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A Sleeping Beauty
"Pax Intrantibus" read the gilded letters in Latin on an ornamented panel in the entrance.."Peace to those who enter",, but for years this 1870’s Arts & Crafts villa seemed to have sealed itself from the world on the banks of a small river just outside of Amsterdam.
Until 2008 when a new owner started cutting the weeds that were about to overwhelm these walls, opened the windows and began the long process of restoring the house and its interior. Today this place is inhabited again. Ceilings, woodwork, paintings and panels were restored and new paintings were added.
Painted Shrikes now live in the entrance, keeping it accessible by cutting up its ornamental rose branches, putting their thorns to use as a food stash. It's what shrikes do. A bright colored Roller sits on top, enjoying the sunlight that now enters.
High above the stairwell yet another new painting. The railing continues in some large tree branches where a red crested family of Woodpeckers has taken up residence.
Schoonoord House, once a Sleeping Beauty, is now fully awake. With these new inhabitants, there’s never a dull moment.
The historic gate of Schoonoord House
It once belonged to a much larger dwelling that stood on these riverbanks since the 1660's
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Schoonoord
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The 1875 façade of the house.
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Twelve restored panels in the entrance.
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For some panels the damage to the original trompe l'oeil painted curtains was beyond restoration, these have been replaced by newly designed paintings of birds and fragmented rose branches.
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Somewhere between a William Morris design and a bird watchers fieldguide.
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Painted Shrikes and fragments of ornamental Rose branches .
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Shrikes
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Eurasian Roller - Coracias garrulus
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View into the living room.
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II
Ceilings, woodwork, paintings and panels were restored
and new paintings were added
Completely restored ceilings in the livingroom hued in a subtle violet grey. .
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Master bedroom.
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Over the top in a lovely way; The ceiling of the master bedroom, completely restored and lightly restyled.
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Boars, bears, dogs and deer; restored 19th century polychrome plaster ornaments on the ceiling.
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III
Woodpeckers
Another new painted ceiling
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The restored 19th c. frame in the ceiling,
And a last glimpse at the beams in the attic, before the new painting is installed.
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High above the stairwell yet another new painting. The railing continues in some large tree branches where a red crested family of Woodpeckers has taken up residence.
A family of Spotted Woodpeckers .
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"Le Trompe l'Oeil" -
a new ceiling painting in the original restored frame high above the stairwell
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- Dendrocopus major -
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Mushrooms
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IV
"oooooo"
A new Fronton
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A newly designed gilded ornament.
Playfully reflecting the many O's in the house's name, in awe of all the rejuvenated beauty, . .
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Schoonoord
spring 2020
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The river "het Gein"
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2008, when new owners started cutting the weeds that were about to overwhelm these walls,
they opened the windows and began the long process of restoring this house and its interior.
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The 18th century tea house before restoration.
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Photography; © Eddy Wenting
