For interior designer Henrike Becker, renovating the 1880 manor's ground floor presented a clear mission: honor the past while introducing contemporary design without compromise. Room configurations were reconfigured for optimal flow. The hallway's seven doors were reduced to three, with a new broad opening created into the kitchen. A kitchen window transformed into garden access—views now sweep through the space and into the landscape, flooding both hall and kitchen with light. An unexpected discovery: original floor tiles lay directly on sand, completely unsubstantiated. Today, the entire ground floor rests on a properly engineered slab with radiant heating.

Select areas featured original beige-grey and black cement tiles laid diagonally in a checkerboard pattern. These were carefully restored and reused throughout the kitchen, utility kitchen, and side corridors. Where existing stock fell short, large-format porcelain stoneware—selected to echo the original palette while asserting a contemporary aesthetic through scale and installation method—was introduced in the bathrooms and utility spaces. Vienna-pattern oak parquet adorns all remaining floors: bedrooms, dressing room, main hallway, living areas, and entry. Rugs ground the dining and living zones. Walls were finished with a soft limewash in natural hues, complemented by linen curtains in coordinating tones. The second entrance was sealed off, revealing an elegant arch now graced with oversized poppy-patterned wallpaper. The guest bath preserves a section of historic paintwork as a decorative border, where original hues—delicate pale blue among them—peek through. This precise blue threads throughout: on the kitchen sideboard, across linen curtains in kitchen and hallway, in the poppy wallpaper, and woven into the carpet. Original doors were restored and fitted into new and existing openings alike. A particularly fine double door with etched glass details was beautifully rehabilitated, serving as an elegant nod to the manor's heritage. In the bedroom wing, doors were refinished in matte black with matching hardware, maintaining architectural continuity. The result speaks to authenticity and deep respect for place and history.

www.henrike-becker.de

(Published in CUBE Ruhrgebiet 03|19)