Interior design: Heinzel De Vries, Efteling Design Team led by Sander de Bruijn
Interior builder: Gielissen
Contractor/furnisher: Vervoort
Room furnishings: custom made; Verpan
Restaurant furnishings: Satelliet & Vervoort in combination with custom furniture; &Tradition
Lobby & Corridors: Serax, Verpan
Terrace and pool furniture: Fermob, Emu, Hay
Lighting: all fixtures are custom made
Photo credits: Chantal Arnts
Combine the rich history of Efteling – the theme park in Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands – with the visual style of a Wes Anderson classic like The Grand Budapest Hotel, and you get a captivating blend in which to lose yourself, much like a fairy tale. This eccentric stylistic signature was chosen by architects Heinzel De Vries for the interiors of the new Efteling Grand Hotel, adjacent to the park, where luxurious hospitality merges with bold, fantastical narrative design.
It’s an enchanting aesthetic magic that encompasses 140 rooms and suites, two restaurants, a café, retail spaces, and a swimming pool, all realized in close collaboration with Efteling’s design team, led by Sander de Bruijn. Guests are immediately welcomed into a theatrical environment where burgundy wood-paneled walls, mint green arches, and black-and-white diamond-patterned marble floors create the first impactful scene.
Both in the structural elements and the furnishings, organic forms dominate, balanced by graphic elements such as the recurring checkerboard floor motif. For instance, Verner Panton‘s voluptuous Cloverleaf sofa is juxtaposed with the more rectilinear Mayor sofa by Arne Jacobsen and Flemming Lassen – design icons that perfectly combine with custom-designed furniture to give each space its own distinct identity.
Delicate curves create a sense of warmth and continuity, in a dynamic ‘motion’ enlivened by materials like marble, terrazzo, wood, and brass, and by an enveloping color palette. This is evident in the four distinct color schemes that characterize the rooms, inspired by views of the surrounding park – from the green tones of the Fairytale Forest to the soft red variations of the Pardoes Promenade.
The deep blue hues of the bar restaurant and the intense reds and soft pinks of the brasserie further exemplify this. Playful details invite a visual treasure hunt, with family-friendly solutions including child-height sinks and the cascade of key-lamps in the lobby. It’s an imaginative world where the boundaries between entertainment and hospitality blur into a harmonious and intimate atmosphere.
