From old Belgian water tank to dream tower house with a view
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Patrick Mets loves “old, industrial buildings” and he’s always been fascinated by water towers. After years of scouting the Belgian countryside he found one for sale (for 30,000 euros or about $43,000 at the time) and began working to convert it into a home.
“It was quite naive that we bought it because we didn’t have any permit to convert it into something else,” explains Mets. “And so it took us 12 years, 7 years to get the necessary permit and 5 years of renovation work.”
Working with designer Mauro Brigham (NC & Bham), they tried to leave as much of the tower in its original state. Fortunately the 30-meter-high (90 feet) tower was built with windows- an oddity for a water tower-, but forty of them keep the converted home well lit.
The water tank itself was kept mainly intact. Brigham and Mets added a floor inside it and cut holes out of the sides for views and it now serves as the kitchen and living room.
After a couple years using the space as their full-time home, Mets and his partner Valérie Lecherf moved out to be closer to their daughters’ school. Today they rent the “Chateau d’Eau” for special events.
Chateau d’Eau is for sale: chateau-deau.j...
NC & Bham (interior design): www.nc-bham.be/
Original story: faircompanies....
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Sitting in a chair, at night, while petting his cat, inside of a huge restored water tower while looking down on the world. This is super villain behaviour.
Bond may get the girls, but the villains always have the Decor
😆😆😆😆
🤣 🤣 🤣
With the accent
On that toilet
The missed the opportunity for spiral slide
fireman's pole.
exactly what i wanna cry abt haha
Wandering man Not with toddlers in the house.
easy to make it off limits when there are babies..
He had a covering for the stairs. The same could be done for the slide.
I LOVE it when people turn old unused buildings into livable, usable spaces! We need to stop building cookie cutter homes and building on untouched land. We need to take the old and renovate, make new again. Thank you for this video.
Sydney yeah that's cool I'd like to convert an old gas station into a house I like to work on my own car so would be nice to have a car lift right there in the floor of my garage
that's a really good idea! an old gas station as a home? that sounds amazing!
Sydney definitely not enough old spaces/buildings to make enough homes for the growing populations everywhere, especially cities. Also, not everyone can afford to buy houses that need this much time and work to complete. It's cheaper for developers to just buy regular untouched land (or just flatten previously touched land) and start fresh. I've lived in two older houses made around the 50's-60s...and trust me...they're more trouble financially than they're worth, especially in place like here in Fl where the elements are harsh on the house.
Jen Tuesday I bet one could get a good cell phone signal in the top of that Tower
Sydney that is what I'm doing!
I imagined a tiny cozy minimalist house, but this guy is literally aunt edna from the incredibles.
Him: It's a traditional kitchen
Kitchen: has 4 ovens
100% miele 😂
I actually live 5 minutes from this tower and i always wondered what it looked like inside
If he sells at some point , would anyone actually buy it?
@@riobrasilsambashowssambist1453 For the right price he would definitely find a buyer.
Would make for a pretty sweet vacation home, or very profitable to rent out to tourists.
Rio Brasil Samba Shows sambistabeauty I would buy this for sure.... if I could afford it.
@zeppos you should go and take a personal tour. I wish that I could travel the world and just tour people’s homes.
@@blame7121 tourist don't travel to bumfuck
"its a quite traditional kitchen". *shows us a kitchen from the year 3005
Marcos Diaz why? looks like a normal kitchen to me.
Marcos Diaz hell no it's kinda basic for a new home in Belgium :) but I think he made it very pretty with the light colors he used etc
It looks like it would clean up nice.
CHROME WATER Childish gambino reference?
Everyone who is saying the kitchen is normal hasn't seen the kitchens in the states this one is more advanced that kitchens in the states
So it goes completely unused for 15 years and then it takes ANOTHER 12 YEARS to get permits and plans made? No way, man. I give the man props for hanging in there after all that time.
