My Atelier | atelierspruitenburg

My previous Atelier...

After living twenty-six years in the village Oude Wetering, and being homeless for a year, I eventually found my place in Haarlem. A lovely city from which I daily travel to my study in Amsterdam. Although it is just a fifteen minutes travel from center to center the big difference in pace of living makes that I can feel at ease in Haarlem. Therefor it really feels like home.

After living up and on in several spots I eventually could rent an apartment for a longer time. Slowly it became to feel really like “my house” and I decorated it to my wishes. So the living room became an atelier in which I can work on school and other jobs. Next to that there is a small bedroom where I try not to work..

Totally in the back there is a small kitchen in which I tried to make it feel like a fresh and vibrant place again. It is mostly where my morning starts with making a slow brewed cappuccino out of my one of my biggest prides: a La Pavoni.

Most of the apartment is decorated with parts that I call my small projects. It mostly is all about functionality and the need for some storage or to showcase some older projects because I’m still proud on them.

In November 2022 I had to leave this house as they wanted to start 'renovating' (tear down everything except the front). I became homeless for a while and working on location, but missing a base to relax.
Scroll down for the happy ending of this chapter of my life...

The kitchen with fresh herbs in there and in which I brew daily my start of the day: a good cup of cappuccino.	After finding some lovely drift wood on the beach I collected different coat hooks, to showcase my small scissor collection on. Underneath I created a magnetic toolboard to have the tools within hand reach when sewing.	As I am a slow starter I can be found here in the morning with my cappuccino and reading the newspaper or a book. The pillows are inspired by the Boro dynasty and therefor also are made of leftover fabrics of other projects.
As I have a love for the blue fabric called denim I made myself some curtains which you can see hanging in the front of the window.

A new base to call home...

Despite signing up for social housing at my 18th birthday due to changing rules in politics I became homeless in december 2023. I had to put my stuff in a depot and start to search for housing on the private market. But as I already knew before starting, it was a mission that only could fail. When I tried to claim urgency I was rejected. It hit me hard as I did want to live in Haarlem close to my niece and social network. To start all over in a new city wasn’t the reason I moved to Haarlem. Losing hope for the future and that I wouldn’t have a stable live anymore broke me. But when I eventually drowned mentally in my sorrow they came with a plan. Because the small difference to ‘self-reliant’ or ‘not to be self-reliant’ is nowadays the reason the municipality helps or not helps you.

As I went into a trajectory at a homeless shelter I got to think a lot about how I would organise my life when I got a home again. It was obvious for me that during my study and last project the work took over my private life, therefor it was harder to invite people over and also for myself to lose stress. So it became obvious that for a healthy life I needed to split up my professional and private life.

Working a lot in the kitchen during my time at Velserpoort I imagined myself cooking for friends an family and having some nice evenings in which we shared good times. It became obvious for me that I didn’t get an extra room for my industrial sewing machines they wouldn’t stand in my living room like before. Because it threatened my life balance as it was hard to release the stress of something when it was still in sight.

So when I got to see my apartment on the second floor I immediately knew that we wouldn’t lift the sewing machines all up there, and I would store them temporarily downstairs in the shed. In hindsight a well made choice tight then and there, because when I entered the apartment for the first time I saw the potential, bu knew it would need a lot of work and time to make it a more modern apartment. The drive for me was that in this apartment I could imagine my nieces had room for playing while I would cook a nice meal for them. With that in mind, and the idea to do it once well, so that the years after I could focus on other aspects of life I focussed on fixing up the apartment so it could become my home.

