Ons verhaal
Koto is the house that Tamara and Sven spent years turning into a home for travellers — with fijne vingers, a love of small rituals, and a garden that grows a little wilder and kinder every season.
We are Tamara and Sven, and Koto is the house we could not stop dreaming about. For years we walked past this sturdy old place on Miraeusstraat, a short stroll from 't Zuid, and imagined it full of people: coffee on the terrace, children somewhere up in the branches, candles in the garden at dusk.
Turning it into Koto took patience and fijne vingers — fine fingers, the Dutch way of saying care in the smallest things. We sanded, painted, planted and rearranged until every corner felt like an invitation rather than just a room. Nothing here is a showpiece; everything is meant to be used, touched and enjoyed.
The name Koto came to us like a favourite song — warm, a little exotic, easy to say. It is the sound we wanted our guests to hear when they arrive: welcome, sit down, stay a while.
Het huis
The house is older than us and much wiser. Its thick walls, high ceilings and generous windows have watched the neighbourhood change around them, and we tried to let it speak rather than shout.
We kept the bones — the worn thresholds, the deep sills, the staircase that creaks in exactly the right places — and added only what the house asked for: light, plants and room to breathe. Every repair was done slowly, by hand, and often twice.
Because there is a garden in the middle of the city, the house opens at the back to something greener than Antwerp usually allows. That garden set the tone for everything else, and it is still the part we are proudest of.
Onze favoriete kunstenaars
Koto is a small gallery as much as a guesthouse. Over the years we have worked with onze favoriete kunstenaars — painters, makers and collectors we admire — and invited their work into the house.
You will find it in the suites, along the stairs and out in the garden, where art and plants quietly keep each other company. Each piece has a story we are happy to tell over breakfast.
The centrepiece is a 200-year-old Indian arch that we simply could not leave behind; it now frames a doorway like a small piece of another country. In the Azië suite, a golden walk-in shower catches the light all day. And outside, the tropical garden grows taller and more generous every season — proof that if you give a city garden a little love, it will give you a holiday in return.
Het Koto-gevoel
Beyond the suites, this is what a stay at Koto actually feels like — unhurried, green and made for families as much as for couples.
A large tropical garden with a heated outdoor pool, sun loungers and quiet corners. In summer the water is warm and the evenings are long; in the cooler months the garden stays green and calm.
Quietly in your suite or out by the pool — fresh, generous and completely unhurried. It is the kind of morning that makes you cancel your plans and stay put.
Children get their own adventure: a treehouse in the garden and room to roam safely. Koto was built with families in mind, so the kids have a place that is genuinely theirs.
Praktisch & inbegrepen
Een kijkje binnen
Small glimpses of the house, the garden and the details we love most — best seen in person, of course.
Kom je langs?
Browse the themed suites, then tell us when you would like to come. We will take it from there — personally, the way we do everything here.