It's Belgium. We have 7 parliaments. Not even kidding. We have the world record of longest time without a functional government (over 1.5 years). We basically function without representation. We are a big plantation, colony of multinationals. The 7 parliaments and all attached are pro forma giving work to all these law students that don't want to vegetate in our equally slow and dysfunctional justice system and other university graduates. We were the crossroads, ping pong ball of many nations throughout history as the near center of Europe for so long our culture mainly consists of living outside any national or political reality. That did make us exceptionally vulnerable to the likes of EU and about half the middle east and Africa colonizing us in the past decades. We just don't have a structure, country to unite our interests, people around and defend them with. Part of that is because of the purposely eternal divide of the country in the French speaking part Wallonia and Flandres. With some vouching for a solution in Flemish independence and others in confederation with the Dutch who share our language. Anyways there's some background as to why getting an answer from officials takes 7 years in Belgium.
@@steamsteam6607 And the EU seems to be copying your system to form its super empire of bureaucratic mayhem and financial waste! Brexit cant come soon enough!
And then they only lived in it for a few years because I bet in the end it really wasn't practical.
7 to 12 years for government to get back to you. Backlogged or they are just sloth like thinker on saying nay or yay.
remember people live there, it is a staple view in the region and they have to guarantee that the structure wouldn't suddenly collapse given that it may have seen a lot of water damage over the years.
all that is going to take some time, but yeah Belgium really is a bureaucratic mess
The echoing and noises would drive me crazy. To each their own taste and what makes them happy!
@@genkatqltr737 he needs something to adsorb the echoes, curtains, carpet acoustic tiles......something.
Omg I pass this thing like everyday and I never knew it was a house lol
What's the location?
@@Josianneke Steenokkerzeel
7 years for a permit, that sounds like Belgium to me!
It is a little cold but I would not define that a 'nouveau riche' interior.
by the look of it (the meeting room in the one floor and all those plastic chairs and stuff) it looks like some company bought it and now might use it for training and meeting of the upper level management
He stated that they hire the building out, it pays to actually listen to the commentary ; -)
Could have been used as an argument for Brexit.
Yeah of course, it's a protected monument xD. Who wants to buy and renovate something like that? You know those things are expensive as hell and take a very long time to be changed. He knew this going in, he's a Belgian, he didn't complain about it either.
Imagine forgetting your phone downstairs
you wouldn't get wifi signal down the bottom....
Karl Saldanha
Access points and wifi extenders are a thing
True, but luckily it has an elevator.
The elevator helped all of it make sense. Could you imagine hauling groceries or children up and down all those stairs?
420th like
LOL, I was wondering why this looked so familiar. It's because I see this water tower every day from work.
You to Johan, leuk om te zien dat er ook Belgen deze vrouw haar video's volgen.
wim lammens ja idd ik ook
You lucky thing you Johan!!
and everyone in the tower stood up and clapped
What would it cost in US dolars to live in the village?
This water tower house is awesome. But I'm also in love with this house at 5:23 with a ton of backyard space amidst breathtaking green heaven!
I had to pause to admire it more, so perfect
that's a very traditional Belgian faux-rowhouse with typical back-attachments. Code told them to build a rowhouse, but it never got any neighbors like so many similar houses in the ribbonhoods.
It's always easy to spot the rich people featured on this channel.
Lol I was expecting a tiny home... shower bigger than my house 😂
To keep the water elements, it would be cool if they build a swimming pool on the roof
Probably would start to leak due to the renovations, plus it would stress me out thinking about it flooding the ground floor
Too high a risk
pool = heavy
@@Slamdoxicalz They could use the original water reservoir that used to do the exact thing as pool does - hold wast amounts of water in place, instead of building living room out of it. It is actualy genius idea, and missed opurtunity in my eyes.
@@NefruSimons But that wouldn't be the roof
Wow this really IS my dream house - I always wanted to live in a tower overlooking the land! Like a wizard! :D
But that house probably was incredibly expensive. A good example of recycling old architecture but not a good example for cheap "tiny house" living.
Thanks for your videos!
You obviously don't even live there. Spam your propaganda elsewhere.
Do you live there? What do you mean?
