Welcome to my home

“Before, we lived in a detached house, but now we prefer city life”

Caroline Thijssen lives here with her husband Auke. They have two children in their twenties. Caroline is an interior designer and Auke is a managing director.

THE PROPERTY

A three-bedroom converted warehouse built in about 1890, in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

THE VALUE

Bought for €550,000 and renovated for around €200,000. It’s now worth more than €1million.

Moving to this converted warehouse signalled a life change for Caroline and Auke Thijssen, who were considering a move back into the centre of Arnhem after their children left home.

‘I had an appointment with the owners because they were selling up and wanted to hire me to design the interior of their new house,’ says Caroline. ‘When I saw this house, I decided to sell our current house, and renovate this one. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had. Our detached house with a garden was nice when the children were young, but we craved city life.

‘The building was old and lovely, but very dated and dark inside. I planned the renovation myself, including creating two rooftop gardens. The ceilings were so low, I decided to break open the ceiling in the kitchen with a 50sq m opening. We installed a glass railing around the upper level, which keeps the space feeling open and light.

‘The biggest project was knocking out the back wall to put in full-height glass and steel doors. We had to wait four months for the doors to arrive, and the delay meant that we had a big hole in the house for a month, during which it rained a lot! We used a blue plastic sheet to cover the hole, which made the interior of the house look blue.’

‘When it came to decorating the interior, my style is to use new design and old pieces – and dare to mix them. Lots of built-in storage means the rooms can be kept uncluttered, and it helped that as we were downsizing, we gave a lot of our stuff to friends, family and our children!’

‘The kitchen’s great for entertaining – we often have people there drinking a glass of wine – and in the winter we get together around the fire in the sitting room upstairs. Visitors to the house always say they want to buy it!’