A thatched roof sets the tone before the plan reveals itself. Behind it, an older holiday home was reworked into a forest villa with a different spatial rhythm and a fresh exterior expression. The renovation changed both the appearance and the layout, with rooms reorganized around larger openings, higher volumes, and longer views toward the trees.

From compact holiday house to a larger forest villa

The transformation starts at the shell. Part of the house was rebuilt, and that intervention made room for a double-height living area where the living room, dining room, and kitchen now sit under one taller volume. The shift is easy to read from inside: the ceiling rises, the wall surfaces open up, and the interior gains a sense of breadth without losing the direct connection between functions. It is a home renovation that is visible in the section as much as in the floor plan.

Outside, the materials set a quieter rhythm. The thatched roof softens the outline of the building, while the changed color palette of the masonry, window frames, and casements gives the house a different presence among the trees. Black-framed openings contrast with the pale brickwork, and the larger panes pull the exterior toward the interior. The result is less about decoration than about proportion, line, and the way the volumes meet.

A double-height living area shaped by light and height

The double-height living area carries the main living spaces, but it is the vertical space that changes the experience most. Wooden beams are visible overhead, and the height makes the furnishings read more clearly against the walls and windows. A fireplace anchors one side of the room, while round and oval ceiling lights trace a line across the upper volume. The room feels determined by structure rather than by ornament.

Large glazing strengthens that effect. Daylight reaches deep into the living and dining zone, and the extra height gives the glass frontage room to work. The openings are not just wide; they are tall enough to frame the surrounding greenery and keep the interior tied to the trees outside. From the dining table and the seating area, the view runs straight through the room, past the panes and into the landscape beyond.

Wood, glass, and the rhythm of the ceiling

The ceiling details matter because they hold the scale of the space together. Exposed timber runs across the upper volume, and the lighting sits in a series of rings and ovals rather than as a single central fixture. That repeated form cuts across the height of the room and keeps the long interior from feeling empty. The wood floor below, laid in a herringbone pattern, adds another layer of direction to the space.

Seen together, the beams, the glazing, and the fireplace give the double-height living area a clear order. Nothing is overworked. The materials are allowed to read plainly: dark metal at the hearth, pale wall surfaces around it, timber above, and glass along the edge. It is the kind of room where the section does most of the work, and where the daylight changes the atmosphere throughout the day.

The copper roof dormer that cuts into the roofline

A generous dormer was integrated into the taller part of the house, and its copper roof gives the roofscape a new break in material and color. Under that dormer, an extra-high opening brings daylight into the upper volume and opens the view further out. The dormer is not treated as an added object; it is part of the rebuilt composition, sitting within the roof and extending the sense of height inside the house.

As copper weathers, it darkens toward a brown tone. That change was part of the design thinking here, because the metal is meant to sit naturally beside the thatched roof rather than compete with it. The relationship between those roof surfaces is important: soft reed above, folded metal at the dormer, and then the updated masonry below. Together they redraw the house without erasing its rural character.

Glass set below the dormer

The extra-high glazing beneath the dormer does more than admit light. It creates a vertical link between the room and the treeline outside, giving the living and dining area a stronger sense of depth. The opening is tall enough to read as an architectural move, not just a window. From within the house, the effect is immediate: brighter surfaces, longer sightlines, and a clear connection between the upper volume and the garden beyond.

That combination of dormer and tall glazing also changes how the roof is experienced from outside. The copper detail sits within the thatch rather than beside it, and the darkening metal will continue to shift against the lighter roof surface. It is a small but decisive interruption in the roofline, one that gives the house a more articulated profile in the trees.

A garden with water features, shaped to the edge of the woods

The setting around the house was also reworked. The grounds now form a gently contoured garden with lush planting and water features, partially enclosed by natural woodland. The terrain is not flattened into a formal lawn. It rises and falls subtly, and that movement lets the planting, paths, and water surfaces sit in a looser arrangement around the house. Stone paving near the façade marks the transition between interior and garden.

What stands out is the feeling of enclosure without isolation from the landscape. The estate lies tucked into the forest, and the garden uses that condition rather than fighting it. Trees edge the plot, water catches the light, and the paths move between planted borders and hard surfaces. The result is a setting that lets the renovated house sit back into the woodland edge, with the thatched roof, tall windows, and open rooms all tied to the same quiet surroundings.

Partners
Builder: Bouwbedrijf Van Rijn, Houten
W installer: Installatietechniek Rijnhuis, Houten
E installer: FUSE elektrotechniek, Ede