伦敦东区鲍尔出租公寓的改造之旅

The Peanut Vendor is a vintage furniture and design dealer established by Barny Read and Becky Nolan in 2008. Its shop in Bow, east London, holds a covetable stock of mid-century and late 20th-century pieces sourced on the continent; a visit there might feature an original 1960s Olivier Mourgue Djinn chair, a Mario Bellini sofa or a sculptural lamp by an unknown maker – we’ve always loved the unpredictable mix.

A short walk from their showroom, Becky and Barny’s home, a rented flat overlooking the Hertford Union Canal and Victoria Park, proves a natural extension of their shop floor, serving as a depository for a revolving mix of surplus stock, pieces they want to live with for a while and things they’ve collected over the years. Here, they share their secrets for how to upgrade a rental flat, tell us about the joys of gardening and why their plans for minimalist living went awry.

“We’d been together for about a year when we started The Peanut Vendor. We were in our early twenties, we didn’t have any commitments and just liked the idea of doing something for ourselves.“I don’t think we thought about it that much, we just bought and sold stuff we loved or were interested in and I don’t even think we had any aspirations for it to be about design in the beginning. It’s something that just came naturally and evolved over time, as we did.“It was a completely immersive experience. We learnt to buy and sell old furniture and then we started getting into more well-known pieces. It’s crazy that you don’t really understand how you develop the knowledge for it, it just comes naturally as you learn on the job.“We were in Finsbury Park before, not far from our old shop on Newington Green Road. We lived in a flat in a Victorian building with huge windows, lots of light and spacious rooms. It was great, but we needed a garden, mostly for our dog, Cooper. After dealing with the commute to Bow for a while, we decided to move.“I don’t think we had ever considered a place like this while we were living in a period flat. Our only criteria, though, was that, if we were going to move, it had to be special. We didn’t know what that would be, so we were up for seeing everything, which led us here.“It didn’t look like this at all, but we came in and saw how the garden runs down to the canal, with Victoria Park on the other side. It’s a unique position, and we knew we had found something special.”“Looking out onto the park is quite rare in London. To be able to stare out of your apartment and see blackness, as if you’re in the countryside, is pretty special. And there’s lots of fish and“It’s a rental, so we haven’t done anything major, but we made a deal with the landlord that we would only take it if we could make changes. We got her over to the shop and explained what we wanted to do, and it was a bit of a win-win for both sides (assuming she likes what we did!).“You don’t need to own a furniture store to make a rental a bit nicer, though. We just thought about design ideas for rentals that would be easy but effective. So, we ripped up the brown carpets everywhere to expose the concrete floors, which we lacquered for a nice quick Brutalist fix. We changed the kitchen worktops, all the door handles, all the fixtures and fittings for the lights and changed the curtains in every room.“It was only cosmetic and not super expensive but it’s changed the whole feel of the place. Most of what decorating a rental apartment is about is just creating a blank canvas. From there, we could display the pieces and things that we like.“The life-changing thing has been the opportunity to grow things outside. It’s so good for your mind. Last year we went nuts for vegetables, which is just so pleasing. But now I’ve scratched that itch and I’m starting again; I want to see flowers this year. Hopefully, by the end of the summer it’ll be looking lovely.”“The relationship between our home and shop is quite fluid. Some things we put in here and think we’re going to have forever, but then we might find a replacement eventually. The nature of the way we buy and sell stuff means we inevitably stumble across something and think, ‘I’ve got to have that’.