This ancient Belgium manor house near Brussels was built in the early sixteenth century. It has all the characteristics that a mid century modern house would have: clean, simple lines, glass walls overlooking the outside with white interiors to make it even more contemporary.
The credit for the contrasting look is all for its new owners, who manage to combine tradition and modernity respecting the story of a house
hundreds of years old.
Across the centuries different owners added decorative elements in a way that in the early 1900 the residence looked like a chaotic patchwork of styles.
The current owners bought the house back to life in the 1980s. The interior decoration was revitalized by the world-famous collector and interior decorator Alex Vervoordt, who transformed the rooms into cosy spaces without altering their character.
After the owners’ children moved out the house, a new renovation has been done by 360 Architects, a Belgian studio of young designers who extended the residence by annexing a large cube and transformed the old wooden attic into a loft.
As before the renovation was difficult to acces the garden, the architects made the kitchen walls entirely out of glass overlooking it.
Another substantial change involved the ceiling where the old false part bringing back to life the underneath original wooden beams. The renovation also included the possibility to add three separate apartments nearby, in the future.
Last but not least the love of the owners for mid century modern furniture that appear in every single room where iconic pieces from the 50s and 60s show up.
All the pics in this post come from my favorite magazine about interiors, design and architecture: Case Da Abitare.
I love this magazine and I get a lot of inspiration month after month. It’s an Italian magazine but all the articles are translated in English as well that’s also why I strongly recommend you to check at least one issue; you will fall in love with it 
You can quickly get its digital version here.
