Labour Of Love

Marjolein and Jankees bought an old vicarage nobody else wanted and rolled up their sleeves to turn it into a comfortable family home

Living room

‘The brick fireplace that was here looked too kitsch, so we plastered and painted over it and installed a woodburner. When we took up the ugly old carpet, we found this wonderful wooden floor.’

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If it hadn’t been for the cheerful optimism of her father-in-law, Marjolein de Gooijer and her husband, Jankees might well have passed up the opportunity to buy this former vicarage in the village of Helenaveen in the north of the Netherlands. ‘It had been up for sale for quite some time, with potential buyers losing interest when it became clear just how much work was involved,’ says Marjolein. ‘Luckily for us, Jankees’s father, who is a brilliant handyman, was with us when we viewed the place and his stock response was, “Sure, that can be done, no problem!” to every problem we encountered as we walked around.’

‘We could see that the place had great potential but, with hindsight, we didn’t realise just how much work it would involve, such as removing asbestos, replacing floors and getting rid of lots of Eighties-style brown tiles and paintwork,’ continues Jankees. ‘If we’d had to hire contractors, it would have been way too expensive. And besides, I enjoyed tackling such a big job with my dad.’