Two architects talk about their perfect renovation | NOW

Now that we are glued to the house, you may start to itch and you want to renovate your home. Especially now the RTL program The perfect renovation leads to enthusiasm and inspiration. These architects speak of a special mission in their career in which the house in question has been completely transformed.

Fundament Architectuur architect Gabriël Korenhof took part in the renovation of a characteristic but cute 1950s house in Winterswijk. “A young family with two children lived in the house, but it was getting too crowded. The children wanted a place to play games and the laundry was in the living room.”

“He had to become one, with the main house as the main protagonist,” Korenhof explains. “We used an extension with a thick wall on the right side of the house. Not at the back, as we wanted to preserve the garden as much as possible.”

The extension is on the right side of the house to preserve the spacious back yard.

Reinforce points of interest to make it a whole

To make it a whole, the points of attention that make the house so beautiful have been reinforced. “We did this by inspecting the brown house (finished with mineral paint, editor’s note) with a white tint and painting the characteristic accents in a different color, such as the front door frame and windows.

In addition, the contrast between the old and the new is very subtly accentuated by a cool gray color on the extension.

The extension is subordinate to the main house.

“ It was not such a dollhouse ”

The owners have gained around 16 square meters with the extension. In total, the house is now 160 square meters. “It wasn’t such a dollhouse to begin with,” Korenhof admits.

The extension offers space for a TV and games room. The entire ground floor has also been renovated.

The extension offers space for a TV and games room.

‘The long window strips are a nice detail’

The two long window strips with a noose are a special detail of the extension. A negge is the space between the masonry and the front of the frame. “It’s a nice detail, as the noose gives the windows a larger optical appearance and the sloped edges allow the evening sun to penetrate deep into the house.”

The contractor’s costs for the extension amounted to around 125,000 euros, Korenhof estimates. But then you are not there yet, because the floors, kitchen and bathroom have also been addressed in this house.

A couple had big renovation plans

In 2011, the architect Katrien Koppers of Katrien Koppers Architectuur was responsible for the renovation of a large house in Bunnik. “The house had just been bought by a couple from Utrecht. And they had big renovation projects, ”Koppers says.

“They liked the spacious yard and patio. But they liked the narrow kitchen, the small dining room and the lack of light less. They wanted to solve this problem by building on.

The architect Katrien Koppers renovated the gigantic Bunnik patio house.

“ The interior and the exterior are more closely related ”

Bunnik’s house was extended with two verandas with glass walls and glass ceilings: one in the back yard and one in the patio (yard). The architect thus brought a lot of light.

“The interior and exterior are much more connected. We wanted more contact with the beautiful backyard and we got it right.”

The old situation.

Raise the roof to lighten the house

Before the renovation, the house was somewhat dated, in part due to the low ceilings and dark window frames. This is why the roof has been raised, which generally makes a house more spacious and lighter.

For example, the dining room, which residents thought was too small and dark, became much deeper and taller. An important adjustment was the painting of the window frames. The extension offers an additional 40 square meters.

The ceilings were raised and the dining room became deeper thanks to the extension.