Mayke's site, our home

Living

Our little house in Apeldoorn

Inspection 1996

When Jerry and I had been living at the Waterloseweg for two years, Martyn came back from England and was back in the house. So Jerry and I decided to buy our own house. It was November 1996. We inspected four houses, all in our price range, but all of them needed some alterations, we would need money to carry them out... The fifth one was a small white house in the centre, built in 1924. The arrangement was in to meet in the lunch break, so Jerry and I duly arrived, each in our own car. The estate agent had not yet arrived, but the occupant let us in. He told us that his wife had died and that was going to live with his new woman friend. And the house had been the property of her parents.

The kitchen faced the back garden, the main living room faced onto the street. The kitchen was light, deal with cream-coloured doors. A nice corner kitchen, just four cupboards under the worktop and one corner cupboard above, as the rest of the space was taken up by a cooker and a refrigerator. The floor was covered with linoleum with a tiled print. The living room had a chimney breast of dark oak and stone strips, with a nice gas fire in it. The suspended ceiling also had dark beams across the width of the room, and the doors were dark oak. There was a beige carpet on the floor.

The estate agent arrived. We did not have our own agent. He showed us round the house. The front door opened into a long corridor, which previously led past the doors of two rooms to the stairs. The door to the front room had been sealed, so there was space for a long hat rack. This was going to left in the house, so we could have it. The ceiling in the corridor was the original height; the one in the living room had been lowered. The wall between the old front and rear rooms was no more, but the hearth was still there where it had previously had to heat both rooms. The agent pointed out the gas heaters in the kitchen and in front of the front window, there was no central heating boiler!

The top floor was directly under the roof. Two front rooms had been turned into one, and two walls constructed to create a spare room at the back of the house. The landing went past that room to give access to a built-in cupboard, so that the landing was L-shaped. The small room was 2 x 2 metres. The large bedroom was on the street side of the house. A cupboard had been made to box in the chimney and there was a wall unit with three cupboards and a washbasin. One of the cupboards had no back, so you could reach behind all three and the washbasin to stow things away. There was no attic, so that was all the storage space there was. There was no heater in the bedroom, a gas heater on the landing was all there was. No double glazing, and the roof insulation that the estate agent mentioned turned out to consist of some glass wool spread on the ceiling. There was no bathroom on the first floor, and the house had been built without even a shower! When showers became compulsory a part of the kitchen had been separated off by a wall to create a place for a shower and a washbasin, and this was called the shower room. The washing machine was in the kitchen. Above the kitchen there was a spacious balcony on the flat roof, covered with gravel.

The upper half of the house was white with an orange roof. The house stands shoulder to shoulder with the neighbouring house. They were the two smallest houses in the street, in the rest of the street there were larger detached houses! There was a small front garden, a driveway to the back, where there was a carport, and behind that a garden shed. 80% of the garden was laid to lawn, the low wall between the two gardens was thickly covered in ivy (Hedera), and at the end there was a thick row of conifers that had grown far too high. Here was a streetlamp in the garden, and there were washing lines above the lawn and some also under the carport. In the front garden there was a small conifer in front of the front door (that was evidently never used) and a large rose bush. At the side of the house along the driveway there was a Pyracantha (firethorn), a Clematis, and a Honeysuckle, all so big that they reached the gutter. All this came with the house.

Moving August 1997

After completing the inspection we said goodbye to the agent and the owner, and both sat in my car. We looked at each other... "Shall I just buy it?” I asked. "Do it", said Jerry. And that was that. 17 December 1996 we had bought the house. Delivery was not until August 1977, but that was not so bad, as it gave us a chance to get organized. In the meantime we were indeed offered all sorts of (dark oak!) furniture, wall units, a dresser, a settee and a chair that did not match each other, and pans, towels… and so on. A bed was one thing we already had. Op 1 August we received the keys. Jerry and his father added the extra bit of the L-shaped landing to the spare bedroom by moving a wall. The built-in cupboard had to go, but as a result the room became 2 x 3.5 metres, and was more usable. The piece of the ceiling that was added was temporarily made using left-over laths. In the meantime my mother and I had cleaned all the floor coverings downstairs. The hall and the kitchen were painted white. The new spare room had to be papered. And that was it... On 9 August we moved in with our collection of furniture.

