Like stepping into a warm bath. You immediately feel at ease at Rixt-Marieke and Bas’s home. Is it the colors and soft fabrics that make it so pleasant? The items that have been collected with love, the stories that precious items tell? The warmth and sweetness of the couple? Well, actually all that together.
“Shall I add this? Or this one? No, wait, it’s going to be this one. Yes, this is fun!” Rixt-Marieke happily flutters through the house, putting the finishing touches on the photo shoot. “Yes, I went all out, I love Christmas so much! This dress is also Christmassy, isn’t it?” She picks some lint from the dark green fabric and smooths it down. The funny thing is: Rixt-Marieke asks questions, but then often answers them herself. It’s her enthusiasm.
“Bas, are you okay with the candles?” Her other half is sitting at the kitchen table, patiently trying to melt candles into the vintage Christmas pyramids. ,,What do you think? I had the wrong size candles… I just quickly bought these.” She has three, a Christmas Pyramid. “They come from the Ore Mountains. I like them because they spin around and they tell the Christmas story.”
The couple met at the first edition of the Welcome to the Village festival in 2013. She: “But we didn’t talk to each other then.” He: “But I saw you. And you me.” They have been together for ten years, including one year of marriage. They organized the party themselves and it was just as vintage and colorfully decorated as their house, at a location they discovered by chance. “At a campsite in a nature reserve. We were canoeing with friends on the way to our stay when the weather turned. Wow it did! Luckily we were allowed to spend the night there. We immediately fell in love with the place, it’s fantastic!”
Rixt-Marieke and Bas live in a cozy 1930s house in the heart of Leeuwarden. “When I was doing an internship at a primary school, I always cycled through this neighborhood. I was so charmed by these houses, with those old fireplaces and beautiful en-suite doors, I wanted that too! My mother heard through the grapevine that this house, which was then still a rental property, became available. She and Bas were already together at the time, but living together had not yet been considered. Rixt-Marieke: “But sleep here alone the first night? I didn’t like that.” Bas stayed that night and never left again.
He took a guitar and TV with him: “Before this, Bas lived with a friend, a real man’s house. It was always cold there, 16 degrees, we sat between the motorcycles.” A stark contrast to Rixt-Marieke’s room. “The first time I slept with her I had to put away 25 pillows.” She laughed: “Yes, a lot of pillows, more knick-knacks, I’m really a collector.”
Second hand or from family
Over the years they have created a warm, cozy mix together. “I don’t think there’s anything here that I bought new. Yes, a table lamp, but other than that…” The china cabinet belonged to her parents, as did the now purple dresser: “When they moved in together, that was the first piece of furniture they bought.” The large fringe lamp next to the sofa is from her pake (grandfather), actually everything in the house was either given or bought second-hand. The rugs, poufs, tables, accessories, crockery, curtains, even the Christmas decorations. “I once found a box full of those colorful Christmas baubles, like new! The Christmas tree comes from Marktplaats.” Never a real tree? “No… I feel bad for the trees.”
Mention the word thrift store and Rixt-Marieke’s eyes start to sparkle – even more than they already do. Rubbing hands: “Oh yes, that’s really an outing for me! I go every two or three weeks. The adrenaline of ‘what am I going to find today’. There is one thrift store, I have to be there on time, first! Ooh, and when I find something beautiful again, I really have one of those hallelujah moments – yes, I really hear that sound in my head.”
Many clothes and jewelry are also second-hand. “Via Vinted or Markplaats. My beppe (grandmother) is very handy. If something needs to be done, I always go to her.” Where does that love for old, used things come from? “My parents are less concerned about it, it has really skipped a generation. My pake was a real ‘struner’, he always thought of everything. But it’s actually because of my sister that I love thrift stores and flea markets so much, she once took me along.” Bas: “It’s mainly the craft. All those old things, they were made with so much more love and craftsmanship, where do you still see that nowadays?”
Then color. At Rixt-Marieke, of course, from an early age. “My nursery was orange with apple green, as an adolescent I had a pastel phase, think Pip Studio, lots of pink and blue, very French and lovely.” Bas: When she suggested I thought to paint all the walls a color: is that such a good idea?”
