RENOVATION PROJECT

This characterful home has brought the outside in with earthy colours, raw materials and sleek floor-to-ceiling windows

A Netherlands house has been reworked with raw finishes, earthy colours, beautiful brickwork and a thatched roof.

Marijke van Nunen’s home in the Netherlands is the perfect showcase for the beautiful artisanal products she sources for her interiors company, which distributes fabrics, accessories and furniture to the design world. ‘When customers of my firm visit from abroad, they stay here and get to see many of the pieces I sell in a real setting,’ says Marijke. Yet far from being a showhome, the Dutch property is a busy and characterful backdrop to family life – and a house that makes the most of its stunning setting.

A true Homecoming

Located in her hometown of Tilburg, the property became Marijke’s home in 2008. She moved in with her children, her husband Frank, whom she met when she returned to the Netherlands after living in Austria, and his children. The house was Frank’s and needed to be extended to accommodate a family of seven, so Marijke was tasked with transforming the modest property. An extension with three bedrooms was added, connected to the original house by a long corridor with floor-to-ceiling windows. The couple also had a conservatory with bifold doors built onto the back of the house to make the most of the surrounding greenery. The verdant plot on which the house stands was once part of a large garden belonging to a mansion house. Frank’s father owned the mansion and divided the garden between several of his children, enabling them all to live closely.

back to nature

An admirer of the use of colour in British homes, Marijke went against prevailing Dutch interior fashions when decorating. ‘For a long time the trend in Dutch homes was to use only grey, white, black and beige,’ she says. ‘People didn’t dare to do anything different, but I like to think outside the box.’ Earthy paint choices, mixed by Marijke herself, range from sea greens to inky blues. Art and antiques around the house have been curated for maximum impact, too. ‘These are often the starting point for a scheme,’ Marijke says. One of her favourite displays is the grouping of 22 fish head sculptures in the corridor. Nature is a major influence in all of Marijke’s design choices, with the house connecting to the garden seamlessly through the extensive glazing she introduced. Windows are mostly left bare of dressings so that the elegantly lit garden can be seen at night. An extraordinary and unique interior, any visitor to Marijke’s home will be intrigued by each room they pass through.