At home with... Marleen from Rotterdam

It’s that time of the month again: welcome to my second “At home with…” post! Today we’re visiting Marleen, who lives in a colorful home in Rotterdam. Marleen is 31 years old and works as a consumer inside manager at Zoover, a vacation reviews and travel options website. She continuously tries to find new insights about the people that use the website and makes a very wide profile about those people. Marleen lives in a maisonnette: an appartment, but with two floors instead of one. “Because of the stairs, it really feels more like a real house than an appartment,” she says. Marleen lives right in the center of Rotterdam, but in a really quiet neighbourhood. “It’s a great place to live. I know all my neighbours personally, we’ve got a joined Whatsapp group. And in the summer, everyone sits outside in the sun. It’s a really cozy neighbourhood!”
How would you describe your style? “That’s SO difficult. It’s kind of minimalistic, but not exactly Scandinavic. It’s also a bit artistic. I don’t know if you can really label my style. I know what I like and which stores I like. I love bicycles and art prints. I think my interior is kind of a mix of everything I like.”
Where do you go for inspiration? “I’ve got a subscription on VT Wonen, a Dutch interior magazine and I can browse Instagram for hours. I love checking out different hashtags and accounts. I follow lots of Scandinavic interior accounts. I don’t really go looking for inpiration, I think everything you see unknowingly inspires you. "My sister in law also has a great taste. She and my brother bought a house about a year ago and I often see really cool things in their interior. It’s more Scandinavic though, but really pretty.”
What’s your favorite spot in your home? “I mostly sit in the kitchen. It’s where I eat, work and talk. I also love watching tv shows with friends. I barely watch tv, but I love series. We usually sit on the couch then, but over all I usually sit in the kitchen. I’ve also got a window seat there, which I love. Sitting there just makes me feel free, in a way.”
What are your favorite interior stores? “Habitat in Antwerp is my favorite store. And I love the Swan Market, Society 6 and Groos, a store in Rotterdam. I also love Monoqi. Their newsletter is the only one I really read. I’ve never bought anything there, but they sell gorgeous stuff, and they sell so much!”

What’s the most precious object in your home? Marleen walks around the home, basically listing almost everything she’s got, haha. She calls out the painting in the kitchen, which was made by her ex boyfriend, inspired by a Petra Lunenberg painting, the couches, the prints from Rotterdam, the 3D horse… But then stops and says: “No, I know what it is. It’s my round wall cabinet. I don’t remember the brand, but back when I lived in Eindhoven, I went to work by bike and I always came across a store where they sold it. I must have told everybody I loved it SO much, because at some point I got it for my birthday. It was way to expensive, but my friends and mother teamed up and bought it together. It’s quite difficult to hang it, but it looks amazing.”
Is there anything on your wishlist? “Yes! I really want to have a beamer, so my friends and I can watch series on a big screen. And I would love to have a water cooker in the same style as my coffee machine. Coming to think of it, I would actually love to change my entire kitchen. I’d love to have tiles in a pretty color. That’s also a lot easier to keep clean than what I’ve got right now.
And what would never be allowed in your home? “Big, heavy stuff. I must admit: I used to have such a cupboard in this home, but it just didn’t look right. It was really ugly. And very hard to move out… I decided to sell it, but had to get it out of my house through the window. It took a lot of work, and things like that will never be allowed in my home again, haha! “Kitschy chandeliers in lots of colors and frills are also not my cup of tea. And dowdy floral wallpaper. Unless it’s a really cool piece and you put it on one wall… That actually might look cool…”
Do you have any tips when it comes to decorating your home? “Don’t try to take on everything at once. When I moved in to this place, I wanted everything at once, but that just didn’t work. It didn’t form one whole. So my best tip would be to just take on thing and then go from there. You have to be patient, but you’ll end up with an interior filled with things you really love. “I also love those wire racks like I’ve got in the second bedroom upstairs. I also use one of those as a coat rack. I attatched different hooks to it and now I hang coats and bags on it, it looks amazing! Those racks are great in general. You can change them as much as you want!"

Where did she get her pretty stuff? - Living room: Couches, pillows and round colorful table from Ikea // lamp and orange table from Loods 5 // rug from New Zealand // owls and vintage school chart from her parent's home // painting above the couch from Wonderwall.se // Rotterdam prints from GROOS // 3D deer head bought at the Swan Market - Kitchen: H&M tea towel // Soonsalon 3D horse // Habitat lamps // Society6 clock // chairs from Woonstore // GARANT table from Ikea - Bedrooms: wire racks from Karwei (spray painted) // duvet from Loods 5 // Society 6 print in the hallway
Lots of the drawings you see in these pictures (the tiger, some of the drawings on the floor (against the wall) in the living room...) are made by Marleen herself. She recently started drawing with watercolor pencils - how talented is she?! I'd love to have one of her drawings for my own interior, haha :)
You can follow Marleen on Instagram. Click here to go to her account!
P.S. Do you have a great home yourself as well? Don't hesitate to send me an e-mail on info@sashionblog.com and maybe I'll be coming by your place soon!