Well, yes. In combination with the special mix of furniture and accessories, the wooden floor, the authentic details and the warm fabrics, the whole feels incredibly cozy. Upstairs – with a bedroom, bathroom and dressing room – is no different. Dance is important, as we see on the master bedroom (photo right). “I have been dancing since I was little, and I still attend a dance school. I do modern. Last year I was allowed to be part of Theater Tol, street theater with dance performances, ooooh, that was great! You can step into a completely different role.”
Gone within a week
Illustrating is also something where she can express her creativity. “When I had a burnout a while ago, I started drawing again, which calms me down. As a child I also drew a lot, and there are still all kinds of sketches hanging up at my beppe’s house. Bas and she decided to make a Christmas collection ‘just for fun’ and posted it on Instagram. Bas: “Gone within a week! Then we thought: we have to do something with this.”
Now they have their own company together: Signed by sister . Rixt-Marieke: “I immediately wanted to do it right with a catchy name. I asked my sister for advice, she is very good with language. Signed by sister there is something sweet about it, it is accessible. My sister and I have a very good bond, so I think the fact that she came up with this name is extra special.”
Bas: “I was also a bit searching at the time, I have always liked entrepreneurship, I like to throw myself into new things.” Rixt-Marieke: “Bas actually does all the things that I don’t like haha, so we fill in each other perfectly.” Bas: “She draws, I deal with everything surrounding production, the website, which paper is best to print on, and so on.” At the DOAS (De Oude Ambachtschool) incubator we have they have a studio. “We do it on the side, we mainly care about the pleasure we get out of it, we can put all our creativity into it, you put something of yourself into it. It really feels like a luxury to be able to do this together.”
Big fan of Scandinavia
Inspiration for the latest Christmas collection (photo left) comes from Scandinavia. Last summer they crossed part of Norway in five weeks. “With our camper. Look, there she is!” Rixt-Marieke points to the other side of the street. “We call her Ronja de Renault, it’s so nice. She had already been converted into a camper, but we still adapted her. Or well, actually Bas, I have two left hands. He is a very good do-it-yourselfer. Jobs, electrical, motor, he figures everything out himself.”
Bas: “We are big Scandinavia fans. Norway, Sweden, if you love nature, really, you will love it there. The rugged nature, the sea, the mountains, you have the most beautiful skies. You also have every right there, so you can spend the night anywhere in nature. The people are also so hospitable. Just go to one loppis , a ‘junk attic or shed’ in someone’s home. You have the nicest conversations there.” Rixt-Marieke: “That’s how we get our dining room chairs, real Danish design.”
No matter how fond of traveling they are, they are just as sweet at home. Especially at Christmas. Rixt-Marieke: “I really enjoy the run-up to it – I am bringing the tree into my home earlier and earlier. The Christmas songs on the radio, Christmas films such as The Holiday, Love Actually on TV. Oh, and Klaus, you have to see it, it’s on Netflix!” Bas: “We think it’s important to keep one day to ourselves, wonderful! Mattress in the living room and then do a movie marathon; Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings . In the afternoon we spend the afternoon in the kitchen, playing Christmas music, playing games, enjoying each other and the house.”
The location is great, Bas continues: “We live between our work, the Jumbo around the corner, which is handy if we have forgotten something. The hustle and bustle of the city nearby, we don’t miss anything here.” Rixt-Marieke: “This is real” our house ‘. I am so happy with how nice we have made it here together. It is an old, but classic and warm place.” “Well … warm, warm, with three sweaters on, yes, haha. And extra bedspreads on the bed. But we take that for granted!”
Who and where
Who Rixt-Marieke (32) and Bas Rozeman-Van den Berg (32). She is a kindergarten teacher and owner of Signed by sister he is a musician, artist producer for Explore the North and executive producer of Signed by sister .
Where 1930s house in Leeuwarden.
Living here since May 2015.
Living style vintage, warm, colorful.
Both love it Scandinavia: the rugged nature, visiting the loppisses (flea markets at home) there, and traveling with their camper (Ronja the Renault).
Insta rixtmarieke and drawnbysister .
To dream of publish a picture book, and one day live a little bigger and more in nature.