We bought a house from 1685 and this is the story

Read along and see how we transform a small monumental building into our colourful dream home.

We were actually looking for something completely different. A ground-floor apartment in Arnhem, with a garden for the dog. Practical, manageable, close to everything we already knew. We had scheduled a viewing for a house with, let's just say, a meh-factor.

We were already standing outside it. On the pavement in Arnhem, ready to go in. And then I showed it to Tieme.

A house right in the historical centre of Doesburg. Beams, a fireplace, and one of those typical front doors you immediately want to walk through.

To be honest, I'd been holding onto it for a while. After seeing the photos, I was so enthusiastic I could barely contain myself, but I didn't dare show it. Doesburg. A National Monument. Built in 1685. While we were about to view a house in Arnhem.

Tieme was immediately enthusiastic too. But then comes the real question… not whether the house is beautiful, because that was obvious. The question was the location. Doesburg. A town neither of us was very familiar with yet. Do we really want that? To live in a town we barely knew?

But yes.

The perfect place

What we were looking for was actually very specific: a place located right between our worlds, with a bustling centre. Just a place with life on the streets.

Doesburg turned out to be exactly that. A Hanseatic city with a market, charming shops, and terraces just around the corner. Right between our worlds, yet a world unto itself.

We called

We called. There was only one viewing slot left that they could squeeze in. We took it.

The viewing perhaps lasted fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes through rooms with centuries-old beams, past that fireplace, through the hallways of a house that knew the city centre before there was a centre. And then we were outside.

We didn't have to think about it for long. We were both so enthusiastic that the question was actually answered before we even asked it. We’re going to make an offer.

But what offer? And how much can we actually borrow?

That was the moment when romance briefly gave way to the calculator. We knew what we felt. We just didn't yet know what it was going to cost.

The purchase agreement

It happened quickly. Very quickly. Before we could properly think it through, a provisional purchase agreement was on the table. Provisional, but to us, nothing about it felt provisional. This was it.

3 August That's when the transfer takes place. That's when the beams are ours, the fireplace is ours, the front door is ours. That's when it really begins.

What to expect here

In the coming months, I'll take you along for everything. How to choose colour for a monumental building. What happens when a renovation doesn't go quite as planned, and which shops I find the best items in.

We're not going for safe white.

We're counting down to 3 August. We're dreaming, planning, scrolling through Pinterest, and changing our minds about the coffee table every week. This is the stage where everything is still possible, and honestly, for me, that's the most enjoyable part of the whole process.