Visionary owners have tenderly refurbished a characterful heritage home in Parkview, Joburg "I immediately felt a strange and wonderful connection with this house. It's as if we were meant to live here," says educational publisher Philanie Jooste of her Parkview heritage home.The house was dilapidated and derelict when she and her husband, mining engineer Tertius van Niekerk, first saw it. Yet it's clear they could envision what the house had once been - and could be again. Some might have chosen to demolish it, but this couple were devoted to restoring it to its former glory.mini_story_image_vleft1The project to create a family home for themselves and their sons, Emile and Marcel, took more than nine months. Every effort was made to respectfully retain the original character of the home, which was built in 1926. "I loved that the house hadn't been altered except for one addition around 1928. We could do what we wanted within heritage limits," says Philanie.Architect Jaco Groenewald worked closely with the couple to transform dark spaces into contemporary, open-plan areas. An upstairs bedroom was converted into an en suite bathroom; the garage downstairs became a guest bedroom and a veranda was added onto the kitchen. "We made it more suitable for modern living, but the integrity of the original structure remains," says Philanie.The furnishings, a charming mix of eccentric heirlooms and lovely second-hand finds, seem tailor-made for the house. Old suitcases, an Art-Deco wooden sidetable, an imposing wooden cabinet, framed prints and Art-Deco basins are some items they were luckily able to salvage during the renovation."My style is more old-fashioned and stately than Tertius's - he prefers a modern approach," says Philanie. She's also fortunate enough to have had a variety of heirlooms bestowed upon her: striking vintage family photos, wooden cupboards with metal inlays, a lovely antique sewing stand and even an old school desk.story_article_right1Upstairs, a mid-century office desk from an antique store in Kensington adorns Philanie's home office. She's especially entranced by the tiny Oregon pine cupboard built into the wall, she says - it is just one of many charming original features of the house. The covetable wooden beds in the boys' spacious bedroom are family hand-me-downs, while the original second bathroom sports its original Victorian bath, re-enamelled.A mini-library and play area in the passageway offers a green Art-Deco couch with crafty Weylandts cushions. Throughout the house, warm wooden floors have been brought back to life along with dark ceiling beams and pressed ceilings, from which specially sourced Art-Deco lights hang. Colourful odds and ends - ranging from the children's pottery creations to glass vases, books and old scales - populate window ledges, cabinets and shelves.Downstairs, a sunflower-yellow cupboard adds a pop of colour to the living room, where whimsical Diek Grobler artworks (which Philanie bid for online) decorate a wall. Other artworks include a wedding-gift etching by Berco Wilsenach; Deborah Bell etchings in the dining area; alluring oil paintings by Karin Preller and Helena Hugo and a gentle yet compelling work by Bambo Sibiya.In the kitchen, decorative cement tiles draw interest, while outside, an old library cabinet has been imaginatively repurposed as a succulent motel. "My sister-in-law rescued that for me from a school," says Philanie.full_story_image_hleft2Nods to the heritage of the house are everywhere too: photographs taken before, after and during its restoration; the original old black telephone; wooden frames from the restored stoep used to decorate the veggie patch. The porthole-style stained-glass windows, typical of a home of this era, peep out from the face-brick facade of the house. And on display in the dining room is a vintage plastic child's doll, which Philanie enjoys for its "freaky eyes and unusual looks". There's no doubt that she has an uncanny ability to see beauty and value in the neglected, the old and the unconventional. "Our house is exactly as we imagined it could be," she says. "It delights us to live here. It's been one big love story right from the start."..