Two guys spammed some propaganda about brussels, I deleted their comments :)
I live very close to it, my house is one from the houses at 12:23. Now this thing costs 1.5 million
My guess on what was mentioned this renovated tower total cost $4,000,000.00 US :) plus the time living in another location while years of permitting being done:(
An uncomfortable home with great views, after all the renovation and permits they lived there for 4 years!!!
The best part is the open balcony on the roof! WOW!!!
That is completely awesome!! And the cats must've been in heaven with all those high perches ;)
And I can just see the cats loving all those windows too.
yes!! and the warm sun coming through all those windows ;)
such a incredible idea the space is massive .it can totally hold 3 families
francisco romano this is one of the most strong homes any could have
Great Idea, Apart from a living space, I reckon a restaurant would be great up there too :)
Yeah with the kitchen exhaust pipes releasing wonderful aromas purfuming the surrounding town with delicious temptional gluttonous thoughts and ideas
SJ-Fung that would be like the tower of America
Also a great idea, but going up the stairs must be exhausting...
@@tiagoafonso8539 use the elevator which they didn't show us its the long grey box on the side of the structure.
@@wideyxyz2271
Usually they show the elevator in this kind of videos. Maybe it´s not the elevator.
He seems the kind of people that forgot build something so trivial.
I love how everything looks, but I wonder how everything actually works on the day-to-day. With the number of staircases, the separation of all the spaces floor by floor. The fact that if you have to go through the bathroom (no matter if it's being used or not) to reach the floor above. In a design language, they got the form, but not sure they got the function. Certainly, they have created something unique that calls attention.
There was a second half bath. Plus there is an elevator.
I WOULD LOVE TO LIVE HERE 😍
It's good to have all those stairs, to stay in shape
I like the idea, but the home feels very cold and sterile to me. It lacks personality and warmth. It seems more like a fashion statement, which is cool, if you're into that sort of thing.
Congratulations commenter 1,000 pointing out a place that is being rented to corporations looks "cold".
Probably because the family doesn't live there anymore.
RMJ1984 Yeah, the echo was horrible. They need some decorative rugs on the walls or something, or carpets.
Belgium is very grey like England, that’s why!
It's being used as an event space that can be rented by companies so of course it's going to be "cold and sterile"
This is an amazing home. Thank you so much. I love that he got the idea to re-purpose an old water tower that many wanted to demolish. And he turned it into something beautiful.
Me taking a dump
Someone walks up the stairs to the bathroom
Oh hey
loooooooooooooollllllllll
lol
Well, there was a curtain. However, I didn’t see any curtain or door for the shower.
I was wondering why the bathroom isnt on the top floor
@@claucemicro1080 the shower doesnt need a curtain--wet room design. But can only one person use the whole Floor at a time? The bathroom is lovely but worrisome
Love all these videos with houses all over the world. it is like you paying a visit as a gust. Thank you a lot.
I couldn't imagine having to clean that place, especially the bathroom...oh man my arms would be tired
Alex Smith who cleans an entire house (of any size) all at once??
He probably hired all the near by Belgian grandmas in town. ☺️👍🏽
You'll need a battalion to clean this water tower
@@schizophrenicprojection5126 Lol they're acting as if it's preposterous to clean a house in a day. I clean my house all the time, it's really not that hard.
@Kirsten Dirksen I just wanted to say, "Thank you for bringing us another great home. You never disappoint."
"A good view on the skyline of Brussels"...haha which skyline? No i'm kidding... what a great idea, and for 30'000€, that's not too shabby. And good job, Kristen! This hasn't been on tv or papers here yet (Belgium)! You are the first to show us this fantastic building!
How do you know how much it cost? Was that the price of the original water tower? I cannot imaging anything like this being built for 30,000 euros!
TheRjjrjjr Take a look at the video description, of course 30 000 euros for the building itself, without any renovations...😉
3:57 I see putting children under your floor is still a thing in Belgium
Why do they do that? I live in the US, never have I heard of that before...just curious
Took 12 years to get the permit? Wow.. what an outstanding dedication to their dream and not to mention the fact of the renovation costs, this must be expensive. Salute! And yesss this is so cool!
