October is the “month of residence” in the Netherlands. Magazines post beautiful editorials of houses. Interior design and inspiration are highlighted everywhere during this month. Normally there are large interior design fairs that have been canceled this year due to COVID-19. Because I’ve been spending so much more time at home recently, thought it would be nice to show you the place I call home.

Being at home more because of COVID-19, I thought it would be nice to make a special to show you where and how I live. I often use my home as a background in my pictures so many of you already seen my house on Instagram stories. I live with my husband and son in a suburb of Amsterdam. We bought this house built in1907 in 2015 from an elderly lady. Because it was in a terrible condition, we have renovated it for 6 months. That was the ideal opportunity to furnish the house entirely according to your own wishes and taste.

I was pregnant with Finn when we received the key to our new home. Our first plan was to move back to the center of Amsterdam. When I turned out to be pregnant, we decided to stay in the suburb. Financially this was also more interesting, here we could buy a mansion with a front and back garden within our budget. I have never regretted the house itself for a day. It is an oasis of “Dee” I have decorated every corner myself with the things that we have collected during our travels for many years.

I’m never worried about having enough inspiration. I’m worried that one lifetime will never be enough to execute it all.

I read this quote and realized how perfect it is for this season of my life. I love to play with my imagination, not only in my work as a photographer but also in my private life. I’m never worried about having enough inspiration. I’m worried that one lifetime will never be enough to execute it all. Begin at home more really triggers the “interior designer” inside of me…

If you ask me what my favorite places are in the house, they are the bedroom and the bathroom. I really like the atmosphere and the light in both rooms. And as a photographer, light is essential for my happiness.

We have designed the “cuckoo” as we call the window dome above the dining table to create more light in the living room’s dining area. The Dutch autumn and winter can be very rainy with short gray days. An extra window did not seem like a superfluous luxury to get extra light into the living room.

I love to collect. My furniture and accessories are both new and vintage. For example, the sofa in the living room is from the 1970s, and all lighting in the house is 1970’s Sciolari. All lamps have been collected over the years and found in the Netherlands and abroad. I love to come across a beautiful accessory during our travels and take stuff home as real treasures of memories.

As the 1907 house was last rebuilt in the 1970s by the previous owners, there was no bathroom in the house. We then decided to sacrifice a bedroom for the bathroom. We built a walk-in closet attached to the bathroom so that we didn’t have to place cupboards in our bedroom.

The attic is not finished yet, I didn’t get to the attic yet. Finn’s room is still a nursery from when we moved into the house and Finn was a baby. In the meantime, a cool boys’ room should be decorated because he turns 5 next month. So to be continued …