The first thing you notice is the way wood and light are held together by the plan. A birch multiplex volume runs through the house like a structural block, while oak appears in the kitchen, TV unit, and the seating niche at the rear. Between those elements, the rooms stay open enough for long views, but they are never left vague. The result is a custom interior with wood and light that reads as one continuous composition, from the stair to the windows and back to the garden.

Custom interior with wood and light as a spatial starting point

Behind a characterful façade, the house has been completely reworked and rebuilt with natural materials wherever possible. The starting point was not to disguise the existing shell, but to clear it and make the new layout legible. That is visible in the way the edges of the house are treated almost like the contour of a sheet of paper: clean lines, clear boundaries, and enough room inside for bold moves. The project sits within a street of deep plots and old garden soils, where the rear land once helped feed the neighbourhood. That history is still present in the width of the garden and the depth of the site.

The interior does not rely on decoration to do the work. Instead, the surfaces carry the story. Birch multiplex forms the basis for the main facilities, and the material is used as a single stacked gesture rather than broken into small fragments. Staircase, toilet, storage and open shelving are folded into one compact volume. It gives the room a strong center and keeps circulation easy to read. The surrounding white walls and pale floor make the joinery appear even more precise, while the open plan leaves room for furniture and art to stand on their own.

Built-in wood cabinetry as the main structure

Oak is used where the rooms need a different tone or touch. The kitchen fronts, the television cabinet and the rear seating niche are all executed in oak, which gives those pieces a slower visual rhythm than the birch block beside them. At the back of the house, the window above the niche can rise high enough to connect directly with the outside. That gesture is simple but effective: the opening becomes part of the seating element, and the room pulls in daylight from the garden side without adding noise to the composition. This is built-in wood cabinetry doing more than storing things; it shapes how the home is used.

One of the clearest spatial moves is the staircase with built-in storage. It does not sit beside the plan as an extra object. It extends upward as a wall of treads, shelves and closed volumes, with book pockets worked into the structure. In the images, the stair reads almost like a piece of furniture scaled up to architecture. Color accents on the adjacent rail and openings keep the volume from feeling heavy, and the vertical route becomes an organizing line through the house. The effect is practical, but it also gives the interior a clear backbone.

A central fireplace with basalt tiles

At the middle of the living space, a stove acts as the linking point between the different rooms. Its back wall is finished with fire-resistant basalt tiles, a material with industrial origins that is valued here for its tough surface and dark presence. The contrast matters. Against the pale walls and wood joinery, the tiles hold the center of the plan without making it feel closed in. The fireplace back basalt tiles also bring a rougher texture into a house that otherwise relies on smooth timber and clean painted surfaces. It is one of the few moments where the material palette deliberately shifts toward something more tactile.

That contrast continues upstairs, where the wet zone divides the floor into front and back. Colored glass in steel details marks the boundaries on either side of the washbasin set in the open space. The glass is not just an ornament; it filters sightlines, keeps light moving, and gives the partition a distinct edge. Repeated in several places throughout the house, those glazed frames add definition without blocking views. From one room to the next, they act like thin, colored thresholds rather than full walls. Custom interior with wood and light remains connected to the layout, materials and daily use of the home.

Light, thresholds and rooms that stay connected

The upstairs layout makes careful use of height and visibility. The children’s bedroom sits at the front, with a hidden play nook above the wet zone. The parents’ bedroom connects directly to the future vegetable garden on the roof of the extension, so the room already points toward the next phase of the house. Exposed beams were left visible, which keeps the volume honest and makes the ceiling read as part of the architecture rather than as a hidden layer. In a house with limited space, that decision gives the upper floor more depth and a stronger sense of air.

Light comes through the home in framed slices. The colored steel and glass details appear at openings, around the wash area and in internal thresholds, and each one lets daylight travel further into the plan. The visual effect is subtle: a red edge here, a green return there, a clear pane where a solid wall might have been. These pieces work especially well against the white plaster and the pale floor, where even small color changes become legible. The house never leans on one large gesture; it builds its atmosphere from a series of precise interruptions.

Custom interior with wood and light as a spatial starting point

Outside, the deep garden remains an important part of the project. The wish to respect existing greenery and add new planting led to a garden atelier built around the existing tree. That move split the studio naturally into two parts and created a multi-use room with a clear relationship to the trunk and canopy. The structure does not compete with the tree; it wraps around it, leaving the growth visible and making the garden feel like a working part of the house rather than leftover ground. In the images, the rear edge is marked by timber fencing and a glazed overhang, which keeps the boundary light and readable.

The roofs of both the atelier and the extension have been prepared for a vegetable garden. From the bedroom window, that future planting is already part of the spatial idea of the home. The project does not claim the garden is finished; instead, it leaves room for it to come. That openness fits the rest of the house, where storage, circulation and open rooms are all handled with the same clarity. The result is a custom interior with wood and light that extends beyond the main volume and into the garden, without forcing the site into a fixed ending.

What holds everything together is the way the materials answer one another. Birch multiplex sets the base, oak softens the touch points, basalt anchors the center, and colored glass in steel keeps the rooms open to daylight. Even the art and furniture choices reinforce that palette without overpowering it. The house feels assembled from clear decisions rather than effects. Each room offers a different reading of the same idea: a rebuilt interior where wood, light, storage and garden space are allowed to do the work.

Photography: Mark Kuipers

Contributors: Brandt Bouw, Vincent Keijsers interieurbouw, Breg Hanssen keukenbouw, Lars van Westerop lichtadvies, Van Eeden constructies. Custom interior with wood and light remains connected to the layout, materials and daily use of the home.