by Author Melanie Cantor lives in possibly the most impressive one-bed flat in north London.
Located on the first floor of the Art Deco-era block mansion in Brondesbury Parkto step inside to be transported to the opulence of Riad Morocco through the splendor of the majestic Palazzo.
“It’s like a treasure box,” enthuses Cantor, who got his hands on the pied-a-terre last spring. Indeed, the entrance to this otherwise unassuming seed is wrapped in glossy, cobalt-blue tiles from skirting board to ceiling, and the quartet of doors leading off is a mix of mirrors and panels.
“I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but it suits me 120 percent. “Usually when I move into a place I completely redo it, but this was just a paint job – I was happy,” says Cantor, a sexagenarian. publicist-turned-agent-turned-novelist. (She’s also an upperclassman with an eye for design and, in the early Noughties, enjoyed a brief stint presenting a Channel 4 show that took a creative look at Britain’s ugliest homes).
Aside from the fresh pops of paint, this apartment’s aesthetic uniqueness is owed to its previous owner.
The late Peter Twining was a prominent antiques dealer who ran a prominent shop on King’s Road in the sixties and seventies. After its closure he headed up the antiques department of Soane Britain, the chintzy, rattan-centric brand beloved by Carrie Johnson (who famously asked his co-founder, Lulu Lytle, to renovate the interior at 11 Downing Street).
Twining was an avid book collector and World of Interiors magazines — in which his house was starred — and his collection spilled out from the open shelves he had made in the living room into the mini library in the bedroom and even in the kitchen without any oven.
“I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but it suits mine 120 percent.”
Melanie Cantor
When Twining died aged 86 in 2022, the flat was left to dear interior designer Christopher Hodsoll, which sells rare furniture from a shop on Portobello Road. Hodsoll and his wife listed the property with Inigo, Modern Houses a sister agency specializing in historic homes, and landed in Cantor’s inbox via a newsletter.
Like many others, she is “obsessed” with listings and the editorial output of the savvy estate agent. “I thought, I have to go see this place, and here I am.”
The sale went to sealed bids; when she finally met Hodsoll, he told her: “Oh, my god! Peter would love you. He would be very happy.”
Something symbiotic, Cantor was finishing her second novel, The F*** it Listtime of completion.
The main character, Daisy, is an interior designer who falls in love with a hotel over a mood board. When their romance fails, Daisy takes control of her own destiny and seeks out a sperm donor.
“The things that are important to Daisy are the same to me: f*** it, do it, live it – don’t wait for things to happen to you, make them happen, I really believe that,” says Cantor.
As this is her 21st property, she certainly practices what she preaches.
“F*** it, do it, live it – don’t wait for things to happen to you, make them happen, I really believe that.”
Melanie Cantor
A serial actress, she got on the property ladder with her ex-husband in the early eighties in East Finchley, back in the good old days when you only needed a few thousand pounds for a deposit. They restored a wreck and sold it for twice the price. Although it was never intentional to move houses, “we took our equity and I got stuck in” she says.
Over the years she bought and sold in France, the Cotswolds and Mayfair.
When a house fell through in Rye, she ended up in Dorset, where she now spends more than half her time.
But she has always been privileged to keep a London base, and landed in NW6 when the drive from Clapton – where she owned a flat for 18 months – back to her country retreat proved difficult. . When does she start to feel like it? “The thought process starts after about two and a half years in, and I can push it away. But if I start watching RightMove…” she trails off.
With so many renovations under her belt, Cantor knew intuitively how she would decorate here.
The green in the sitting room was a shade she had used in Clapton but she had not enjoyed it for long enough. The contrasting coral (Rhubarb by Neptune) is a far cry from the neutral beige used by Nascáil.
“I’ve become braver and braver,” she says, “but I didn’t want to do too much because I feel like I’m the keeper of this apartment for Peter. It has her stamp on it, and now, look for me.”
“I feel like I’m the custodian of this flat on Peter’s behalf. It has her stamp on it, and now, look for me.”
Melanie Cantor
The color scheme of the lounge is a mix that she really likes, it’s featured on the cover of The F *** It List.
The projector and screen she inherited in the living room prompted Cantor to commission the pair of flip-up cinema seats from Orange Otter Design. Below is the apartment number, the other reads ‘Author’. “It’s brand new [this job] – I feel like a brand new author!” she enthuses. On the shelves are several white metal light boxes commissioned by Twining, two of which are in the unusual form of beehives.
In the bedroom, the brick-effect paneling and turquoise tiled walls further showcase Twining’s creativity. A smart detail is the deep shelves above the brass-clad doors, which offer an extra storage perch.
After playing with a bright palette, Cantor chose the rich Solstice tones of craft paint brand Atelier Ellis. “I just wanted peace and quiet here,” she says. Generous in size and flooded with light, the bedroom contains the aforementioned library reserve which Cantor has since outfitted with a clothes rail and concealed with a printed curtain.
Off this is a vestibule with a microscopic wardrobe (which may contain the few clothes Twining had), an airing cupboard and the bathroom. The en-suite is clad in Carrara marble, a testament to timeless classic design. All Cantor added the reed shower screen and coordinating medicine cabinet.
The writer finds decorating inspiration from in-house magazines and Pinterest, and enjoys rummaging through thrift stores.
“I feel so grateful. I wake up here in the morning and there is a strong, very good energy.”
Melanie Cantor
She is also involved in Netflix real estate Selling Sunset: “I find it very useful as a novelist, as a writer to watch the best and worst of humanity in action. I love it because you’re looking at women, and a lot of them are very sharp.” But it is purely for entertainment and less about decorative desires: “What is enough for these people – why do they need nine bedrooms and 16,000 bathrooms?” she laughed.
Cantor’s happy place is being surrounded by beautiful things – glassware and mugs are a weakness. “There’s a part in the book where Daisy says that big isn’t important, and I’m the same. You don’t have to be big to be beautiful,” she says of her 40 square meter living space.
Cantor’s weeks in London are much quieter than those in Dorset.
She gets along with her pooch, Mabel, and enjoys walks around Queen’s Park, trips to the theater and even manages to cook dinner for her friends on the two ring road. “I feel so grateful. I wake up here in the morning and there is a strong, very good energy. I feel very privileged to live in this small apartment.”
She is working on her next book, and she writes by the window in the living room. “What drives me is the sense of satisfaction I have here, and that makes me happy as I immerse myself in these worlds that I create.”
Is that sense of fulfillment enough to tie her here as far as it seems? “I don’t want to talk about each other. But I think this is a forever home.”
The F*** It List, £8.99, is published by Penguin and out tomorrow.
