Real Weddings: Keelin and Darren tie the knot overlooking Dingle Bay
Real Weddings: Keelin and Darren tie the knot overlooking Dingle Bay

Shayna Sappington

Let me tell you why a mother is the perfect employee
Let me tell you why a mother is the perfect employee

Dominique McMullan

I broke up with my boyfriend and now I have bangs
I broke up with my boyfriend and now I have bangs

Edaein OConnell

WIN a family pass to Emerald Park this Easter
WIN a family pass to Emerald Park this Easter

Shayna Sappington

This peaceful Victorian-era Galway home is on the market for €1.65 million
This peaceful Victorian-era Galway home is on the market for €1.65 million

Sarah Finnan

How to recreate 90s skinny brows without plucking out your eyebrows
How to recreate 90s skinny brows without plucking out your eyebrows

Holly O'Neill

A definitive guide to the very best Irish-made Easter eggs
A definitive guide to the very best Irish-made Easter eggs

Sarah Gill

Supper Club: Peanut soba noodle salad
Supper Club: Peanut soba noodle salad

Meg Walker

18 interiors finds under €50 to refresh your home this spring
18 interiors finds under €50 to refresh your home this spring

Megan Burns

This Co Meath self-build blends with its rural surroundings, and has a clean and modern interior
This Co Meath self-build blends with its rural surroundings, and has a clean and modern...

Megan Burns

Image / Editorial

The Apartment


By IMAGE
31st Jan 2014
The Apartment

The front of the house was built around 1890 while the rear of the building is older and is thought to date back to around 1790.

See More Photos

When Dubliner Peter Shaffrey and hubby Kevin Warwick spotted a canalside apartment with high ceilings in a gorgeous gabled building right in the centre of Amsterdam, they couldn’t believe their luck. It had been empty for months and was exactly what they were looking for.

?The apartment sits on the fringes of the city’s hectic red-light district – not everyone’s idea of a dream home – but the couple loves the vibrancy of the infamous quarter. ?I think this area is really up and coming,? Peter says. ?They are trying to clean up the neighbourhood and it’s gentrifying quickly.?

It has been a fascinating road to Amsterdam for these two designers. Peter, who trained in fashion, now works as an interiors stylist. He met Kevin, who was working for John Rocha, at a friend’s party in Dublin in 1998. For the next few years they travelled across Europe, dividing their time between London, Paris and Amsterdam following Kevin’s work as he pursued his lifetime dream to work in menswear fashion. ?We loved our time in London and Paris,? recalls Peter with a smile. ?But Amsterdam really feels like home.?

It took them six short months to renovate the apartment, which involved knocking down walls, rewiring, re-plumbing and plastering every wall. Today their home combines simple design with strong colour, plenty of natural light and a spacious open-plan layout.

However, it is Peter’s eye for detail that adds brio and style to their charming home. ?I just love to go wombling,? he says with a hoot of laughter. ?I’m always looking for things. I often buy something and have no idea where I’m going to put it, but I know that it’ll eventually look good somewhere.?

Photography by Mark Scott