De Hoeve. Old Belgian farm renovation

Rococo or St. Louis? Here’s what we chose

After considering both options (and your input—thank you!), the choice was made - Rococo 3-Column Radiators! They fit the vibe of a 120-year-old house so good —we couldn’t resist 😍

In the poll, 33 patrons participated, with 61% voting for Rococo and 39% for St. Louis. We really liked the St. Louis style too (less busy indeed as Sheila noted in the comments), but when we look from the front on them, the rococo radiators just look better in our opinion. The sections seem to...

Merry Christmas, lovely people!

We're wishing you a Christmas filled with warmth, joy, and love! Your support has been a true light for us this year, and we are endlessly grateful.

May your holiday season be magical and the New Year bring endless happiness. And may it bring hope and peace to all homes - our biggest wish this year.

Lots of hugs,
Marina & Illia ❤️

Help us decide: which radiator should warm our home?

Hi patrons! Finally we’ve reached the point where we need to choose the radiators for our home. We need to decide now so that we can determine where the pipes should go.

As we mentioned, for the ground floor of the main building, we want to create a more classical style, which is why we’ve chosen reclaimed radiators cast in the beginning of the previous century.

Fun fact: they were designed by American Radiator...

What we paid for our new windows + front door (color reveal included!)

Happy Monday, everyone! In today's video, I would like to share the costs of our new wooden windows, the front door (and yes, I'll be revealing the color—spoiler alert!), and the window sills.

Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below—I’m happy to answer them! Enjoy the video!

Croatia Uncovered: our vacation on Krk Island

It's time for our traditional vacation video, capturing those laid-back summer vibes 😀

In August, we took an incredible road trip to Croatia. We drove by car and stayed overnight in a castle in Germany and then spent 8 relaxing days on Krk Island, soaking up the sun, enjoying the sea, tasting local cuisine, and enjoying family time. Croatia exceeded our expectations with its beautiful scenery, and surprisingly great roads. A vacation destination to recommend.

I enjoyed editing this video a lot (although took me longer than I ...

Inside the decaying Castle of Heers

In this video, we visit the Castle of Heers in Belgium, which is normally closed to the public. But since we became the members of Herita organisation, we could join a special guided tour and explore the castle (inside and outside) and all the outbuildings and learn about its past. Join us as we walk through the castle. It's a real gem!

I hope you will enjoy the tour as much as we did. We plan to share more of similar tours with you, once we get the opportunity and t...

15 min storm = 5 hours more work

A little spoiler to what you’ll see in tomorrow’s episode. We got a storm today in Belgium and here is the result. Our newly built greenhouses didn’t pass this test. And some of our beautiful tulips as well 😞

Beauty and harmony in every little detail...

Last weekend Illia and I visited  Bonsai exhibition “The trophy 2024” in Genk, Belgium and I would like to share some photos with you. It’s Illia’s hobby that he put on hold currently but he couldn’t resist the urge to see the masterpieces the artists from all over the world brought there. 

While I wanted to see what money and time trap this hobby of Illia is preparing for us ;-)  On a serious note, I love bonsai trees for the careful orchestration of every little detail, for the sense of tranquility they evoke...

Birthday presents start to be thematic…

When you are busy with renovating an old farm, birthday presents start to be also very thematic. Illia found this beautiful old mirror (not sure whether I can call it antique, since we are unsure about its age) on the secondhand market, an analog of Craigslist but in Belgium. These sites are full of treasures if you know how to search and patient enough.

A small advance gift before long-awaited decorating and finishing phase so that I have something to look forward to, I guess, while sitting on the pile of bricks and insulation covered...

One day in the mountains in France [Patreon Special]

We missed the video this Tuesday because we went on vacation to Spain - to visit our friends, to eat delicious paella's, to soak our dusty bodies in the sea 😁 and to prepare for the next renovation marathon. 

On our way back from Spain, we spent one day in the forgotten village in the French mountains -  a day of pure happiness that we would like to share with you as well. Please enjoy the relaxed and tranquil atmosphere that reigns there.

