Spotting the potential of a historic dwelling in a sorry state, Anna Bol has shown that a little love plus an eye for antiques with character can create a warm and inviting home<\/em><\/p>\n\n
FEATURE WILMA TJALSMA-SMITS<\/p>\n\n
Anna\u2019s mother collected porcelain, and passed this passion on to her daughter. Anna has stacked all her soup tureens,bowls and plates on long open shelves for maximum impact. The kitchen was designed by Anna and made by a local carpenter. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
I<\/span>t wasn\u2019t love at first sight,\u2019 says Anna Bol of her home in the pretty, fortified town of Heusden in the Netherlands. Having stood empty for years, its garden was filled with overgrown trees and shrubs, which blocked out the light, making the rooms dark and uninviting. \u2018In fact, I was convinced it was haunted,\u2019 she says. \u2018The curtains were all torn and the interior was grey with ugly doors and leaking pipes. Several families shared the property, so the house wasn\u2019t laid out as standard and it had multiple kitchens.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
Fortunately, Anna was able to see beyond the gloomy interiors and she took the plunge, following in the footsteps of her father, who had restored one of the town\u2019s historic properties many years earlier. \u2018At that time people didn\u2019t see the point of renovating and preferred to knock down the old buildings in order to replace them with something new,\u2019 she says, adding that it was thanks to her father, Kees Bol, and his friends that a number of Heusden\u2019s historic houses have been preserved and restored, including the house that she now calls her home.<\/p>\n\n
By the time Anna bought her house \u2013 built on the remains of the gatehouse that once served Heusden Castle, with cellars that date from before 1860 \u2013 architectural protections, similar to listed status in the UK, were in place, which meant that no changes could be made to the exterior. \u2018Fortunately, I was allowed to do something on the inside,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n\n
Anna talks fondly of her father, who was an artist, recalling how most of her friends\u2019 fathers wore three-piece suits and had conventional jobs, while hers favoured fisherman\u2019s sweaters under his suede jacket. \u2018As a young girl, I wanted him to be like all the other dads. But when I grew older, I saw the charm of him being different.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
Both her parents were keen collectors with a preference for buying old things rather than new. \u2018They liked things with history,\u2019 says Anna, explaining that, as a result, her childhood home looked very different from those of her peers. \u2018At that time, modern was very fashionable, but our house was filled with antique and flea market finds.\u2019 An old cupboard that her father rescued from a farmer who\u2019d been using it as a chicken coop was a typical purchase. \u2018It turned out to be a beautiful, antique hand-painted cabinet.\u2019 Meanwhile, her mother was a keen collector of porcelain and Anna\u2019s kitchen shelves are home to a number of her soup tureens.<\/p>\n\n
Red painted shelves create a striking backdrop to Anna\u2019s blue and white crockery;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
she collected the tiles behind the sink over several years; <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
in a corner of the kitchen stands an antique potty that Anna bought in 1975. Her two youngest children used it regularly. The antique dolls on it are French; <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
the TV occupies the middle room, which hasn\u2019t been renovated. The paintings of Anna\u2019s daughters are by her father, Kees Bol. Old toys of Anna\u2019s four children are placed atop the cupboard, along with a few antique dolls from France and the Netherlands;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
Anna has saved countless dinner services, as well as the coffee set in the hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n
Like her parents, Anna loves interiors with a sense of history, so when she was able to completely restore the house in 1984, she was careful to ensure that everything was done in a sympathetic manner. The old kitchen, for instance, was replaced by one made by a local carpenter who followed Anna\u2019s design.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Although the works included a number of improvements, such as a new roof and restored floorboards, the introduction of central heating was never part of the plan. Anna is emphatic on this point. She heats the house with an Etna stove on which she also cooks. \u2018And if it is really very cold and the stove can\u2019t warm all the rooms, then I just put on an extra cardigan,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n\n
As a young girl, Anna would occasionally spend her pocket money in the charity shops that were set up after Eindhoven was bombed in the war, and she still has some of the pieces she bought, including a pair of Champagne flutes, some Biedermeier chairs and a large mirror that now hangs in the hall. Now Anna and her daughter Claartje run a shop, Broc\u2019 \u00e0 Maman & Fille, in the shed behind her house. Claartje and her husband have a second home in France, which they use as a base for sourcing stock from flea markets and vide greniers. \u2018All the things they buy there are later for sale in our small store,\u2019 says Anna, pointing to old oyster baskets, stencilled crockery, antique linen, rattan furniture, vintage postcards and cutlery.<\/p>\n\n
Occasionally, she puts something from the store in her own home, she says, but admits that she probably has enough: \u2018My closets are bulging. I have five complete sets of crockery and dozens of separate plates, bowls and soup tureens. Everything is used, but whenever I\u2019m looking for something in particular, I have to completely empty a cupboard first, because inevitably it\u2019s right at the back!\u2019<\/p>\n\nAn old Dutch cupboard in a bright shade of blue makes a statement in the bedroom. Decorative French hat boxes line the top, while folded quilts are stacked on the floor. Every now and then Anna sells a few.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\u2018My closets are bulging. Everything is used, but whenever I\u2019m looking for something in particular, I have to empty a cupboard first, because inevitably it\u2019s at the back!\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
An antique dressing table with a Biedermeier chair in Anna\u2019s bedroom, along with her collection of old perfume bottles. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
A collection of holy water bowls with religious images line the wall on the upper landing; <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
a trio of French glass marriage domes with gilded branches, one of which houses a statue of Mary.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
<\/h4>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
<\/div>
\n
Anna Bol’s <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
favourite markets and how to get the best from brocantes <\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Just around the corner from where I live there is a brocante market <\/strong>in Heusden Vesting on the first Saturday of every month from March until December. I always go and take a look together with my daughter, Claartje, with whom I run a shop, Broc\u2019 \u00e0 Maman & Fille. In Woudrichem there is a nice shop called Oude Liefde, which is open from Friday until Sunday with lovely brocante finds and vintage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My golden rule when shopping at brocantes is to go with an open mind <\/strong>and just see if there are items that steal my heart. A coup <\/em>de <\/em>coeur <\/em>as the French say. So, my collection and interests are extensive, especially my ironstone collection of tureens, which I\u2019ve collected since I was a teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These tureens are my favourite things <\/strong>that I have bought throughout the years from brocante markets and shops. Especially the ones that are stained and used, bought in France in local small markets. I like that they\u2019ve been used in a farmhouse kitchen with marks of their age. They were treasured by their previous owners and now by me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My advice for first-time brocante visitors <\/strong>is to go to small local markets and look between everything that\u2019s there. Don\u2019t be narrowminded \u2013 sometimes you find the nicest things in an old barn or between lots of rubbish. And, be brave, take a risk, buy something that is maybe not your first choice. Later on, that might become something you treasure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n
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