TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

Seventeenth-century origins meet vibrant contemporary design in a cleverly reimagined Amsterdam canal house

- Mary Weaver

'We decided to create this house purely to suit us,' says designer Thomas Geerlings of his 17th-century canalside home in Amsterdam. I didn't want to think about its future value, nor whether it would be trending on Instagram it was just about what we loved and what we needed.' His wife Danielle, who runs a fashion agency, was totally in step with this vision. 'In fact, she was the main inspiration she wanted a home that was outspoken and flamboyant, not all good taste, tone-on-tone colours,' he adds.

Thomas' skill is in bringing to life the intrinsic history of a building and merging it with unexpected materials, artefacts and furniture to create a whole that is harmonious yet deliberately a little off kilter.