SAVAGE BEAUTY

A COLOURFUL LISBON APARTMENT REFLECTS its VIVACIOUS OWNER, Design Consultant FILIPA DE ABREU

- NANDINI D’SOUZA WOLFE

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 neighbourhood. Its 12-foot-high (approx. 3.7 metres) ceilings, crown mouldings, 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.