See Inside a Colorful Lisbon Apartment with a Global Flair
Two years ago, the apartment of Filipa de Abreu’s dreams nearly slipped through her fingers. She had underbid both the asking price and an aggressive French overbidder on a century-old four-bedroom rental in Lisbon’s coveted Lapa neighborhood. Its 12-foot-high ceilings, crown moldings, and boiserie-detailed walls had been meticulously restored; the large windows and bougainvillea-covered terrace had an uninterrupted view of the Atlantic Ocean. Still, de Abreu informed her real estate agent, “I have a feeling the apartment is going to be mine.” She promptly headed off to India—but not before sending a letter to the apartment’s owner promising to cherish the space. Sure enough, upon her return, the apartment was hers.
De Abreu quickly settled in with her three children—sons Louis, 15, and Antoine, 10, and daughter, Maria, 14—and the family dog, Flynn. “I named him after Errol Flynn,” she says. A bon vivant of the fashion world, she jet-sets from Lisbon to Europe’s bigger cities and New York in her role as a design consultant and brand ambassador for Tory Burch.
When at home, she makes good on that original promise to the apartment’s owner, filling the space with the kinds of memories and decor that make a place unforgettable. She packs every nook and cranny with beautiful things she finds on her travels. And always, her home overflows with friends. De Abreu throws the type of dinner parties where dessert is served to the beat of a live three-piece band—and sometimes is accompanied by the kicks of a troupe of cancan girls. “This house is made for entertaining,” she says. “My way of thanking friends is to show them the best possible evening.”
She can seat 24 comfortably (and often does) around her dining table, which is usually set with green lettuceware pieces designed by Dodie Thayer for Tory Burch Home. Linen napkins at each place setting are embroidered with her guests’ initials. And then there is the striking decor: Presiding over every meal are a pair of tigers and a giraffe hand-painted within a vibrant pink mural. The panels were a birthday gift from de Abreu’s good friend Marie-Anne Oudejans, the Jaipur-based interior decorator (and former designer of the Tocca fashion line). Oudejans, who famously created the interiors of Jaipur’s Bar Palladio, flew to Lisbon from India last year with three painters, including the noted artist Vikas Soni, to create the bold tableau on-site. “The artists painted freehand,” de Abreu says of the project, which took four days to complete.
Because the apartment is a rental, the mural was painted on large canvases that can be taken down should she ever move. “The day I leave, they’re coming with me,” de Abreu vows, and that also applies to the canopied daybed that Oudejans designed for the dining room.
For Oudejans, the dining room’s bold touches were inspired by its ebullient resident. “Filipa is so bubbly and full of glam,” she says of her friend. “Her tablesettings are packed with charm and love, and there are always flowers, fruit, delicious food, music, and lots of Champagne.”
There’s another canopied daybed, this one in blue, in the apartment’s living room—known as the Blue Room. The entire space is furnished with pieces that de Abreu has brought back from such places as Jaipur and the Portuguese beach town of Comporta. A large shell is filled with glass evil eyes, while masses of books are stacked on the floor, since the apartment’s walls are too old and fragile to support shelving. Anything she has, she uses every day. “Nothing is too precious,” she says. “My life isn’t about that.”
It comes as a surprise to learn that de Abreu has never shipped any finds home from her travels. “I leave clothes behind so I can carry everything home,” she says. “If I see a square meter of free space, I think, Ooh, what can I fill it with?” Indeed, in her bedroom, framed illustrations from a John Derian book hang alongside Catholic iconography, and a pair of tiger-shaped chairs serve as nightstands. “Minimalism,” she declares, “is not for me.”
Produced by Whitney Robinson.
This story appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of ELLE Decor. SUBSCRIBE
You Might Also Like
