BEAUTY TODAY

The transformation of the dilapidated monument was a tough one. But after 22 months of hard work, the building has been restored to its former glory. Even better, the centenarian lady has become a contemporary beauty with a mouth-watering interior...

"This house has cost us blood, sweat and tears" We really wanted to live here, but we had incredibly misjudged how much work it would take to fix it up. When we decided to live here over two years ago, we knew it would be a big job because it was in very bad condition. We thought we could do it in a year and within a certain budget. It turned out to be 22 months of full-time work for a permanent team of seven people, joined by various specialists. It ended up costing us three times more than we had budgeted.

Millimetre work

The monumental building has four floors and a large basement. A hundred years ago, it was built for a director of an insurance company, with his office on the ground floor. The current owners use the property in the same way. On the first floor is a room-and-suite, on the second floor are the master bedroom with Poliform dressing room and bathroom, and upstairs is a large loft-like space where residents spend a lot of time, especially in the winter months. "If you look around now, you have no idea what a terrible ruin it was," he says. With great respect for the building and its history, we have preserved and restored the old details such as the marble, stucco and en-suite doors." "Truly every millimetre has been addressed here."

Finished

Lars Temmink of Byron & Jones Interiors was involved in the project from the very beginning. "We have known Lars for a long time and trust his exquisite taste blindly. When he first saw the house, he was very honest: 'What are you getting into? Only to guide us enthusiastically afterwards. We didn't make a single decision without Lars. This was such a big project, you really can't do it alone. It was a pleasure to work everything out together. I am a big fan of natural colours but because of Lars and because the house is so big, I dared to choose bold colours. I am so happy with it now, otherwise it might have been a bit boring. My husband and I always say: either we do it right or we don't. This house is extremely well done, we saved this property from destruction. And how grateful and happy we are to live here. It's a wonderful house.