SOME places have soul. The Shanghai home of Marcel and Manja van Mierlo is most certainly one of them.

The Dutch couple and their two daughters arrived in Shanghai in 2011 and were fortunate to be able to stay in the New World Shanghai Hotel, where he is general manager, for as long as they wanted until they could find the right place that suited their needs.

“The most important choice we had to make was either living in a compound outside the city or find something downtown. Eventually we let our kids pick their preference and they wanted to live in the city, even though that meant they had to travel a bit further to school,” Marcel van Mierlo said, adding they were lucky to find a lane house in good condition and near his workplace.

“Our criteria was to find something authentic, big and with a good heating system as we had been warned that winters in Shanghai can be cold. It was also important to be somewhere near the hotel so that I can go to work on my bicycle,” he said.

Their daughters are now 16 and 18 years old and needed their own bedrooms, thus space was important and an apartment was never a viable option. This lane house provides plenty of space, even when they have multiple guests staying with them. They got an additional “family member” when they adopted a dog shortly after moving in. The enclosed garden is perfect for him.

“We also love being in a real local neighborhood as in the lane where we live of perhaps a 100 families or so, there are only a couple of expats. There is always something going on outside our house,” van Mierlo said.

The Dutch family has a little walled garden in front of the house where they do barbecues from time to time and they are often pleased to practice Mandarin with neighbors. Most of the houses around them house several households.

The entire house was well renovated shortly before the family moved in. “We love the entire house as it is so beautifully restored and there is really nothing we don’t like about it,” van Mierlo said.

The mosaic floor in the living room and the antique tiled floor in the hallway are their favorites.

The owner has done a great job in creating three nice bathrooms and the attention to detail is fantastic. The door motif is the same on the guest room doors as on the wardrobe doors; the wooden floor is beautifully laid; the wall and ceiling lamps were specially designed and manufactured in Vietnam and the lights in the hallways and upstairs were purchased in India. Everything makes sense from the copper window handles to the cast iron bathtub.

“Our favorite perhaps is the upstairs apartment where we have a beamed ceiling that’s just beautiful and adds character. Everything in the house has been specially designed and I think that the previous tenants were interior designers who helped complete the renovation,” van Mierlo said. “From spring to autumn the house is surrounded by trees that provide lots of shade and give us our privacy which is a luxury in busy Shanghai.”

The only thing the couple has changed in the house are the colors on some of the walls in the kids rooms as they wanted something other than plain white.

Talking about the ambience, van Mierlo said it’s not a specific style they wanted to achieve but more a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. As they are a family of four and have house guests from time to time, it was important that they created a place where everybody feels at home and at ease.

They chose a lot of earthy tones for the upholstery and draperies in the house and they love the upstairs “den” the most. Mostly beige and earthy tones as they find these colors calming and not so susceptible to fashion changes.

When they have house guests they accommodate them on the top floor, where they have a separate living room with rooftop terrace, bathroom and split level bedroom with two double beds.

“Our guests can feel comfortable and completely private from our family when they are staying with us and so far this has worked really well on the couple of occasions that we have had family and friends staying with us,” he said. “It is an apartment ­— within the house — completely self sufficient with only a kitchen missing.”

The family spends most of their winter time in the living/dining room on the first floor but in spring and autumn they almost “live” in the upstairs “den” and on the rooftop as they love being outdoors. The rooftop faces south so during spring and autumn they have lots of sunshine there and spent many days and evenings upstairs.

For furniture, they found a great place on Wuyuan Road where they bought everything they needed. They bought their dining table and stools there but also the matching lamp tables next to the sofa and a desk made entirely of old wood.

“Being a hotelier I am lucky to have been involved in multiple hotel renovations and lucky to find furniture that otherwise I would not have come across. During my time in Hong Kong, I coordinated the renovation of a large presidential suite in one hotel and came across some fantastic Henredon furniture from the USA that has now been with us since 1996. We’ve taken it from Hong Kong to Holland to Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong and now Shanghai,” van Mierlo said.

Ask the owner

Q: What’s the best thing about living in Shanghai?

A: We like having the best of both worlds; it’s still very Chinese but at the same time also very Western.

Q: Describe your home in three words.

A: Comfortable, spacious, authentic.

Q: What’s the first thing you do when you get home?

A: Get changed.

Q: How do you unwind?

A: Lounging on our rooftop terrace with a good glass of wine and Cuban cigar.

Q: Where do you spend most of the time at home?

A: In spring and in the autumn it’s definitely in our garden or rooftop. But in winter, it’s near the heating on the ground floor.

Q: What’s the best view outside your window?

A: It’s the lane that’s just outside our house with 24/7 activity of locals going about their day to day business.

Q: How do you scent your home?

A: We have an aroma incense burner that we use from time to time.

Q: What’s your favorite object at home?

A: I think it’s the various old bells we bought during our trips to Vietnam, Mayanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Q: Where do you source furniture in Shanghai?

A: Wufu Home Furniture on Wuyuan Road.