7 years to get permits. That's crap.
artiew87 yeah. I feel it kinda ruins the man's dream of living here. cos he lived here for less than 2 years and had to move for his children sake
Belgium is a horrible country (i'm belgian)
Maxime De Clerck Belgium in general, or Wallonia in this regard?
artiew87 I'm interested to know what makes it so horrible.?
Belgium in general. Nothing in this country is on par with the wealth we are generating. Infrastructure is crap. We have 6 governments which work against each other. For example Brussels international airport is located just outside the Brussels region and thus is actually in Flanders. Recently the Brussels government has decided to fine planes who fly over Brussels for noise pollution. Most of the people who work at airport are from Brussels and most of the tourists who visit come to Brussels. Other example: a divorce can take up more than ten years to complete. A murderer gets pretty much out of jail after 10 years and a rapist even less. Public transport is expensive and doesn't work at all and countless other examples. In Belgium we have three regions and everybody can only vote on people who represent their own region. Knowing that Flemish and Walloons have completely different views of life and every region has +/- 10 different political parties things won't change.
Good things here are education and healthcare is more or less free
Everyone seems to miss there's an elevator. It wasn't part of the tour, but they aren't hiding it.
It's one of the first things I saw.
I missed it, and my first thought was that it was very necessary!
It is ;)
I even went back to see the elevator and couldn't find it..so apparently easy to miss
Really?
I missed it.
Stunning - must have cost a fortune to renovate !!
This is one of best .
It helps me to prove that the idea I have in my mind to turn old water savoir into restaurant is not crazy idea as people think here .
Thanks for this vlog it helps me lot.
Wow....I am envious. This is easily the most unique "house and home" I have ever seen. Magnificent job with the renovations.
They went to great lengths to save and use ail the original stairs in this video. But if you look closely you can see elevators. Elevator shaft under construction at 2:06 , finished at 1:17. More elevator doors at 3:12 and stainless elevator doors at 3:39. You can see the exterior of the shaft on the outside of the building at 10:41 on the right.
Brian Binns
That set him back a few dollars nice doe.......
That's because it's for comercial use now, it is law to have an elevator
guy has great fashion sense
And a lovely Belgian butt -- I bet those stairs help.
hes already in desert camo
lol
Learning Guitar
It's the difference between a European and an American slob.
yoo toob
First class, grade 'A' derrière for sure!!!
Met this family before very nice people and it's nice to see the finishing of there house and home. So Kool. 2019
WAW I wonder how much they spend to do all that. They must be super rich!
Seven years to get the permits and five years to de the renovation = lot of time to save.
And you may have heard of mortgages?
@@divingquokka dan nog... En na anderhalf jaar al verhuizen naar een ander huis en dit verhuren...
@@divingquokka They still have to be wealthy. The renovations and permits are costly and not covered by any mortgage. They weren't doing much saving if they had to maintain another place to live, all while installing high end improvements. I don't think a water tower would be eligible for a mortgage anyway.
It looks like it is being used as a business now. That one room was set up for doing group presentations. I assume he is an architect? Probably purchased under the business.
Thanks for sharing this unique home Kirsten. It's a bit of a bummer that they couldn't live there for longer considering how long it took to get it all setup. I don't really mind the stairs, I think it would be a great way to stay in shape :-)
Conscientious Omnivore yeah i agree, they didnt think of what they really need, a unique house or one thats close to school, but its good that the structure is being used now
Absolutely Kritika Sample One. And who knows, maybe they can someday move back and use it again? Or another family may buy it and live there.
Conscientious Omnivore there's an elevator btw
Outstanding! The roof terrace had me! Perfect for watching the planes,the country,the stars. Nice place to have a roof top garden and some form of glazed structure so an still enjoy the views in windy and wet weather?
Not so much stars to see here in Belgium, we have to many roads in this tiny country and at night all lights are on. To see stars you better move to Chile, less clouds also there
How to pass 40 and still have an ass that looks good in khakis- Live on the 5th floor of an old water tower.