1997-1999 met Jerry

The conifer that stood at the front of the lawn came out and we used the resulting hole to create a small pond. The conifer in front of the front door also had to go. After all, we were going to use the front door (my dancing equipment was in the hall and the car was outside near the door… so using the front door was the shortest route!), but in order to walk straight from the door through the garden and onto the street, part of a low wooden fence had to be sawed out. I made a short path from gravel tiles. All the other plants in the garden were cut back drastically, especially the Hedera (ivy), which had grown to approximately 1 metre in width, whereby the garden appeared larger. A start was made on cutting down the row of conifers, but we did not get further than two of them. The shed was equipped with a useful workbench. In December 1997 we found and sowed the curtains, a present from my grandmother. We chose for dark blue velvet. We had various options for a sitting room table, from a blanket chest to a small table from recycled goods shop. There were also various TV cabinets to choose from, and we tried the TV on all sides of the room. We were also offered a jukebox, which meant a place had to be found for that as well, and all of this fairly well filled the room. And this is how we lived there for the first two and a half years.

2000 and 2001 alone

In 2000 Jerry and I separated, and on 1 March he went back to his parents. He took the wall unit and bed and bedside cupboards with him, as well as the settee and chair. So I kept the dining table, the small dresser, and the jukebox, and everything that was in the spare room (spare bed and computer desk).

But because of the renewal of the mortgage (paying a lower premium and borrowing more money was possible), a building fund of 50,000 became available to us. With that money we were going to install central heating and double glazing in the house in March 2000... what timing. Jerry left, and I had to surrender the money for the building fund in order to lower the mortgage such that I could just pay it on my own. Luckily my dear mother also saw the benefit of central heating and double glazing, and offered to pay the bill for this! So everything went ahead. First the window frames. Plastic! Old one out, new ones it, it took place in no time. A new balcony door and the bargeboards were also replaced by plastic ones. Nice new windowsills. Then the ground floor had to be finished off inside, and they asked me if I wanted to keep the extra built-in wooden wall in the lounge. That had been done long ago for isolation, because at that time people assumed that the cold came through the (cavity) walls. If it could be removed, now was the time! It would only differ by five centimetres for two walls, but it would look neat. So I said “Yes” and then the whole business began in earnest! They only removed the edges, just enough to fix the window frames to the original stone wall the next day. But... now the wall had to be completely removed before the heating arrived! A friend of mine came to help and pulled all the wood from the wall... The suspended ceiling was now too short... and the floor covering too short.... the wall was covered with holes from the large nails by which it had been fixed, and the skirting boars and wallpaper were of course removed. The electric cables had been between the outer wall and the inner one so they now hung loose, and the electricity sockets were also loose. An in a few days he came to install the heating... What a mess!

The cabling was sunk into the wall with a grinder, he mounted the electricity sockets neatly in the wall, he was to come again to fix the ceiling, but there was no hurry. He pulled the rest of the skirting boards of, leaving gaping holes, and recommended that I find a plasterer quickly, before the radiators and pipes got in the way of the plastering of the walls. Luckily I managed to find one! The entire room was plastered, and we also managed to put up the new wallpaper for the lounge where the radiators were to be! Wow, urgent work done and successfully completed! Now the central heating could be installed and, yes, inescapably a new floor or floor covering.

A central heating boiler was mounted in the kitchen on the shower wall, and radiators installed in every room. It was all done very neatly, with all the pipes hidden away in the walls where possible. After that, we finished off the wallpapering and the friend laid the laminate floor for me. My father came with his drill and helped me hang up three new wall lights and some pictures. Do then I had a nice, clean and new lounge. I did not want to replace the wall unit, but I did need a settee, and one was obtained from the recycling good shop, but it was not nice enough as a permanent piece of furniture, more of an emergency solution. I also obtained a temporary table and for the time being, it would do. My new brother-in-law went to live with my sister, so I could get a bed and other practical things from them. And I still have Jerry’s magazine rack...

