Amsterdam-based copywriter and graphic designer Joost Koopman (40) and legal director Laura Rietvelt (36), built a holiday home in the Northern Dutch village Oudemirdum. They love going there for weekend getaways with their kids Roos (5) and Tijl (3).

Joost: ‘For a few years we’d been dreaming about a little holiday home. We live in the city, so a place in the country would be perfect. We fell for the area in the northern province Friesland when we spent a weekend in the home of Laura’s colleague. It was in the middle of the forest, close to a large lake, called the IJsselmeer. And it is only an hour’s drive from our home in the city. Not long after that weekend away, we heard that another house in the same area went up for sale. We didn’t think twice, and bought it.

The house was a bit in ruins. Luckily the price of the home allowed us to tear it down and replace it with something new. At our kids’ day care, we met architect couple Barend Koolhaas and Aura Luz Melis. They were interested in helping us with our vacation home. Barend had just finished designing a cottage and we loved the style. We had one demand: the beautiful old Douglas fir in the garden had to stay, so Barend designed a home that wrapped around the tree in an L-shape.