Worth it.
Shavin McCrotch
I’d do him...and steal his credit card.
@@SC-yw5ve double win
If you walked all those stairs every day, you would too. Haha
Tricks
Amazing space but very cold design!
Yea very cold it’s certainly needs warmth
Cold water
I have a lot of respect for Patrick Mets and all like him who repurpose buildings.
To be purely honest what you have done is amazing its truly a dream house in my book.
This is a perfect dooms day zombie apocalypse house!
But, I assume if you have a Bible. That Bible tells you otherwise! Everything will be refined by fire that day! You human being fool!
Beun007 stop
neeeeeeggggggaaaaa
Crazy Nate that's exactly what I was just thinking perfect zombie free house....
Beun007 everybody's entitled to their own opinion
12 years to take a dump with that view. Unbelievable.
7 years and now they are living in 7th Heaven. The views and the transformation are amazing.
This is nothing short of TOP NOTCH. Sheer excellence.
Damn that house is nice as hell
Fallingbed-- nice as hell
I didn't know hell was nice.....
I know..I know..I know..
It's just a figure of speech.
it's amazing but it must be so hard having to climb up all these stairs every time
well at least who lives there is going to work the buttocks
It would be nice if they have installed an elevator. Its like walking up pass six floors. LOL
There is an elevator. For some reason they didn't show it in the video.
The elevator shaft is visible from the outside.
Thanks, that was my first observation. Would be almost impossible living here with children or elderly person without a lift.
"we created a toilet with a view"
"*gasp* oh wooooww"
lol
Connor Amlee 😂
That view goes two ways pal.
3:57 when the kids are naughty we lock them up in here*
The people will stay healthy, indeed! I don't mine to living there and I will be enjoy everyday!
What an adorable transformation made as water tower to home!
So unique. I absolutely love it. Especially the stool with the view and the shower. I could live here if they put in a lift.
I would spend hours on top of that roof just listening to music and enjoin life ...
Simone Bonfanti ...and a doobie...
Simone Bonfanti i would add coffee and cigarettes for company.
I think you can’t, you will hear the busy road 😅
@@MegaNbaboy and the planes! They can be really loud, especially when you're this close.
i'd love to know how much the overall cost was, incredible building thou!
Millions i suspect
I bet the purchase price wasn't too bad.
actually 30 000 euro is pretty cheap as it says in the description
to buy the place when it was trashed yeah. i wanna know how much over 12 years until they got to live in it! :)
7 figures,
I showed the video to a buddy who does bath installations and he said that the bath alone is a high 6 figure project.
How to survive a zombie apocalypse... Lol
Loved it. Great job and enthusiasm. Especially in getting the permits.
😎
So much thought put into the design and construction. Love that all the original parts of the tower are painted black.
I could not possibly LOVE THIS MORE. This is exactly what I'd like to do - find an interesting old building (probably _not_ a water tower, as fantastic as this one is). The redux, the original elements, the unreal bathroom(!!!), the train, the airport, the VIEWS! All so amazing. They thought of literally everything, even the roof shower when they sunbathe, how fun! Love love LOVE it!
love the concept and the VIEW
They need some sound absorbing styrofoam ..
Can,t believe the trek from the bedroom to the bath room. It would be quicker just to go to the roof and let it rip over the side! Of course that means you're watering your neighbors plants!!! Lol thanx 4 posting this.
There's more than one loo, so one might be an en suite
There was a bathroom in the master bedroom.
Unbelievably beautiful and beyond unique!
Thank you for giving us a glimpse of the surrounding country side.
Beautiful inside and out... Lovely landscape and surroundings too... Wow!
At least friends can find their house easily. “I live in the water tank. You can’t miss it.”
Next you'll see a guy who turned an old dumpster into a luxury apartment.
Ahh the things you can do if you're rich.
Didn’t see an elevator. Getting groceries to the top floor has to be brutal.