After being into social care for a while I got the required urgency to get my own apartment again. As the apartment is build in 1993 it bigger than the current new appartments. But as it is older it definitely needed some work...	Especially the colors of the wall in the hallway needed some attention, because it almost gave me an instant headache when I put my first foot in the apartment. Not knowing the real headache of the apartment came a bit later.	The bathroom was actually the space that for now not needed that much attention.
After I got the key to the apartment I immediately made a planning and what was necessary to acquit before starting to work. But sometimes I was still surprised by what came on my journey...	Behind the first wall, that released the wallpaper very well, came a very nice looking concrete wall. But at the other walls it was a hassle, because behind every layer of wallpaper another appeared. For what we could count, it was close to six layers of wall paper and I had for about 4 big dumpster bags full of paper.	But luckily I had a secret weapon for the coming days. His name is called Abdulle who with a big smile and a steamer fought his way through all the wallpaper,
As the layers were several kinds of wallpaper I decided that we really would take everything of and be left with brown paper base of the plaster.	In the evening my brother -in-law came Mike came to deconstruct the half wall that divided the kitchen and livingroom, and replace the power point. By doing this I got one big space which I was able to utilise as i wanted.	We lined out the horizontal line of all other points on the wall, and place this point next to it therefor we needed to call a slit. Eventualy when everything was in place we closed the slit with plaster so it could be painted eventually.
Eventualy when everything was in place we closed the slit with plaster and sanded it place, so it could be painted eventually with the other walls.	As the wallpaper was removed also some cracks or slits became visible where the walls needed to join each other. So after filling these cracks I sanded the paper walls and put a special primer on it so the paint would affix better.	Together with Abdulle I painted all the walls that consisted out of plaster, I wanted these to be white as it would help the idea I had with the concrete wall stand out.
By working together we went in one day through the whole house. Where I worked with a brush to do the fine parts Abdulle did the big parts with a roller.	As the walls were in such an ugly purple color, it soon became obvious we needed to paint it a second time.	For the concrete walls I was inspired colorwise by so called 'waxed concrete'. With a block-brush a first light-greenish/ grey layer was put on the wall. As the wall is concrete it sucks up the moisture, and makes this layer a kind of semi transparent. When dry I putted a second layer on...
After these two layers I took the block-brush with just the tip in the paint and layered it free form over the wall. Some parts got darker and some parts a layered transparency. It eventually worked out as I hoped, as it gives the concrete it's depth and character.	It eventually worked out as I hoped, as it gives the concrete it's depth and character. But with the green color still a kind of warmth that would also pair up with the floor I ordered.	After all walls were painted I was able to place the PVC floor I ordered. As I believe to be living here for quite a while I chose this for it's durability. And in my opinion it also looked much more natural than the laminate I saw.
To give the kitchen a more luxury approach I took leftovers of the PVC glued them on the MDF of the kitchen. On the corner I placed a piece of RVS to give it a bid ot an industrial look.	Eventually after I walked on the floor for a few weeks I was able to place the plinths. To make ithe plinths longer lasting I silicone glued them to prevent moisture coming underneath, which was a nice tip from the salesmen.	After I painted the radiators and layed the floor I planned to paint the doorframes in the wintermonths as they had an ugly brownish color and paintsplatters on it.
As this was a quite intensive job as I did want it to be perfect I divided to do two frames every week and as I needed to put four layers of paint on it.	Also some of the frames needed some extra attention as the sills were not in place.	To prevent the sills from getting bare due to walking, I placed a RVS strip on it. Eventually I also painted the door so it finally is uniform again and although it is an old house it gets more an more a modern appearance.
As the door- and window fittings were turned lame due to it's use over the years, I looked out for some more modern of the same brand. As I was able to find them second hand it also saved me a lot of money and was able to replace them all.

The most comfortable room

Finishing all the painting of the walls in the living room, hallway and bedroom I still had oee place I didn’t want to be just plain white; the toilet. As the tiniest room is in the middle of the apartment it doesn’t get much daylight In. Although the toilet isn’t the most favourite place of the house, I always call it home, when I feel comfortable on the toilet. So although it being a small space it did need to stand out in the crowd a bit.

When some while ago found a likeable platter that had an interesting motive on it, I saw it as an starting point for the makeover of the toiletroom. After spray painting the top part and drilling a hole so a fitting would fit I installed it and tested it. I immediately liked the warmer light that it was producing, but in the all white toilet it didn't seemed a good fit. Despite It being quite a strong warm light bulb, the reflection I hoped for in this tiny room wasn’t there.

It meant for me thinking all over again, and back to the drawing board. Eventually I picked some samples at the DIY-market, and although the color combination of blue, black and copper looks nice I was doubted if it would make the place cosier as it are darker colors that wouldn't reflect the lightt

It was when I went through some old pictures of visiting Istanbul when I found some inspiration in metal that kind of was crumbling down. It was a moment in which I immediately took action. Because I knew instead of painting copper color applying copper leave would reflect the warm light much better.
I was convinced this would work and immediately ordered copper leaf and get the right color of paintt. After I immediately started preparations to paint and the next evening the first layer of blue was on the wall.

When two weeks later the copper leave arrived, I already made uo a working plan in my mind of how to apply it. I immediately started and although there were some minor flaws in the process there wasn't anything that couldn't be solved. .

Although it is just the base and definitely needs some more styling, I’m quite proud on how this first step applied. How the warm light gets reflected through the space and makes it a bit less sterile looking wasn't what I couldn't foresee but is some serendipity.found in the process.

Luckily the previous tennant kept the toilet like a white canvas. The upcycled lamp was the first step into a process of which I upfront didn't really knew where it would take me. But of which I'm happy with the first steps.	Although painting the toilet in a so called cold color, with the warmer light it actually already felt much cosier. The copper leave needed to be applied direct after painting the second layer. Therefor you see the division, that I eventually blended away by adding extra copperleave.	Although I put quite some effort in this i quite like the endresult. The toilet already looks quite unique without involving any acessories.

