Vogue is selling her Howth townhouse

Asking price: €1.295m Agent: Gallagher Quigley (01) 818 3000

She’s a hugely successful podcaster with a monthly audience equivalent to the population of Ireland (five million and growing). She’s a successful business woman with a sun tanning lotion business and her own clothing line. She’s got a million followers on Instagram. She’s been a model and a television star and she’s a mum to three children under five.

But who would have known that Vogue Williams really wanted to be an architect?

And what would have happened then?

“I always loved old buildings and design. I wanted to do architecture in college but I didn’t get the points so I ended up doing a degree in construction management and design instead. But I’ve never lost that obsession with design. I take a huge interest in interiors at home, whether that’s in Dublin or in London,” (she’s based in Battersea).

Now Vogue has decided to sell ‘Kapiti’, the contemporary three-storey town house that she bought in a half-finished state three years ago and refitted into the ‘contemporary cosy’ pad it is today.

Vogue’s got her eye on a bigger home in the same area. “I can’t say much about it only that I’m really excited. It’s actually the home of a friend of mine and any time I’ve been there I’ve thought it is amazing. I only recently heard that it was going for sale. So that’s where I hope we’re going.”

So why have you just gone and repainted your whole kitchen since our photos were taken? Especially if you know you’re going to be moving? “I know! I just can’t help it! I thought they’d look much better for new owners with the island in sage green and the cabinets in a light shade of powder pink. I’ve just had them resprayed using those tones from the Dulux Heritage range.”

Vogue’s My Therapist Ghosted Me podcast live show, co-hosted with Joanne McNally, has just sold out three out of four live shows at the 3 Arena for this November and another scheduled for London’s Apollo. Listened to equally in Ireland and in the UK, the Vogue/ Jo podcast is now up to three and a half million listens per month. Meantime Vogue and Spencer, her other podcast gig recorded with hubby TV personality Spencer Matthews, is currently clocking a million and a half listens.

Williams has had a long-standing love affair with Howth. Originally from Portmarnock, her family later moved along the coast to the scenic fishing village and in 2015 she bought a two-bedroom apartment there. More recently she traded up to Kapiti, the contemporary three-storey townhouse at Thormanby Road with a big open balcony on the top overlooking the sea.

So how did you end up buying it?

“Well the apartment was a getting a bit cramped. There was five of us living in it including Spencer and myself, our first child Theodore and my sister Amber. We were looking at different properties by the sea and couldn’t really see anything we liked.

“London is so wild. Howth is my special place to relax and recharge. I love the cliff walk and I absolutely have to do it every time I am here. So I was out walking with my aunt and we passed by the house — there was a ‘for sale’ sign up and the door was open. So we just walked in. The second I stepped into the hall I thought ‘I have to have this house!’. Everything just clicked straight away.

“I just liked the look of it, the way it was laid out and that it has a very high energy rating. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate it’s the cold. So it’s cosy all the time.” Kapiti was one of a pair of new builds on the site of an older bungalow and somewhat unfinished when sold, which meant Williams could get stuck in and apply her own magic to it.

“There wasn’t a proper kitchen or flooring, there were no fitted wardrobes, that sort of thing. So the first thing I did was call in Arlene McIntyre from Ventura Interiors. I have worked with her before. I love the look. I wanted ‘calming’. They did all the interiors and they picked out the lighting as well.”

The next call was to Newcastle Design, the bespoke kitchen company working from Rathnew. “Again, I’d worked with them before. I love their stuff and again there’s no messing. They are reliable and they come in and do the job and do it well.

“We had a lot of open space in the hall which I decided to turn into a boot room, which gets plenty of use. And I had the walls panelled to soften them a bit because they had a bare look about them.”

For the bathrooms she went Tile Style. “They just have so many more options to choose from.”

And surprisingly for a successful Instagrammer, there were no contra deals. “Ha ha, no. I paid for it all myself although I did get a 15pc discount with one supplier because I asked. But anyone can do that. The master bedroom suite takes up the whole top floor with those double doors that open right across, and the balcony. I can sit up there and just stare out at the sea. There’s seagulls flying and boats moving back and forth and you just go into a happy trance.”

Since moving in the high-flying couple has added two more children, Gigi (3) and Otto (15 months). Things are hyper busy as usual for Vogue, Spencer, the children and sister Amber who lives with her. “I work from the kitchen with the kids in sight playing on the floor. If I need privacy I’ll go into the living room and I do all the podcasts from the bedroom because you can’t hear any downstairs noise up there.”

Kapiti has an ‘A’ BER rating. There’s a hall with a boot room, a living room, the big open-plan living room/dining room/kitchen leading to the sloped and “very private” rear garden and a downstairs WC.

There’s three bedrooms on the first floor, two of which are ensuite. The family bathroom is also on this floor. And up top is Vogue and Spencer’s space, the big double bedroom with a ‘walk-through’ wardrobe, a luxury ensuite and the balcony. And of course, Vogue’s calming views.

Gallagher Quigley seeks €1.295m.