This 17th-Century Amsterdam Canal House Is Unbelievably Gorgeous and Cozy
This 17th-Century Amsterdam Canal House Is Unbelievably Gorgeous and Cozy
Louise Snouck Hurgronje is a theater producer (she runs an immersive theater company called Amsterdam on Stage) and an antiques dealer (she’s in the process of co-founding an antiques business called Playhouse Amsterdam). And she says she has a love of “collecting preloved and vintage furniture and knickknacks,” all of which fill the gorgeous 17th-century canal house she’s owned for three years in the center of Amsterdam with Alexander Wijs.

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“When we first entered this house before buying it, it felt like we had stepped back in time,” Louise begins. “The house was in its original state, with all the 17th-century walls and floors, and books were piled high in every room. My partner and I both adore objects with history and fell completely in love with the home and its atmosphere.”
“We have spent the last three-and-a-half years carefully collecting treasures to fill it with. We didn’t want to renovate or alter the house at all; it is precious to us as we found it. Its tiny, narrow little Amsterdam staircase may be considered a death-trap by friends, but these are the details we love so dearly about it.”
Although the couple kept lots of vintage vibes in the space, they say they also “wanted to imprint our own style into the space, but we very much adore the old feel of the house. We have now assembled an eclectic mix of furniture from different centuries and aesthetics.”
“Someone once commented, ‘Nothing Matches, but it works.’ And that is very much how we love to live. Everything has a story — whether it is the bench in the kitchen, which we bought from an antiques dealer in the street, to the mirror, which my godmother gifted us for our wedding. Every room sparks joy for us, and that is the intention with which we fill them,” Louise describes.
Louise says the home’s previous owners had not renovated in the 70 years that they had lived here. “This meant that the house was still completely intact, with all the original flooring and walls. We did, however, have to slightly modernize the kitchen and add bathrooms (they were still of the generation to have sinks in every room to wash rather than proper bathrooms!).”
“Every renovation choice we made was centered around the aim to make it look as ‘old’ as possible — with the result being a kitchen which looks like it has been there forever (according to friends!).”
Resources
PAINT & COLORS
- Dining Room — Farrow & Ball “Yonder”
- Hallway — Farrow & Ball “Babouche”
- Kitchen — Farrow & Ball “Citron”
ENTRY
- Lighting — Pooky
LIVING ROOM
- Coffee Table — Ceraudo
- Sofa Cushions — Gergei Erdei
- Vase on Mantelpiece — Anissa Kermiche
- Cowboys Paintings — Tuftluck
- Small Painting Above Sofa — Claire Dufournier
- Round Vase — Anna + Nina
DINING ROOM
- Dining Room Table + Chairs — Marché aux Puces (Paris)
- Blinds — East London Cloth Company
- Wall Sconces — Shiny Things London
KITCHEN
- Hanging Lampshade — Alice Palmer Co
- Long Sofa Cushion — East London Cloth Company
BEDROOM
- Bed — Loaf
Thanks, Louise!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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