Interiors: City centre home’s a sister act

Feb 28 2008 by Debbie Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Debbie Johnson visits the perfect pad for a night owl

HOLLY STAMPER lives the life of a night owl – with the perfect home base to curl up and sleep in. The 21- year-old cocktail waitress works long evening hours, and, on top of that, has an extremely active social life of her own.

She says: "I work Thursday to Sunday evenings. We finish at about 2am on Thursdays and Fridays, and then tend to go out for some food and a few drinks.

"On a Saturday, I don’t finish until 5am, and even then we sometimes go and get a Chinese!"

When she finally does get home from work in exclusive Liverpool bar Kingdom, or from a night with her friends, she is to be found in her two-bedroomed apartment in the East Village, Duke Street.

The popular location offers Holly a great base for her lifestyle – she can walk to and from work, and all the bars, restaurants and cafes in town are within easy reach.

She previously worked at a bar in Concert Square, and that area is still where she likes to socialise. She says: "I’ve always worked doing this kind of job and I love it. I just really like meeting people and having a good laugh. Kingdom is great because the staff that work there are like a big happy family, we have a lot of fun, and also the clients are really nice as well."

Originally from Childwall, Holly made the move to the city centre when her sister, Jocelyn, had a spare room in her flat. Her previous house-mate moved to Ireland, which left a vacant room.

The two get on like a house on fire, so it seemed logical for Holly to join her.

She says: "We get on really well, it’s great living with her. We go out together a lot, as well as share a place. Neither of us can be that bothered with cooking, so we tend to go for meals quite a bit."

Jocelyn, 26, is a youth worker in Bootle. She gets the bigger bedroom with an en-suite shower room – but Holly gets the larger main bathroom to herself!

She says: "Jocelyn’s bedroom is a bit more pink than mine! Mine has cream walls, and is quite uncluttered and simple, with black and red bed linens. It’s nice having the big bathroom – it’s quite plain and simple, white tiled and tidy."

The lounge has wooden floors, and a large balcony with floor to ceiling glass doors. The balcony overlooks the plaza below, which Holly says is great for people watching: "When the weather is nice, it is a sun-trap on the balcony. You can sit out and look at the fountains and the restaurants and watch the world go by."

The room has a brown couch, flat-screen TV for the girls to watch their soaps on, and is decorated with a hand-painted Rolling Stones canvas that a friend made for them. The kitchen and living room are separated by a short partition wall, but you can see from one room to the other. There is also a white dining table and chairs.

The kitchen, Holly admits, is the least-used room – in fact, she’s even uncertain about what is in there! It does come with nice silver appliances and wooden units. But cooking is clearly not a priority in Holly’s life – when there are so many other things to do.

She says: "I am always busy, with work or going to the gym or socialising. Luckily, I don’t need a lot of sleep, so even if I work late, I still get up early. And living here means I can walk everywhere, which keeps it nice and simple."