House

HOME SWEET HOME …or… OOST WEST, THUIS BEST

I moved here in May 2012 to keep close to the vibe of the old city centre, enjoy the bustling activity on the canals, and be close to work.

Here’s the view of the Brouwersgracht from the window in my flat located in the centre of Amsterdam:

LOCATION

I live at the corner of Brouwersgracht and Prinsengracht, on the sunny side of the canal with a view over this lively intersection and the Noordermarkt (with its great Saturday market). It’s a 10 minute walk from Amsterdam Centraal Station, eight minutes from the Anne Frankhuis, and 15 minutes from Dam Square on foot. Behind the house is Haarlemmerstraat’s cafes, shops and an Albert Heijn 50 meters away (although I prefer the Jumbo 150 m away behind the Noorderkerk). Here’s the view of the two canals from my place:

THE SPACE

The entire flat is about 100 square meters and is in a former cod liver oil factory built in 1891. It was still in operation through 1974 by Smit & Zoon, and thus today the interior is modern and industrial with a lacquered brick floor and painted brick scalloped ceiling. There’s no fishy smell today! The two bedrooms have carpeting.

Enter on the Brouwersgracht up one flight of 15 steps through the shared entrance (three other flats are above me). This flat is on the first floor. The front door opens to the living area and open kitchen, which in total is about 50 m2.

Here you have the view over the canals and sunshine reaching the front of the living room as you can see below:

The open kitchen has white marble counter tops, an oven, toaster oven, dishwasher, and large refrigerator. Cooking often as I do, I spend a lot of time here:

There are two bedrooms. One is a dark small room with a new and comfortable double bed (160 x 200 cm), closet space, and drawers. It has no windows but I’ve had many a good night’s sleep here:

The other bedroom is larger, with windows, a 180 x 200 cm bed, and lots of closet space. Both are in the back of the house and provide peace and quiet at night. Here are two angles of the larger bedroom:

There is a separate toilet in the hall. Next to the toilet is a spacious room with a bathtub and clothes washer (no dryer) and a huge mirror on one wall:

I’m lucky with all the space; there’s even an office space in the big corridor. It’s a non-smoking and pet-free place, and stays very quiet for the nieghbours after 22:00. There is absolutely no storage, unfortunately, so I’m slowly getting rid of more and more “stuff.”