A Home Το Treasure

An old villa is now Giulia and David Bos’ forever home after a very big and very smart makeover

- By Seán O’connell/Geraldine Nesbitt

HOME TRUTHS

THE PROPERTY Detached villa, built in 1911

LOCATION Blaricum, the Netherlands

ROOMS Sitting room, dining area, kitchen, morning room, snug, five bedrooms (one en suite), two bathrooms

PURCHASED 2017 PREVIOUS PROPERTY 'Before this, we lived in a self-build nearby,' says Giulia.

Giulia and David Bos had rightly felt proud of the house they had built in the northern Netherlands but they still yearned for a place with history and character. And their wishes were granted when they found a beautiful 110-year-old villa nearby. It had a wealth of original features including latticed bay windows and French doors as well as unexpected niches around every corner.

'We first saw the house on a spring day and coming up the driveway we were enchanted by a sea of green surrounding the property,' says Giulia. We only had to step through the door and we knew it was the one for us. The next day we put in an offer.'

RENOVATION PLANS

Charming though the house looked, it needed lots of work, as well as extending to suit the needs of the couple and their children Jasmijn, II, Valentijn, nine, and Nova, five.

'I was determined to respect the feel of the house and fuse it with a contemporary style,' says Giulia.

And because the exterior is listed, everything they did had to be done through the right channels.