As far as garages go, this one was pretty standard. At the base of a 1930s building in Amsterdam, the car park—formerly a hardware store—came with oil-stained concrete floors, fluorescent lighting, and reflective tape discouraging drivers from scraping the hefty pillars. Not exactly the makings of a warm and inviting family home, but Bart van Seggelen and Valérie Boerma, interior architects and founders of the design firm Barde + vanVoltt, thought differently.

What the couple saw were 1,075 square feet of open space and the opportunity for single-floor living: a rarity in Amsterdam. “Most apartments of 100-plus square meters [1,076 square feet] are narrow and have multiple floors,” says Valérie. In order to transform the garage into a composed family home—the couple live there with their two children, ages one and five—they took every opportunity to bring in natural light, starting right at the front door.

Before: Exterior

After: Exterior

The architects removed the roof over the rear of the garage and installed new framing to raise the ceiling heights. Five skylights are scattered across each of the kid’s rooms and the parents’ main suite, including one over their bathtub, and additional skylights punch through the hallway linking the bedrooms together.

Custom meranti wood-and-glass doors “keep the space as wide and open as possible,” says Valérie, so the family can “be connected to each other, and to get as much light in as possible.”

Before: Bedrooms

After: Bedrooms

Valérie sums up the home as “Californian ease–meets–Japanese tranquility.” To accomplish this, the pair used natural materials wherever they could, such as a clay coating on the walls and ceilings, walnut and limestone in the kitchen, and terra-cotta tile in the main bathroom. This backdrop lets “the details stand out,” says Valérie.

Those details—bespoke furnishings, favorite art pieces, and select lighting—create sculptural moments within the home, and nowhere is this more successful than in the kitchen. There, the firm installed walnut and hot-rolled steel cabinetry with a limestone counter and integrated sink, as well as a quartzite counter at the island. Above it, pendants from the Laurent Collection by Lambert & Fils make for artful contrast.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

In the bathrooms, steel Vieques fixtures designed by Patricia Urquiola are a cheeky nod to the home’s previously utilitarian life, and add an element of playfulness to the serene surroundings. “With our studio, we design interiors that translate a personality, a brand, or a lifestyle,” says Valérie. “Now, it was time to do this for ourselves. This shows who we are.”

Shop the Look

Before: Main Suite

After: Main Suite

After: Kids’ Bath

More Before & After:

An All-Too-’80s Condo Trades Its Popcorn Ceiling for a Chic Sunroom

A New Kitchen Celebrates the Curves of a Dome-Shaped Home in New York

Project Credits:

Architecture: Barde + vanVoltt, Valérie Boerma / @bardevanvoltt

Builder: Balut B.V.

Lighting Design: Super Modular

Interior Design: Barde + vanVoltt

Cabinetry Design: Zelf Design

Wall Finishing: Dofine

Other: Sjartec bathroom