Thanks! What a nice surprise that we get to see the interior, some rooms I hardly recognize. The Chinese room, the Japanese room and the white dining room look wonderful and unchanged, though the first two seem to have more elaborate carpets. The yellow ballroom seems to have more paintings but otherwise looks the same. One of the paintings they moved there is the large portrait of the children of Willem V and the first Wilhelmina of Prussia; it used to be in the Green Salon. I have seen no photos of the small (white) ball room but I hope it was left largely unchanged.
The
Green Salon seems to have undergone a metamorphosis. I am not quite sure if it is an improvement. The modern wall paintings are a nice idea but the end result seems rather loud and the room feels messy and crowded. Historical portraits of family members seem to have been removed. I wonder if ANP did not misidentify the room because it looks so much smaller at the moment, though the pattern on the ceiling seems to be the same. On a positive note: the new wall paintings seem to have some funny references to the family, I see f.e. the royal cradle. Perhaps it would look better with less furniture in the room.
The library looks rather uninspiring and is lacking books. I do not like the colour scheme at all.
The red-ish (terra cotta?) colour on the walls of the vestibule actually is an improvement and I also like the new modern chandeliers on the ceiling. I believe they are by Studio Drift as I saw lamps with a simular pattern at their exposition in the Stedelijk Museum.
There are two paintings next to the main doors, which could be the portraits of Frederik-Hendrik and Amalia, who had the palace built. If so it is a fitting tribute indeed. On another wall I see the large portraits of Stadholder Willem II and his wife, the first Mary Stuart. They were already there before the renovation. I assume they kept Willem IV - who had the vestibule built- and Anna of Hannover/ the UK on the opposite wall. IMO the changes in the vestibule are a great improvement as it was looking rather empty and severe, more like a protestant church than a palace.
The King and Queen's offices look well enough but not very palatial. I see that the king has a little portrait of William of Orange in his office.
Apparently there is now a DNA-salon, with the wall pattern echoing DNA patterns of members of the RF, I am not sure what was there before. The room actually looks nicer than one would imagine by the name.
Considering the -IMHO- absolutely ghastly job the National building agency did with the Catshuis (house of the prime minister) we should count our blessings and consider that the end result could have been much worse.
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