The kitchen with fresh herbs in there and in which I brew daily my start of the day: a good cup of cappuccino.

After finding some lovely drift wood on the beach I collected different coat hooks, to showcase my small scissor collection on. Underneath I created a magnetic toolboard to have the tools within hand reach when sewing.

As I am a slow starter I can be found here in the morning with my cappuccino and reading the newspaper or a book. The pillows are inspired by the Boro dynasty and therefor also are made of leftover fabrics of other projects.

As I have a love for the blue fabric called denim I made myself some curtains which you can see hanging in the front of the window.

After being into social care for a while I got the required urgency to get my own apartment again. As the apartment is build in 1993 it bigger than the current new appartments. But as it is older it definitely needed some work...

Especially the colors of the wall in the hallway needed some attention, because it almost gave me an instant headache when I put my first foot in the apartment. Not knowing the real headache of the apartment came a bit later.

The bathroom was actually the space that for now not needed that much attention.

After I got the key to the apartment I immediately made a planning and what was necessary to acquit before starting to work. But sometimes I was still surprised by what came on my journey...

But luckily I had a secret weapon for the coming days. His name is called Abdulle who with a big smile and a steamer fought his way through all the wallpaper,

As the layers were several kinds of wallpaper I decided that we really would take everything of and be left with brown paper base of the plaster.

In the evening my brother -in-law came Mike came to deconstruct the half wall that divided the kitchen and livingroom, and replace the power point. By doing this I got one big space which I was able to utilise as i wanted.

We lined out the horizontal line of all other points on the wall, and place this point next to it therefor we needed to call a slit. Eventualy when everything was in place we closed the slit with plaster so it could be painted eventually.

Eventualy when everything was in place we closed the slit with plaster and sanded it place, so it could be painted eventually with the other walls.

As the wallpaper was removed also some cracks or slits became visible where the walls needed to join each other. So after filling these cracks I sanded the paper walls and put a special primer on it so the paint would affix better.

Together with Abdulle I painted all the walls that consisted out of plaster, I wanted these to be white as it would help the idea I had with the concrete wall stand out.

By working together we went in one day through the whole house. Where I worked with a brush to do the fine parts Abdulle did the big parts with a roller.

As the walls were in such an ugly purple color, it soon became obvious we needed to paint it a second time.

For the concrete walls I was inspired colorwise by so called 'waxed concrete'. With a block-brush a first light-greenish/ grey layer was put on the wall. As the wall is concrete it sucks up the moisture, and makes this layer a kind of semi transparent. When dry I putted a second layer on...

After these two layers I took the block-brush with just the tip in the paint and layered it free form over the wall. Some parts got darker and some parts a layered transparency. It eventually worked out as I hoped, as it gives the concrete it's depth and character.

It eventually worked out as I hoped, as it gives the concrete it's depth and character. But with the green color still a kind of warmth that would also pair up with the floor I ordered.

After all walls were painted I was able to place the PVC floor I ordered. As I believe to be living here for quite a while I chose this for it's durability. And in my opinion it also looked much more natural than the laminate I saw.

To give the kitchen a more luxury approach I took leftovers of the PVC glued them on the MDF of the kitchen. On the corner I placed a piece of RVS to give it a bid ot an industrial look.

Eventually after I walked on the floor for a few weeks I was able to place the plinths. To make ithe plinths longer lasting I silicone glued them to prevent moisture coming underneath, which was a nice tip from the salesmen.

After I painted the radiators and layed the floor I planned to paint the doorframes in the wintermonths as they had an ugly brownish color and paintsplatters on it.

As this was a quite intensive job as I did want it to be perfect I divided to do two frames every week and as I needed to put four layers of paint on it.

Also some of the frames needed some extra attention as the sills were not in place.

To prevent the sills from getting bare due to walking, I placed a RVS strip on it. Eventually I also painted the door so it finally is uniform again and although it is an old house it gets more an more a modern appearance.

As the door- and window fittings were turned lame due to it's use over the years, I looked out for some more modern of the same brand. As I was able to find them second hand it also saved me a lot of money and was able to replace them all.

Luckily the previous tennant kept the toilet like a white canvas. The upcycled lamp was the first step into a process of which I upfront didn't really knew where it would take me. But of which I'm happy with the first steps.

Although painting the toilet in a so called cold color, with the warmer light it actually already felt much cosier. The copper leave needed to be applied direct after painting the second layer. Therefor you see the division, that I eventually blended away by adding extra copperleave.

Although I put quite some effort in this i quite like the endresult. The toilet already looks quite unique without involving any acessories.