House Of Fun

Using white as a backdrop to splashes of bold colour, Bea Kroeze transformed a dark and dated property into a cheerful family home

- Emma Love

Bea Kroeze and her partner, Remon, were already on the hunt for a larger home in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden, when they saw that a four-bedroom period corner terrace that Bea had fallen in love with as a child was for sale. ‘Growing up, I lived in the Old Town a block away and I used to call this property the Pippi Longstocking house because it looked like the kind of home she would live in,’ says Bea, a secondary school teacher.

Once inside the house, she and Remon knew instantly that it was the one for them. ‘The kitchen and bathroom dated from the Sixties, there were four layers of wallpaper, lots of brown paint and dark carpets, but we could see past all that,’ she says. ‘All the original elements – the ornamental high ceilings, French doors, stone fireplaces, stained glass windows and carved wood banisters – were still there.’