A bit of Morocco on Beacon Street

Instinct, after all, is what led Lazarus, a Manhattan lawyer, and Levin, a Boston optometrist, to move to the winelands of Cape Town more than 10 years ago, first to own and operate a guesthouse and then to build a successful career in property sales. (Lazarus is a native of South Africa.) Instinct is also what brought the couple to the Back Bay this past winter to open The Dream Merchants, their local real estate shop.

"We were starved for a bit of the culture," said Levin of the decision to dive into city living. "And then we came back to Boston, which is the city we love."

And instinct is what led the men to turn the front bedroom of their remodeled Beacon Street condo into the "Moroccan Room," a warm-toned, art-filled salon that serves as study, TV room, and home office.

"I think we knew we wanted this room to have a caravan-y, Moroccan feel," said Lazarus. "Very over the top - almost like you want to sit around in smoking jackets."

"Smoking opium," Levin added, with a laugh.

The room's mood is instantly established by the six iron lamps dangling from the 11-foot-high ceiling. Originally sourced from a collector in Cape Town, the fixtures hang from six random spots, and at six different heights. Come dusk, the lamps' amber glow warms the rustic orange color of the walls. "It's like a jewel," Lazarus said of the room at night.

The furniture layout, meanwhile, is pure Moroccan den. Two custom-made couches - one red and one orange - are piled with pillows, also custom made from wool and silk materials from Italian textile company Etro. The floors beneath the couches are layered with three patterned rugs.

In keeping with the color scheme, a huge yellow armoire sits against one wall, a Parisian flea market find that used to be in the couple's farmhouse kitchen in Franschhoek, one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It is filled with books about art, travel, cooking, and gardening.

An eclectic mix of paintings and photographs adorn the room, lending the space the additional air of an English sitting room. A seaside boat scene from Provincetown keeps company with portraits picked up in Paris, abstract pieces given to Lazarus by a client who couldn't pay his legal bills, and a striking oil portrait by South African artist Velaphi Mzimba done on a "canvas" of wood and tin.

Then there are the monkeys: two brightly colored ceramic simians, sourced from an art dealer in Cape Town, that sit on shelves mounted on either side of the room's flat-screen television.

"I love these because they were so whimsical," said Lazarus. "There's so much nonsense going on on TV, so it sort of sets the tone."

"Instead of watching CNN, we look at the monkeys," quipped Levin.

Despite the almost 8,000 miles distance, the couple transported all the room's contents without a single casualty thanks to the packing prowess of a South African shipping company.

"It was like unpacking Christmas presents," said Levin. The two self-admitted Type A's indeed celebrated Christmas in January, emptying 110 boxes over four days to set up the room, and indeed almost the entire apartment, in about a week.

Once settled in their new home, the duo spent the winter reclaiming the city, attending the theater over the river, dining in the South End, and shopping for homegoods in the antique shops of Beacon Hill.

But when they return home, they retreat to the Moroccan Room. For all of the room's ornamentation, Levin and Lazarus wanted it to remain inviting and accessible - to visitors, to real estate clients, even to the couple's two Weimaraners, Cleo and Zoe, South African expats who spent a recent afternoon dozing contently atop the room's beautiful rugs as Peggy Lee crooned through an in-ceiling sound system.

"I don't like people having to feel like they worry if they knock something over," Levin said.