For a yr and a half, Aron de Jong and Irene Bijman devoted each weekend and lots of week nights, too, to engaged on their little home within the north of the Netherlands. They met as college college students—Aron, 27, is a product designer and Irene, 26, is a psychomotor therapist—and couple dreamed of proudly owning their very own place. An outdated farm employee’s bungalow match the invoice: sized for 2 (slightly below 700 sq. toes), it got here with a captivating two-toned brick façade and postage-stamp gardens in back and front—and was so fully run-down, they had been in a position to snap it up.
Aron stepped in as chief builder and Irene realized on the job, with backup from household and pals. “Elements of the ground had been rotten and over time, many house owners had added layer upon layer, inflicting issues with the construction, plumbing, and electrical energy. To provide the home a brand new life, we needed to take away the whole lot till we reached the core,” Aron tells us. “About 90 % of the work we did themselves: it was a gorgeous if typically lengthy and demanding journey.” (See some In Progress pictures on the finish.)
Aron himself got here to the mission with a lifetime of publicity to nice design: his father’s nice grandfather began Jan de Jong, a recent furnishings retailer in Leeuwarden, Friesland, that his mother and father run—he and his older brother are fifth-generation members of the staff. Studio Sluggish, the corporate’s workshop and inside design studio, a Remodelista favourite, is led by Aron’s mom Christien Starkenburg; she helped the couple give you a grasp plan for the renovation and consulted alongside the way in which. “As a result of they did the whole lot themselves—with a lot love, power, and dedication,” she says, “the end result feels profoundly private and proper.” We agree.
Images by and courtesy of Aron de Jong.
