Family house in Rotterdam

This is a huge, gorgeous contemporary house with direct access to the water from the backyard and an architecture that simply doesn't go unnoticed. But when I first met my clients six years ago, nothing inside hinted at what was happening outside. The interior was white, plain and, frankly, rather boring.

The house was too large to renovate in one go, so we decided to take our time. Every couple of years, we meet again and tackle the next chapter — and this has given us plenty of room for experiments, unexpected ideas and some wonderfully specific challenges.

We ordered a custom-made display cabinet from Latvia for a collection of tiny soldier figures, restored the original marble and designed an enormous amount of bespoke furniture. One of the biggest technical challenges was that the house's walls are actually its heating system, with heating integrated directly into them. This meant that almost nothing could simply be screwed into the walls. Every piece of furniture, panelling and decoration had to be designed with that in mind.

And then there is the sauna in the attic, overlooking the river. According to my clients, it's the best thing we've added to the house.

Six years in, we're still not finished — and that's exactly how it should be. A home this personal deserves to evolve along with the people who live in it.