For eight years, a busy family lived in their home without ever finishing it. Artwork stayed on the floor. Bags, toys and work things drifted into every open space. When they bought a larger townhouse on the Grindweg in Hillegersberg, four floors and 327 square metres, they made one decision up front. This time the interior would be designed properly, before they moved in. Their brief to Masters of Interior Design was refreshingly direct. If you do not force us to make choices, the walls will still be empty ten years from now.

So the work began with people, not with plans. Marc and Sven mapped the family's routines through the MasterPlan Methode©. Late arrivals in the evening, the burst of energy after school, the moments the family wants to be together, and the moments each person wants to be alone. One insight shaped everything that followed. Keep the living level calm and open, and move everything connected to arrival, departure and play to the souterrain.

The souterrain now carries the daily traffic. A semi outdoor kitchen at the entrance holds coat hooks, bags and shoes. A playroom of more than forty square metres has dark flooring, a boxing bag, gym mats, a craft table and space where Lego is allowed to stay. Laundry and storage keep the household running out of sight.

The ground floor is the hub. An open plan is divided into clear zones by columns, built in cabinetry and sight lines. At the front, a fireplace wall five metres wide and two metres high holds the fire, the television and the wood. At the rear, full height glazing opens to the garden. Running the full width is a theatre stair, an element nobody asked for. It became the most used spot in the house, a sitting landscape that grows toward the light, used for reading in the morning and drawing in the afternoon. The kitchen sits behind columns, present but composed, with a bar at the island and a large dining table under Karman pendants.

Upstairs, the main bedroom has an en suite bathroom with a freestanding solid surface bath and Mutina Déchirer tiles. The three children's rooms are personal all the way to the ceiling. Jungle wallpaper for the youngest, a glowing constellation above a loft bed for the middle son, and soft pink with rose gold for the eldest daughter, with a double desk for friends.

The result is high end living with children, where function and style strengthen each other. As the family puts it, this is what an interior should do: it makes life on your own terms possible.