Inside a Dramatic Victorian Ground Floor Flat in Glasgow’s East End
“We’re not big fans of new builds,” Kieran and Matthew told us when we popped in for a coffee last spring, just before their trip to Japan. “They lack height, storage, and character. Once you’ve lived in a Victorian tenement, you’re spoiled.”
And for these two — with their love of collecting odd and wonderful things from all over the world — you really do need space for personality.
Kieran and Matthew live in a ground-floor tenement in Glasgow’s East End — a colourful, harmonious flat built slowly from second-hand finds, inherited pieces, plants from family gardens, and two clashing styles that somehow make perfect sense together. It’s warm, atmospheric, always evolving, and the kind of home you miss even after three weeks in Japan.
This is where their story begins.
In Their Own Words: Kieran on Thrifting Finds, Maximalism, and Making a Flat Feel Alive
My name is Kieran, and I live here with my partner Matthew. This is our first home together — a ground-floor, main-door tenement flat in Glasgow. We’ve been here for three years.
We fell in love with it instantly. It was way above our bucket list and ticked every single box. I walked in saying, “No, we can’t afford this,” and still fell for it on the spot.
We’re very much an eclectic, maximalist household. People would call it cluttered — and they wouldn’t be wrong. Matthew and I have clashing styles, but somehow they marry together and make sense.
We agree on interiors — mostly. There are debates, and usually one of us pushes harder than the other. But in the end, we always land on something we both like.
There’s no formula for how we choose things. Anything goes. If we like it, we get it — and then spend weeks moving it around until we find the perfect spot.
Finding this flat took us over two months. We viewed a lot, got exhausted, and then this one appeared — perfect from the moment we walked in. And it felt like ours instantly.
We lived sparsely for two years before decorating. There wasn’t much to renovate except the bathroom, so we took our time. When we finally did start, we exploded our personality across every room.
The bathroom transformation was a big one. The previous owners never touched it — it was grey and minimalist. We wanted to bring it back to a traditional tenement bathroom: metro tiles, coving, a high-cistern toilet, and, eventually, a little Art Deco influence.
Next up: the hall. We’re getting a stained-glass front door and Matthew plans to tackle the hall this summer. Once you update one room, others suddenly look shabby.
We attempt a lot of DIY. We can do things ourselves, but Matthew’s dad loves a project and usually beats us to it. He can turn his hand to anything.
For us, it was tenement or nothing. We’re not new-build people, and Matthew would kill me if I suggested a bungalow in our 20s.
The Victorians knew what they were doing when they were building properties. Tenements have height, space, and details — and they definitely stand out for all the right reasons.
