They Transformed Their Dark, Dated 1939 House for $70K

Melissa and Ruben got the keys to this 1939-era house in November of 2016, and moved in officially in February 2017. And since then, they’ve added a ton of color, whimsy, and clever design ideas in the Rotterdam-based space that’s also home to kids Sam (11) and Bo (6).

“When we first saw the house, we fell in love instantly with the round front door. When we walked through it, we immediately felt: this is our house. There were also a lot of old details left that we loved, like the stained windows,” begins Melissa.

It’s those old details — and the history of the home — that the family really loves. “Before us, there were nuns living in this house. It was owned by a church. You could see it by all the crosses that were still in the house, and all the wiring through the house. It turned out that all the nuns had their own room with their own cable phone,” she explains.

But while the family loved the quirks, they didn’t love that it looked so old and had what Melissa describes as “grandma style,” with dark woods and lots of beiges and browns. There were “no colors,” Melissa writes. “And in the bathroom there was a stool and handle to shower. It was all clean and neat, but aged.” 

Today, the home is the opposite of dark, brown, and dated. It’s light. It’s colorful. It’s “Scandinavian, with a vintage touch,” Melissa writes. “And playful.” She says nothing was designed according to any rules — it is “just what feels right for us.”

Amazingly, they’ve made many of the things in the home themselves. “We love DIY,” Melissa admits. “That also means that sometimes it is not fully perfect. But it makes it ours.” 

When renovating, Melissa says they had a must-have list and a nice-to-have list. “We thought we would have to make some tough choices — for example, between having a herringbone floor and a fireplace — but in the end, we managed to include everything we wanted,” she explains.

“To make that possible, we did cut costs in certain areas, such as the plastering. Looking back, that’s probably one of the things I would do differently next time. We also did a lot of the work ourselves to save money.”

Although the family still works on home projects even to this day, the “finished” result of the home is a highly personal space that reflects the people living in it. “I am proud of all the things we made ourselves. It always starts with an idea and when that idea turns out to actually work and look great, that is amazing,” she writes.

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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