P.S.: There are not many shots with the kids, they are still camera shy a bit....

Our meadow is becoming a blooming tapestry

Once in a golden hour 

I cast to earth a seed. 

Up there came a flower, 

The people said, a weed.

"The Flower" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Witnessing the seeds we sowed growing and flourishing is such a joy, like a miracle unfolding before our eyes — the diversity of the forms, the vibrancy of the colors, some tall and proud, others tender and  delicate.... We would love to share this beauty with you 🧡

Update for everyone who is emotionally invested into our wildflower meadow ;-)

It's growing!  The first flowers are about to start blossoming. Definitely the rains last days are not only our curse but also our blessing. And it will be a stunning variety of flowers, I must admit. And I am determined to identify each one of it LOL

The first one that started to blossom is buckwheat. When I was a child, it was my favourite cereal. Funny thing I learned recently that it's not even a cereal (it is called pseudocereal due to high starch content). Despite its name, buckwheat is no related to wheat, and it's not even...

'Saving Private Ryan' or building wooden flower pot in less than 2 hours...

Last week we were on a mission to save a tree (I think it's Malva arborea), that was blown down by strong winds that we have here from time to time. It was growing in a pot, but the roots has grown through the pot into the ground. After the tree was blown down, it was not feeling well anymore :-(  We needed to save it.

That's why Illia decided to assemble a flower pot out of reclaimed wood quickly and to replant the tree. It took Illia less than 2 hours to build this rough but beautiful flower pot. On the...

Beauty in our garden

You might already know that one of Illia's many hobbies/talents is gardening and growing bansai trees. That's why we are planning to convert our huge cow barn into a greenhouse... in the distant future. 

In the meanwhile I would like to share with you the bits and pieces of the beautiful flowers and to-become-bansai-trees from our garden. Despite lacking the time, Illia still finds some free time for his hobby. It's such a joy to see this beauty every time we go to the backyard :-)

P.S.: On the last 2 photos you will see our...

Recharging batteries: Our weekend escape to UK [Patreon Special]

Last weekend we took a break and went for a couple of days to London to recharge our batteries. We have never been to London and we couldn't resist the temptation to join our friends and to have a short rest before upcoming intense months of 'renovation marathon'. This trip was a real blast!   

We would like to share bits and pieces of our vacation with you, but please, keep in mind, we are quite mediocre travel bloggers :-) The video is chaotic, but I hope you can grasp the beauty and unique atmosphere of English cities desp...

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Health and joy and peace and happiness to you and your families! Thank you so much for continuing to support us, our channel and our renovation madness.

Lots of love,

Marina, Illia, Kate, Maks and Anneke

We bought our mobile home. Illia has nowhere to retreat!

Dear patrons, a long-awaited update. As you might know from our earlier video on YT we decided to move into a caravan. It will allow us not only to save time and money but later, when we'll move into our renovated house, to value the possibility of having one room for each family member and 2 bathrooms more :-) 

In this post we would like to share with you some pictures, the story of finding the caravan and how much it will cost us. I'll try to keep it sweet and short, I promise. 

I still can't believe in our luck: we f...

To all our patrons, Happy Halloween!

Be aware of tricks, enjoy the treats and have lots of fun with your loved ones! Boo to you from Illia :-)

You can call us LANDLORDS from now on!

Finally an update we were so eager (and hoping we will someday) to share with you.  

Although "landlords" is a very big word here: the rent we gonna get is something around 200 euros per year (in the farming sector the rents are regulated by the government). So if you are looking for a good ROI, stay away from the farming lands in Belgium 😀 But we are really happy to see that the Belgian government supports local  farmers, they deserve it more than anyone with their hard work and their struggle with big businesses.  <...

Corfu Island, here we are! Our "lazy" vacation in Greece

Our dear patrons,  please enjoy this short video about our spontaneous vacation to Corfu island. Initially we didn't plan any vacation this year: we wanted to let the kids fly to their granny in Ukraine  and to continue working on the farm the whole summer. But the war changed everything. So we decided to go to the sea with the kids despite our tight schedule. And we didn't regret it.