29kalel Look again cause there's definitely an elevator
They just forgot to show it in the film, but I can confirm, there is a big elevator in this building.
But there is.
Yea elevator is a must in this ‘house’🤣
There is an elevator, that grey column on the outside going up the back, and you can see elevator doors in some shots.
Unreal home!! Absolutely awesome! ! Needs some interesting art work on the walls and around the house.
I must say as someone who loves meteorology, having any home with a 360° unobstructed view of the sky is very appealing to me.
While I would not particular want this house because I hate the idea of going down two floors from the kitchen to get to the bathroom. I do like the idea of the super tall shower.
You have to be really talented to make this into such a beautiful home. The views from the Windows are amazing. Wonderful job.
Beautiful original design and great execution. Thanks for sharing!
Really nice project. I love the feeling of it, and all the ideas to keep original elements. But seems not very practical. It's good for week of holidays (if you do not have fear of highs). But because very close proximity of airport it's not livable. I can't see the elevator either (but there was something that looked like one outside).
DentargPL 13:26 was that not an elevator behind him?or am i wrong?
I watched this video like 5-6 years ago and now a few days ago I drove past this building. I said to myself “damn I know this building” then I remembered that it was from a TH-cam video! So here I am once again
Apart from the outdoor patio furniture in the living area, everything about this residence is perfect!
They is a old water tower in London turned into a house the views are amazing
Awesome build and as a bonus easy to defend in case of a zombie apocalypse !
the interior echoes like crazy though. that would drive me nuts. need to break it up with some sound absorbent materials.
Rugs and fabric wall hangings.
Very creative design team! Also Patrick is quite handsome..
I was thinking you guys are already knocking on retirement age. It was a 12 year project and you'll have another 12yrs to enjoy it before you're a senior citizen. What are you going to move to the 1st floor so it'll be suitable and safer for your age? But then you said that you don't stay there, you just rent it out 2 companies.
I enjoyed the video, what lovely people you are. It's not everyday that we see your kind 💙 More blessings 2 you❣
This video confused me with the floors. They didn’t start it off from bottom to top. I was trying to figure out what floor and what directions lol
This is like a factory not a home imo
That’s everything 👌🏼
I call dibs for when the zombie apocalypse comes.
nahhh
They spent years looking for a water tower to buy, many years renovating it, and then moved after four (I think he said four...) years to be be closer to the children’s school. I usually love conversions of industrial spaces but the behavior here, as well as some of the floor plan decisions, elude me. Of course the views are spectacular, the building lit up at night was as well.
Amazing how much work they put in to convert it into a home but it doesn’t feel homely to me, which doesn’t matter because I will never live there. Hats off to these people though for all the hard work!
They must all have nice legs with all those stairs
There's a lift.
me sitting on the roof top and watching planes all day.
He'd make so much money if he put this place on Airbnb. I'd definitely love to stay a night or two.
I like this new kinda home very much..it gives u a different kind of feeling than living in a traditional home..
This is with out a doubt one of the most unique converted buildings you have shone us. This is awesome I usually like the houses with gardens or trees around. With the views of the surrounding landscape it more than makes up for that. This is very cool,
I'd love living there for four reasons
*1:* I can watch airplanes land and takeoff from the airport.
*2:* I can set my telescope up on the roof and not worry about glare or the headlights of cars going by.
*3:* it is a house built with cats in mind.
*4:* I like houses with a lot of space.
Looked fairly dangerous even for a cat ,do many hard and elevated surfaces .
i mean it looks really amazing, i especially love the bathroom, but living in a house that is spread out across 6 floors seems super impractical...
i'd like to know what one does for a living to afford such extravagance?
probably Air traffic controller! They get paid a lot!!
Pretty sure he's an Architect... he says multiple times his "next design project," y'all really slow, huh.
Architect.
@@jamespaterson5167 wow, you sure sound like the perfect example for an incel / nice guy.
How could anyone dislike this, this is totally where I would live if I had the cash!
If you wrapped a stone wall around this, you'd basically have a medieval castle with modern luxuries.