Blokkendoos

An old village villa was transformed into a lively family home. During the complete renovation, Roel and Ruud quickly got rid of the brown tones from the 70s and replaced them with light, air and green.

Dream Big
‘Keep dreaming!’ The message from the passer-by was crystal clear. The house that Roel Vaessen was taking photos of at that moment had been for sale for about seven years. ‘He probably thought that the project was too much for that photographer with the shabby cap, both financially and structurally.’ Roel bursts out laughing when he mentions the incident. ‘What that man could not have known: the purchase had already been completed at that time.’

Nicotine Brown
Together with his partner, Ruud van den Akker, Roel bought the neglected building from 1883 five years ago. They knew what was in store for them. Years of overdue maintenance made a thorough renovation necessary. Nicotine had stained the white ceilings a questionable brown and the entire roof had to be removed due to wood rot. The monumental garden room was resurrected as a copy of the original. Roel: ‘Of course we consulted professionals beforehand. Architect Annemarike Hilberink of Hilberink Bosch has experience with the renovation of neglected buildings. She can see whether spaces have potential and can be saved.’ After a joint viewing, the green light was given. Ruud: ‘Although it is a good thing that you do not know in advance exactly what will come your way. That you throw yourself into such a project with vigour and rather naïvely.’

Plenty of Potential
Roel opens two thick photo albums. They meticulously document the steps in the renovation process. A brown sheen and a touchingly dated interior from the 60s and 70s may explain why this house was for sale for seven years, hidden between encroaching greenery and tall trees. But if you look beyond the boundaries of taste, you will also see interesting spaces with promising elements that estate agents like to praise as ‘authentic’. In addition to the spacious garden and the monumental villa character, there was also a practical reason to move from Den Bosch to nearby Rosmalen. Roel: ‘The mothers of our two children already lived there; a great advantage.’

Smooth Transition
The renovation itself took about a year. Roel: ‘A project like this only has a chance of success if you work together with like-minded, motivated people.’ They found them in Hilberink Bosch Architects, contractor Zandenbouw and Studio Woest, interior builders with a preference for raw, unprocessed materials and traditional craftsmanship. As co-founder (Roel) and general manager (Ruud) of the decorative, modular Ixxi wall system, Roel and Ruud drew on a broad local network of kindred creative minds. Roel: ‘We had our own ideas about how it should be and what was needed for that.’

Blokkendoos
Based on their own drawings and ideas, the layout, the color plan and custom furniture such as the kitchen island and the steel pivot doors were realized. A plan was made in consultation with the architect for two floors, together good for 220 m² of effective living space. A large kitchen was added at the back. Roel: ‘Annemarike pushed that new space through the house like a box.’ Furthermore, the ground floor has room for two living rooms and a garden room. On the other side of the entrance there is a children’s playroom and a workspace. Because the entire roof of the house had to be removed, the layout upstairs – with bathroom and bedrooms – could be changed drastically. Roel: ‘Fortunately, we were able to retain the crossbeams and the oak floor.’ Both floors were re-insulated with false walls, underfloor heating was installed under the trowelled concrete floor and the gas stove made way for induction cooking.

Colours and Shapes
As a counterbalance to the ‘somewhat stately, villa-like’ character of the house, a concrete floor was installed on the ground floor and a lot of green and grey tones were used. Many elements from ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Brabant appear in the interior. There are designs by the friendly designers Eric Sloot and Paulien Berendsen of Studio Parade (the other co-founders of Ixxi), Floris Hovers, Studio Boot and from the ceramics studio of Cor Unum. Thanks to his background as a graphic designer, Roel has a trained eye for colours, shapes and proportions. Ruud is the collector; he scours the country in search of vintage pieces such as a wooden sideboard, a weathered apothecary cabinet or a set of anonymous, painted portraits from the flea market.

On to the Next Project
Every dream comes to an end. This one even a lot earlier than expected or planned. Roel and Ruud have now left the village intermezzo behind them. Ruud: ‘The city continued to attract. On the edge of the centre of Den Bosch we were able to purchase a property with a large city garden. It is all a bit more compact, less villa-like than the house in Rosmalen. That was sold to enthusiastic buyers who were so charmed