JP Demeyer's Design Motto for This Dutch Seaside Home? "Save the Planet-Buy Antiques"

"For Pascal and Marie-Louise, the goal was a holiday escape that shut out the world the moment one crossed the threshold-making a dramatic entry essential. "First impressions are everything," the designer says. Drawing inspiration from preppy Ralph Lauren rugby shirts, Demeyer fashioned an entryway paneled with wooden poles found at a nearby gardening store, and lacquered with colors from his coastal mood board. "I love to use inexpensive materials and make something haute couture out of it," he reflects. "Limitations are great for creativity.""

"Demeyer is drawn to reworking the familiar-everyday objects, unexpected materials, thrifted finds-and uncovering their beauty through reuse. Take the Dutch coast: while it lacks abundant sunshine, it's defined by colorful windscreens-thick, striped linen panels anchored in the sand to shield beachgoers from the sea's chill. In Zeeland's cool, diffused light, the windscreens' hard colors hold their own, which explains why the fabric appears throughout the home, stretched over banquettes, paneled into kitchen cabinets, pulled across windows, and fashioned into patchwork skirts beneath the bathroom sinks."

""I know there's an overdose of stripes in the interiors industry at the moment, but how can you make a beach house without stripes? It's relaxed, it's sporty, it's beachy. What do you want: English chintz and flowers? No," he deadpans. As repeat clients, Pascal and Marie-Louise came to the project with an established trust in Demeyer's instincts, even if his liberal use of mirrors and bold ceilings initially gave them pause."

A holiday escape was designed to shut out the world immediately upon entry, making a dramatic threshold essential. Inspiration from preppy rugby shirts led to an entry paneled with wooden poles and lacquered coastal colors. The design emphasizes using inexpensive, everyday materials and thrifted finds to create haute couture effects and spur creativity. Colorful striped windscreens from the Dutch coast are used extensively—stretched over banquettes, paneled into cabinets, pulled across windows, and made into patchwork skirts beneath sinks. The designer purchased an entire inventory of the fabric. Repeat clients trusted bold choices despite initial hesitation over mirrors and ceilings.

Read at Architectural Digest