Dutch artist-designer Maaike Koster wears a lot of hats, and all of them are leaf green: A botanical painter, she has her own online print emporium, My Deer Art Shop, and recently illustrated the indoor plant guide Urban Botanics. She also runs My Deer’s, a year-old design gallery in Haarlem, the Netherlands, arranged like a living room filled with art and greenery. It’s located within walking distance of her family home, and both showcase Koster’s work as an interior designer—one who, not surprisingly, has a way with houseplants. This past summer on Gardenista, we visited her flagship store—see Portraits of Plants by a Dutch Painter. We were so enchanted that today we’re paying her a house call.
Photography courtesy of Maaike Koster.
![located on a brick paved street at the edge of haarlem\2\17;s city cente 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-brick-house-haarlem-netherlands-1-733x896.jpg)
Koster studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague; she worked as a media agency creative director before branching off on her own and devoting herself to her twin passions of botanical art and interior design. Her husband, Jeff, is the sales manager for Liebherr in the Netherlands. They use their curious cargo bike—Urban Arrow’s Family model—to transport their kids to school (the front chamber opens into a seat) and to carry things to and from the store.
![\2\20;we combined the house\2\17;s classical details with modern/ 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-living-room-haarlem-netherlands-3a-733x489.jpg)
White-painted wood floors throughout set the Nordic tone: “We started with two layers of primer and finished with two layers of Sikkens Rubbol BL Satura, which doesn’t require a top coat.”
![flying high and other prints from koster\2\17;s bird series hang above a 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-living-room-haarlem-netherlands-3b-733x1013.jpg)
![the marble mantel is original; koster uses it to display simple greenery, such 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-living-room-haarlem-netherlands-733x1007.jpg)
The succulent in the gray pot by the French doors is a type of lepismium. The hanging plants include ric rac cactus (Cryptocereus anthonyanus) and string of hearts (Ceropegia woodii).
![a discreet corner of the living room is the used as the tv room. the print wall 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-living-room-picture-wall-haarlem-netherlands-5-733x1007.jpg)
![the tv area is painted celery to set it off from the rest of the space. in ever 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-tv-room-off-living-room-haarlem-netherlands-6-733x1007.jpg)
![koster adheres to an all over palette of white, gray, green, and black. 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-living-room-haarlem-netherlands-7-733x489.jpg)
![original leaded glass sliding doors open to the kitchen. 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-kitchen-haarlem-netherlands-6-733x489.jpg)
![koster replaced the existing \20 square meter (\2\15 square foot) kitchen with 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-kitchen-haarlem-netherlands-9-733x833.jpg)
![a wall of miele stainless steel cabinets incorporates, from left: an elect 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-kitchen-haarlem-netherlands-10-733x993.jpg)
The pedal trash can is the Kickmaster from German brand Wesco. (Browse our Trash and Recycling archive to see more of our favorites.)
![koster masses small cactuses on the marble mantel of the kitchen fireplace, whi 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-kitchen-fireplace-haarlem-netherlands-11-733x1013.jpg)
![the doors have numbers in the otherwise entirely white second floor hall. the r 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-family-house-second-floor-haarlem-netherlands-733x1007.jpg)
![the house\2\17;s tall ceilings allowed koster to introduce loft beds and 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-boys-room-haarlem-netherlands-14-733x958.jpg)
![the desk wall is set off by a band of dark green; all else is painted white. th 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/my-deer-art-shop-maakie-koster-ocean-prints-6-733x942.jpg)
![the second floor\2\17;s calacatta marble bath was the master bath before 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaaike-koster-marble-bathroom-1-733x1007.jpg)
![the custom sinks were fabricated locally from \10 centimeter thick (3.9 inch th 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaaike-koster-marble-bathroom-2-733x1007.jpg)
![the attic master bedroom has an en suite bath with a pebble floor. \2\20 33](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-bedroom-haarlem-netherlands-9-733x1100.jpg)
![the flos half lamps over the bed are made of a plaster like composite; they& 34](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-bedroom-haarlem-netherlands-10-733x489.jpg)
![bedroom and bath are fully incorporated. a vintage apple picking ladder serves 35](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-master-bath-haarlem-netherlands-11-733x489.jpg)
![koster used old wooden table as the base for twin countertop basins from viller 36](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-master-bath-haarlem-netherlands-13-733x1100.jpg)
![the freestanding tub is positioned in front of a dormer window. 37](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-master-bath-haarlem-netherlands-12-733x965.jpg)
![koster\2\17;s my deer art shop was born in her attic workspace. 38](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-third-floor-office-haarlem-netherlands-15-733x1007.jpg)
![she stores, signs, and packs prints at a standing counter made of plywood. the 39](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-third-floor-studio-haarlem-netherlands-16-733x1007.jpg)
![koster tailor made her open storage and wraparound workspace. 40](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maaike-koster-third-floor-office-haarlem-netherlands-17-733x733.jpg)
![the house is now \200 square meters (approximately \2,\15\2 square feet), thank 41](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/add-maaike-koster-house-netherlands-floor-plan-jpg-733x518.jpg)
Explore three more artist residences around the world:
- Tough Love: A Creative Couple’s Brutalist House in Mexico City
- Sculptor Alex Chinneck’s Renovated Victorian in London
- Before/After: A Stable to Work Studio Conversion in Kirkland, Washington
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