Interiors: A cut above the rest

Jan 31 2008 by Debbie Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

It was love at first sight when Andrea Gatrill walked in to her Henry Street apartment. Debbie Johnson reports

ANDREA GATRILL moved back to Liverpool from working in Dubai last year – and knew immediately that she would be living in the city centre.

The hair stylist had spotted there was a gap in the market for an experienced and reliable hairdresser to service the hotels and apartments that had sprung up, and that she might as well live here, too.

She says: “Initially, I stayed at my mum and dad’s in Formby while I looked for somewhere. I looked at what felt like hundreds of apartments, but I was looking for something special, something quirky, something with a bit of character.”

Andrea despaired of finding the right place – until she went to view an apartment in The Mill, in Henry Street.

She says: “It’s a refurbishment of an old mill building and has retained loads of its original features. I knew as soon as I saw it that this is the place where I would be living.”

She also set about building her business, HairAngels, by introducing herself to the major hotels and to apartment dwellers like herself.

She says: “All the major hotels in Dubai offered hairdressing services, and I thought it was needed here. So now I am the registered hairdresser for high-end hotels like the Malmaison, the Radisson and the Hope Street Hotel.

“I also contacted people who live in apartments. My main market is professional women who have demanding jobs and work all day – I go to their homes in the evening, so they don’t have to use their rare days off work sitting in a salon. It’s gone tremendously well.”

Living in Henry Street gives Andrea the convenience of being able to potter around the city centre visiting her clients – and dealing with the occasional “hair emergency”.

She says: “I did get called out at 8.30 in the morning on the day of Ringo’s big concert, because his PA needed her hair doing.”

The apartment she lives in has a wealth of original features, such as exposed brickwork, steel girders and character windows.

The open-plan lounge and kitchen/dining area is a large room, with a balcony adding to the feel of spaciousness. There is a colour scheme of neutral tones, browns and creams, throughout the apartment – but with bright slashes provided by some of Andrea’s personal touches.

For example, in the lounge she has a piece of original artwork – a combination of a shattered mirror and a painting, in vivid red tones.

The kitchen is in terracotta and comes with the usual conveniences, including, in Andrea’s case, a boyfriend who cooks. She says: “He spends a lot of time here obviously, and he does most of the cooking.”

The bathroom is cream, with cream tiles, and lots of nice candles to add to the soothing atmosphere.

The bedroom is again painted in neutral tones, with cream carpets, and pink and grey bed linens. It also houses the main reason why Andrea decided to move in: “The window in there is just so beautiful,” she says, “I know it sounds silly, but I really did fall in love with that window! It’s all the separate little panes of glass, it’s just got so much character!”

The location is also a big plus point with Andrea. She says: “Even though we are near to all the bustle, Henry Street itself is actually really quiet, you don’t get much noise or people going up and down it. There are a couple of nice restaurants, Jalon’s Bridewell and a great new one called La Cubanita which is lovely. But there are also things you need, like a doctor and a chemist in Rope Walks.”