Buy without looking stylist Roos Reedijk about deviating from the norm, also as a mother

Image: Mark Groeneveld

One day noticed Buy without lookingn stylist Roos Reedijk suddenly: hey, I’m famous. Not that it matters to her. And otherwise husband Wicher and children Loef (12) and Bien (10) will ensure that she remains sober.

While the majority of the Netherlands takes it easy this time of year, Roos Reedijk is already running around like crazy. Not very surprising, because since the start of the successful RTL program Buy without looking – now three years ago – it is actually always busy, says Roos. “The fun things keep coming at me, and since I can’t say ‘no’ well and I’m quickly enthusiastic, I easily go along on that roller coaster. Every day is different, every week is full, I just don’t have enough time to think about everything. Later, when I go through all the old photos, I will probably only see what I am experiencing now.”

Centipede

Roos admits that sometimes she should take better care of herself. “I am a creative, chaotic jack-of-all-trades. That’s nice, but the pitfall is that I often overwhelm myself. When I’m doing something I enjoy I hyperfocus, but as soon as I get a little bored I let it go and jump to the next thing. I have to learn to finish what I’m doing first.”

Especially now that the influx of interesting collaborations is almost unbearable, she says. “At first I happily went from one job to the next, but I am aware that now I really have to choose a direction. It’s nice when everyone likes you, but I can’t really handle it on my own anymore. I need to find a better balance and set a clear vision: what do I like, what do I want to continue, what makes me happy?”

One option is to further roll out her brand and gather more people around her. Although, according to Roos, that is more difficult than it seems. “My work is not rocket science, but therefore not easy to delegate: everything revolves around taste and feeling. Clients ask for my signature and my style. And that is hard to give up.”

Buy without Looking

Roos had laughed at this problem a few years ago. She had a nice, manageable job in the fashion industry. “I enjoyed my work, and the fact that I could occasionally be on autopilot was a conscious choice. My private life was already turbulent enough, with two young children and a man who started his own business.”

When things got itchy, Roos started her own company as an interior designer in addition to her work. Just then came Buy without looking on her path, the program in which Martijn Krabbé helps young couples find their dream home. Because Roos did not aspire to a TV career, she initially proposed to play her role behind the scenes, but things turned out differently: Roos became a well-known Dutchman in no time.

“At the start we didn’t know that the program would become so popular. Because of corona I didn’t realize it either: after all, like everyone else, I was in my own backyard. I saw some commotion on the socials, but it wasn’t until I went back into the world ‘after corona’ that I really noticed it. I remember the first time I was driving on the highway and people in the car next to me started waving and shouting. Huh, what’s going on here? I found that overwhelming, in a good way.”

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Famous Dutchman

Her children Loef and Bien are also increasingly aware of what is going on. “In the village where we live, everyone has known each other for years. But in a new situation it is different now. When my son first started high school, other kids said, “We know your mother!” That was new. Just like the buzz on a market in France. Then Bien nudges me: ‘Mama, they already know you here.’”

They find that funny, but otherwise the family is not impressed. “It helps that my husband also works for television, she is no stranger to that world, Martijn Krabbé comes over here and there are regular cameras in the living room. In addition, my husband is incredibly level-headed. When he hears me explain to someone that I can’t be there ‘because of recordings for RTL Boulevard’ he says: ‘Roos, just say you’re going to work.’ In short: not much is done about it, haha.”

Criticism

She laughs that not everyone is a big fan of Roos. “As soon as you appear on TV, everything you do or say comes under a magnifying glass. ‘What is that stylist thinking!’ Or, very often, “What a funny voice she has!” It doesn’t affect me. I can’t hear myself that I have a crazy voice, and if it is, what can I do about it? I easily ignore that kind of ‘criticism’. I’m sure enough of myself; I know what I’m talking about.”

“It doesn’t affect me when people say: what does that stylist think?”

According to Roos, it is an advantage that she is already ‘a bit older’ and accidentally rolled into the world. “I never consciously chose this career, so if it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t. I’ve also had the same friends around me for years, so I don’t need a new life, I’m already very happy.”

Late bloomer

Roos calls herself a late bloomer. Had this success come twenty years earlier, she probably would have been less sure of herself. “I was a shy girl who didn’t start dancing on the table until she was eighteen. Even during my studies, it wasn’t until the last year that I really ‘turned on’. I come from an ambitious family with brothers who are good at everything, studying, sports, everything. I did it all too, but I had to work hard for it. That made me insecure.”

“I was a shy girl who only started dancing on the table when she was 18”

At the same time, having to compete against her brothers made her strong. “Not only in terms of career or success, but also literally: I was always fooled, beaten up, there was a brother waiting for me on every corner of the stairs. It was loving, but continuous sparring. I was born with the urge to prove, but it was never my mission to be successful. I didn’t have big dreams like my brothers: just let me live a smaller life, I thought, I’ll get there at my own pace, my way.”

Just like her father, also an entrepreneur. “At the age of forty he thought: now I have to do it. Then he started for himself. At the age of forty-five I myself thought: if I still want something in my life, I have to do it before the age of fifty. Buy without looking turned out to be a lottery ticket, but could just as well have been a flop. It is a combination of happiness and faith in life itself.”

Combining old and new

In the program, Roos often faces the challenge of combining old stuff with new. And let that be exactly one of her qualities. “In this I distinguish myself from others, someone who is a interior designer often has a penny to spare. But in most cases there is no money left for a new sofa after a renovation. I just want to show that it doesn’t have to be very expensive. Creativity also goes a long way. Don’t throw away grandma’s old chair, have it upholstered. Also in the context of sustainability, take a look more often at the thrift store or on Marktplaats.”

Roos notices that especially young people want everything new and correct. “They prefer to empty an entire showroom, but there is no personality in that. Moreover: you have to leave something to be desired, something for which you save together, don’t you?” She finds many houses soulless these days. “In my own living room, everything has a story or a memory; an item for which we saved together, a precious birthday present or a pimped lamp from grandma; that makes your house your home. I have a cute pink bench, just from the thrift store, completely cleaned. That makes me happier than something that is delivered new in plastic at home. I am sorry to see that people are not so creative anymore, I would like to help with that.”

Nomadic existence

Searching for beautiful things is not a stranger to Roos. “My parents used to scour the city and country for unique parts for our boat. Until I was ten I lived with my parents and my brothers on an old sea tjalk in Zwolle. My father single-handedly refurbished that boat and made it fully ready to sail – every holiday the mooring lines came loose and we sailed around the world. My parents made clear choices: they spent their money on their passions. So we later lived in a beautiful house, but drove an old car. We didn’t go on winter sports, but saved for beautiful sailing trips to all corners of the world.”

Conscious with money

They taught Roos how to handle money consciously. “I remember friends getting three Levi’s jeans at once, while my mom said, ‘Ask for your birthday.’ The money was there, but I also had to work for it. If I wanted to go on a skiing holiday with friends, I had to save the money myself. It was not a given that my parents added money, although they often did. They paid for my studies, but for all the fun things around it I had a dozen jobs.”

“If my son wants designer clothes, I tell him to look at Vinted”

Roos also wants to pass on that awareness to her own children. “We live in a society where kids are used to getting a lot – I make sure my kids do chores around the house, they don’t just get everything. Now that my son is in secondary school, he suddenly starts talking about designer clothes: ‘Mommy, they all have one of those sweaters with a compass.’ Then I think: hello, do you know what a sweater like that costs, he really won’t get it. I do let him install the Vinted app, so he can see if he sees something cool there.”

The whole article is in Kek Mama 01-2023, available in stores from 3 January.

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