‘How cute!’, is what Sjoerd van Elsen (37) often hears when, after climbing a steep staircase on the fourth floor, his visitor has arrived and enters his apartment in Amsterdam. White wooden floor, sloping walls, piles of books on the floor, large plants, thrift everywhere from the thrift store and from the flea market, figurines, jars, stones, masks, a staircase to the mini roof terrace. His sloop is just around the corner, in the Amstel. That the word choice falls on ‘cute’ will also have something to do with the size: ‘my tiny little penthouse‘, as Van Elsen calls his floor, covers 38 square meters.
He bought it in 2014, when house prices rose just a little bit. Living in a student house would have been nice. ‘At a certain point you are woken up by the fire alarm because a roommate is boiling an egg at four in the morning. And from an economics lesson I once understood: buying a house is smart. Do it as soon as you can.’
It was possible – then it still was. ‘I was the only bidder and I was even able to negotiate ten thousand euros off the asking price.’ At the time, he was the first in his circle of friends to buy a house. Meanwhile, most of the people in his area have bigger houses to live in and raise children in. “And I’ll just stay where I am.”
You don’t need more space?
‘New. I sometimes look at Funda, and I’ve also thought about it: isn’t it logical to sell this house now and move to a bigger house? With the equity and my income I can buy a four-storey house in Arnhem, or in Antwerp. I was there recently with a friend. She and her boyfriend have bought a house in a very nice neighborhood, on an avenue with a strip of old plane trees in the middle, four floors, a backyard. Wow, how cool to have a house like that, I thought. But also: in my case really nonsense. What am I going to do with four floors? Making a piano room? I don’t think it’s justifiable to take up so much space on your own. Living bigger just for shape? Not necessary.’
Can you imagine living here as a couple?
‘If love is great, I think people can live with just the two of them on 38 square meters. I don’t know if I could do it myself, and I don’t even know if I would want to live together if I get a relationship again. A relationship naturally starts with exploring each other a bit, going to parties, going out to dinner, and occasionally staying the night together.’ Laughs: ‘Well, I can keep that up for years. Having their own place seems ideal to me, to spend time in each other’s house.
‘To the people around me it just seems like the next step in life: living together, having children. I never had that step-by-step plan in mind, I don’t want children. My impression is that few people consider whether it is an option to continue living separately. Nowadays you literally pay a high price in Amsterdam to deviate from the norm. Many peers have to live together, with a partner or a roommate, because living alone is unaffordable. A friend of mine bought his first house last week, two square meters bigger than mine, for 3.5 tons. He pays about 1,500 euros a month in mortgage. On his own!’
What does this place mean to you?
Immediately: ‘Independence. I remember the first time I closed the door behind me. There was an ugly plastic floor, and it was almost completely empty. I sat on the sofa that the previous occupant had left behind and I felt so good: I now have control over this tiny piece of earth, and I can make and arrange it exactly as I want.
‘During corona, it was a lot about people who wanted to leave the city, because the city now had too little to offer. They wanted space. It gives me space, freedom and peace that I could afford this small house if I had to. I don’t think it’s really freedom to feel that you have to leave. It is obvious to think that more living space gives a greater sense of freedom, but I think that the higher monthly costs that come with this would actually limit my freedom to do the things I like.’
The walls didn’t come at you?
‘No never. At the beginning of the first lockdown I bought a freezer. My groceries were delivered by Picnic, and what I forgot by Gorillas. I lay on my roof in the sun. I was able to sail, get a coffee to go from the cafe downstairs, walk along the Amstel, and I cocooned wonderfully with bins of Lego.
“I sometimes heard people say they felt trapped in their home. So what makes you feel so locked up? It’s not necessarily in the physical space, I suspect. Maybe it’s more locked up with your partner, with your kids, or with your life that you weren’t too happy with anyway. I noticed the exact opposite in myself, when it turned out that it was all going to take a little longer and we continued to work at home. I thought it was more than fine.
‘Now I plan to renovate a little bit. I want space in the kitchen for a large fridge – now I only have room under the sloping roof for a small one, which I always have to bend over. And I want to cram a bathtub in the bathroom. Then I really never have to leave.’