It was our first time visiting Greece and we enjoyed it a lot despite one disappointment  in the very beginning.

We are terrible tra...

How much did the wall insulation cost us? We must be crazy...

Our dear patrons, finally I can share some update with you. Recently we bought the insulation for our walls and we would like to share with you how much did we pay for it.  It's superb eco material that is perfect for our old walls, but the price... OMG!

I would gladly answer all your questions in the comments here, if any.  Enjoy watching!

A Foal Is Born

Not at our place, but next door. Not yet at our place :-)  It is so adorable that I would like to share the joy with you and post some photos here for you.  

Together with our neighbours we were waiting for the birth for the last few weeks (the horse was 20 days overdue) and finally this Monday it happened. By pure luck, we visited the farm on Monday (Mondays are video editing days, evenings  and sometimes nights normally).  And we could see the foal right after birth. It's so cute and clumsy! Just adorable.

T...

Revealing our OLDEST DECAYING BARN on the farm | Behind-the-scenes photos

This week we prepared something special for our subscribers. We are showing our oldest barn, that I consider the real jewel of the farm. In the video we will share when it could be built (our assumptions) and how it is built. And of course we will count all the issues that we are facing :-)

In the meantime, please take a look at some behind-the-scenes photos. See you later, our dear patrons!

P.S.:  And guess what? We partnered with our first sponsor - Wondrium,  a cool video service full of documentaries, - for this vid...

Buried a treasure box in our guest room / Thank you, our patrons!

Although we didn't find any buried treasures on the farm... yet, we decided to bury a treasure box ourselves in the guest room, before we pour the concrete slab in the upcoming weeks.   

We added a 'Thank You' letter with all your names, because your support helps a lot to make this project a reality and your kind words give us so much confidence and energy to continue. 

Now we are all OFFICIALLY a part of the history of this 1908 farm :-)  Congrats!  I hope you enjoy this short episode as I did while edi...

Ep. 60 - Finally treating the oak beams | Behind-the-scenes photos

This week we finally treated our old oak beams against mold and woodworm. The product was rather stinky, I must confess. Illia also fixed a small crack in the wall.

We had heavy rains in the last days, and the necessity of having a drainage around the house became very clear to us. We will show why and what do we plan in our video tomorrow. Till Tuesday, our dear patrons!

P.S.: Nothing can stop our catspector, even the absence of the staircase. We had good laughs with Illia watching her climbing :-)

Ep. 59 - Heating caused a problem we didn't expect | Behind-the-scenes photos

Some behind-the-scenes shots while filming our next episode, where we will fight the mold, replace yet another lintel and drink delicious beer.

To fight the insane humidity inside of the house, we rented out an industrial dryer for 200 euro a month. Let's see how it will do the job. See you tomorrow, my friends!

Ep. 58 - No more crumbling bricks in the wall | Behind-the-scenes photos

Sharing some behind-the-scenes photos from tomorrow's episode with you and our latest purchase - wood burning stove, that we bought second-hand for 100 euro. We have no heating yet and we hope it will help us to warm up the rooms  downstairs a bit.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a very happy 2022 from our family to yours!

Come with us to Antique and Brocante market in Tongeren

Our dear patrons, we would like to invite you to visit Antique and Brocante market in Tongeren. It's the biggest antique market in Benelux and you can find everything over there. We used to visit this market a lot, but it is our first time in 2 years (since corona started) when we came back here.   

We are filming this kind of vlog for the first time, and it is a bit chaotic and shaky. Our excuses for it! But we still wanted to share it with you, as we love this place so much and the city Tongeren itself. Definitely worth vis...

We have new logos! And merch!

We had a lot of laugh while brainstorming what our logo would be like. The result you see below. In my humble opinion, they represent the quintessence of our renovation :-) Our friend Dimitri helped us to bring our ideas on paper. I love them all! We have used only 3 of them while designing the products for our store.

I am very curious which one you like the most? Or is it as difficult to pick the only one as it was for us? 

Our merch store: https...