My house was also given a new gutter and a drainpipe next to the back door. Two other drainpipes still had to be replaced, and the roof-gutter of the carport also had to be replaced again. The Hedera was made even smaller so that the pretty little wall in the garden was then visible. My mother once had a serious attack on the Firethorn, which was sawn off just above ground, and while she was at it, she also attacked the remaining conifers. They were finally gone! In the summer of 2000 I put a row of shrubs between the remaining stubs. That was a good idea! To the left and right I planted a lilac, in between a mountain currant, a Japanese flowering cherry and two forsythias. I also tried a flowering currant, but each time it died. The honeysuckle by the back door was replaced by a red climbing rose. On the balcony I really wanted a closed balustrade, and a friend made that for me. Unfortunately because of an error in the construction it was very weak and you could not lean against it. Because of this I unfortunately could also not hang any flower boxes from it...

2002-2006 with Stefan

I got to know Stefan via a dating site. He owned his house in Eindhoven. So also the complete contents. After about a year he moved to Apeldoorn and moved in with me. His furniture was disposed of or went into storage but some things he brought with him; for example he thought my bed was too small so his replaced mine. His display case also had to have a place, and his large mirror. As far as the rest of the house contents went, we took over the best everything we had two of (his coffee machine, his deep frying pan, his medicine cabinet, his TV, his stereo, my video en his DVD-player). The cupboard on the landing was replaced by his cupboards and also the cupboards in the bedroom. Together we chose a new definitive settee with two chairs as well. Stefan's shelving was put in the garden shed, handy for the flowerpots.

Stefan and I put new wallpaper up in the hall. For this we removed the stair rail, such that it could not be put back. So we would fit a new one. The old rail lay in the carport for years, and was only got rid of when a new one was fitted. In the summer of 2004 we started renewing the upstairs rooms, as in the bedroom there was still the wallpaper and carpeting from the previous owner, and in the spare room everything had become so shoddy at everything needed replacing. First I painted the ceiling white and painted the window frames. Also painted the yellow bed a dark red. When pulling off the old wallpaper parts of the wall came with it (old house, often happens), so it had to be plastered again. This time my father took care of it, as he wanted to gain some experience. We had chosen blue carpeting and yellow wallpaper. The curtains and the bed were the same colour red, the same as the skirting boards. Everything looked very nice with the yellow-red covers that we already had.

The spare room needed a new ceiling, as it was still the shambles from the rebuilding in 1997! My father and Stefan did that together, and I painted it white. Then the room was equipped with new floor covering, wallpaper and curtains. And Stefan made bookshelves and a nice desk across the entire width of the room so that you could sit there with two persons. One behind the computer, the other at the sewing machine!

In the summer of 2005 our white house got a new orange roof. This time with roof insulation! Now the roof tiles projected over the edge of the walls so the plastic bargeboards (which were not exactly an asset) were also gone! The balcony was also improved again so that the gravel was finally gone! Now it was possible to make nice wooden terrace, something I had always wanted. And put the washing line back! In the meantime Stefan had broken down the wall between us and the neighbour as he thought it was standing too crookedly. More than six months later my father finally built a new one. Stefan had also dug up the legs of the carport and raised them a certain amount, as they had sunk into the ground considerably.

2007 alone again

Stefan and I separated in the autumn of 2006. Stefan bought a house in Nijmegen and retrieved all his furniture that was in storage. His bed, the upstairs cupboards, the mirror, the display case, the medicine cupboard, coffee machine, deep frying pan, TV, DVD player and the stereo all went with him, together with everything we had bought during that time, the computer, laptop, electric toothbrush, digital camera, the media player, the GPSs (yes, both... after all “paid for by him!"), and the 1936 Hillman Minx. So again I had a fairly lengthy shopping list! With a present from my grandfather and my own savings, off I went, and bought a nice flat screen TV to put on the wall, a digital single lens reflex camera, a new computer, an electric toothbrush, a coffee machine, deep frying pan, two new mattresses and slats, a duvet, two pillows, new bed linen, two nice paintings for the lounge, and a standard lamp. I bought a mirror and a shelf and racks for the bathroom and my father helped me to hang them up. I found a suitable cupboard for the landing in the recycled goods shop, and bought two new nightstands and a small dressing table for the bedroom. My father made a bed for me, exactly the same colour red and very beautiful! So then everything had been replaced and was newer and nicer than it had been! Especially the TV that no longer stood a on a small cupboard, but nicely out of the way, hanging on the wall. Six months later my grandfather gave me some more money so that I was able to purchase a laptop, a pocket camera and GPS. The only thing that I still hadn’t got was a DVD player. That would have to wait. The contents of our vacation home in Nunspeet had to be picked up and shared out because it was going to be pulled down, and at my request I was able to have the picnic table for the terrace!

