovely for children to play you've got a stunning little boma
area in the corner which is wonderful for those cozy winter evenings where you want to sit around
a log fire at night also very important to mention the homeowner has just recently
redone the kitchen, he's upgraded the kitchen with brand new high gloss cabinetry cupboards all-round,
he's redone the outdoor pool area with a beautiful very modern light gray tile upstairs on
the flooring he's installed brand new flooring so the home is really in immaculate condition
ready to move into and honestly an excellent buy at this stage. Other features in the home
of course security-wise everything that you need and of course and the other thing to mention is
your fully integrated air conditioner systems in the home upstairs and downstairs ducted aircon and
you've got your surround music system in addition to that and lastly, staff accommodation as well as
ample parking for all your visitors, so really a stunning stunning home. Just to recap four bedrooms
4 bathrooms plus a study, beautiful open plan entertainment area and everything that your
heart may desire and of course, thank you very much to Francois Marais from FM Architects and if
you are looking for a top architect to design your dream home, then absolutely Francois is your man.
Tanya, thank you so much - I couldn't have said it better. Thank you so much guys for taking us on
a tour of this gorgeous home. Any questions, whether it be for Francois or for Tanya, make sure to reach out.
The details below this video - awesome! Thank you guys for your time and have an awesome afternoon!