My husband (gosh, that still sounds weird) and I bought an amazing two story apartment on the top two floors of an Amsterdam city council monument in a quiet street in the very heart of the city. When we bought it, we thought we might be able to create a roof terrace. The stairs were already there as was the sky-light with access to the roof. However, as it turns out, the 2 degree slope in our ceiling makes it too sloped a ceiling for permission to build a roof terrace. It is out of the question. That means we have to explore other options.
It could have been so wonderful.......
In the back wall of our living room we have a big door opening up to a french balcony. As this door is by no means monumental we now hope the council will allow us to change the door and maybe add a little balcony to the back. There is a Dutch designer called Pieter van Gendt who designed an alternative for balcony. It is called Tea for Two which just has the nicest ring to it!
However, the people of the Amsterdam monuments and archeology department are not that smitten with these balconies. I am drawing several options such as an iternal loggia/balcony, a french balcony with a bit of a ledge to at least put plants on and maybe a small table and several drawings with the aforementioned Tea for Two balconies. With all drawings I take into consideration the age and era of the house and the materials they used in those days. This way I hope to show the monument people that I mean well and would like to respect the house with whatever we do.
It might turn out to be a story with a longer tail than we are hoping for, but I am persistent and am not resting until I can have a glass of wine on my own little space of outside.
An example of a wrought iron balcony attached to the wall.
Home voyeurs.... a peek into homes 