And the house is now worth twice as much as when we bought it....

2008 Marco

On the 5th of December 2007 I came across a driver in our warehouse. Our interest in each other quickly became apparent and he became a regular visitor. His house was having some renovations done, he was getting a new kitchen and was himself going to change a wall and fit some piping. You get the picture, he was very handy! He looked cheerfully around my house and offered to help with the improvements. Just say what you want done first. Well, I certainly knew that! From the day of buying the house I still needed new shelves in the stair cupboard. I never dared to ask Stefan to organize them, because he would want to make everything from “bits of wood that he still had lying around, I preferred to have everything neat and tidy. In February 2008 Marco went to work, and in one day I had a completely new organised stair cupboard, exactly as I wanted it! He helped me with a new door for the shower, as the old one was totally rotten at the bottom. In the summer a new stair rail arrived via my father (we had done without one for six years) and he helped with the mounting. He fixed the new washbasin in the bedroom. And at the end of the summer he began whitewashing the house, together with his father. The kitchen wall on the garden side is a beautiful white and equipped with new drainpipes. After that flowerpots were hung on the house, the new wall and under the carport. The following year the balcony was given a wooden terrace! Yes! We were able to come by a nice wooden set of garden furniture. Then my grandfather gave me another present. Time for new carpeting on the staircase. It still had the sturdy red carpet that was on it when we bought the house. In the kitchen, too, there was still the linoleum with the floor tile print. We chose the same floor covering for the hall, but that was no longer available in red, so we chose brown. In the kitchen we chose for new, strong vinyl with a print resembling more modern floor tiles. It suited so well that it seemed we had taken a cupboard door with us to the shop to find it. Before they came to lay it we quickly painted the skirting board and the doorpost in the hall. And that was the beginning of a lot more painting work.

In the summer of 2009, when I was pregnant, we laid a new terrace in the garden, with nice, large white tiles. We also laid some under the carport. After that the wall of the spare room was knocked down so that together with the landing there was a large space. Unfortunately the ceiling came was too low, so again a small section of wall had to be replaced, which is now at the foot end of our bed The shaky built-in cupboard was replaced by a nice, larger, walk-in cupboard, with shelves left and right for our clothes, and bookshelves on the front. We do not have any hanging space there any more - it is all in Joeri’s room. But the bed fits perfectly with space to walk next to it on either side. On my side of the room there is still the large desk that Stefan made, but it needs to be made a little smaller. The opening to the landing we can close off with curtains. There is new floor covering, the same as on the stairs. Joeri’s room has also been fitted with new, blue carpet.

In the spring of 2010 the garden shed was made larger, as it was not big enough for the buggies and children’s bicycles. And the lawn was sunken – now it has been dug up and re-laid at a higher level so that it is possible for a child’s bicycle to ride around in the garden. The pond has been moved to the back of the garden. We laid turfs, and in the front garden, too, there is now a small lawn with the rose bush nicely in the centre.

The plastic window frames turned out in the meantime not to be strong enough to support the facing bricks. Enormous cracks appeared above the frames. The windows in Joeri’s room were also not suitable for a child’s room, they had no upper windows. So when we had saved enough money, in January 2001 we were able to have the windows on the first floor replaced by – yes, wooden frames. Joeri’s room has two casement windows with two small windows above them, and we again have a new balcony door with a window above it. Marvellous! All in all, the house is becoming the way we want it. It is small and somewhat confined, but cosy and convivial. I am still happy and lucky in my little house and with all my possessions. And Marco makes it complete, he fits in here like no other.