Period features were conspicuously absent from Becky Nolan and Barny Read’s flat-hunting wishlist. The couple, who run the Peanut Vendor, a 20th-century design store in east London, were living in a Victorian flat but decided a more modern space would better showcase their collections of abstract art and esoteric furniture.
“We were ready for a change from bay windows and wonky walls; we wanted to try an art gallery-style white box,” Read says. They found a two-bedroom flat built in the 1990s to rent and were hooked by its two small terraces, front and back. The flat itself was uninspiring. “It was nondescript and a bit tired, with lots of magnolia,” Nolan recalls. But a quick peep under the beige carpets revealed a concrete screed floor: “We thought that had potential,” Read says.
