Author Melanie Cantor lives in perhaps the most remarkable one-bed flat in North London.
Located on the first floor of a Art deco-era mansion block in Brondesbury ParkStepping inside you are transported to the opulence of a Moroccan riad through the splendor of the stately palazzo.
“It looks like a jewelry box,” says Cantor enthusiastically, who acquired the pied-a-terre last spring. The entrance to this otherwise unassuming gem is covered from skirting board to ceiling in glossy, cobalt blue tiles, while the quartet of doors leading outside is a mix of mirror and panelling.
“I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but it suits mine 120 percent. Normally when I move somewhere I do it all over again, but this was just a paint job – it was bliss,” says Cantor, a 60-year-old publicist turned agent and novelist. (She’s also a maximalist with an eye for design, who had a brief stint in the early 1990s presenting a Channel 4 show that creatively highlighted Britain’s messiest homes).
Aside from the fresh paint accents, this apartment’s aesthetic whimsy is thanks to its previous owner.
The late Peter Twining was a respected antiques dealer who ran a legendary shop on King’s Road in the 1960s and 1970s. After its closure, he headed the antiques department of Soane Britain, the chic, rattan-focused brand beloved by Carrie Johnson (who asked its famous co-founder, Lulu Lytle, to renovate the interior of 11 Downing Street).
Twining was an avid collector of books and World of interiors magazines – in which his home played the leading role – and his collection flowed from the open shelves he created in the living room to the mini-library in the bedroom and even to the oven-less kitchen.
“I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but it suits mine 120 percent.”
Melanie Cantor
When Twining died in 2022 at the age of 86, the flat was bequeathed his interior designer friend Christopher Hodsoll, which sells rare furniture from a boutique on Portobello Road. Hodsoll and his wife listed the property with Inigo, The modern house sister agency specializing in historic houses, and it ended up in Cantor’s inbox via a newsletter.
Like many others, she is ‘obsessed’ with the discerning real estate agent’s advertising and editorial output. “I thought, I gotta check this place out, 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 with it.”
Somewhat symbiotically, Cantor was finishing her second novel, The F*** It Listat the time of completion.
The main character, Daisy, is an interior designer who falls in love with a hotelier through a mood board. When their romance doesn’t go according to plan, Daisy takes control of her own destiny and searches for a sperm donor.
“The things that matter to Daisy are the same to me: f*** it, do it, live it – don’t wait for things to happen to you, let them happen, I really believe that,” says Cantor.
With this being her 21st property, she certainly practices what she preaches.
“F*** it, do it, live it – don’t wait for things to happen to you, let them happen, I really believe that.”
Melanie Cantor
A serial mover, she got onto the property ladder in East Finchley with her ex-husband in the early 1980s, back in the good old days when all you needed was a few thousand pounds for a deposit. They renovated a wreck and sold it for double the price. Although flipping houses was never intentional, “we built up our equity and I became addicted,” she says.
Over the years she bought and sold in France the Cotswolds and Mayfair.
When a house broke down in Rye, she ended up in Dorset, where she now spends more than half of her time.
But she always had the privilege of maintaining a base in London and landed in NW6 when the journey from Clapton – where she had only had a flat for 18 months – back to her country retreat proved difficult. When does she start to itch? “The thought process starts after about two and a half years, and I can push it away. But when I look on RightMove…’ she disappears.
With so many renovations under her belt, Cantor knew instinctively how she would decorate this place.
The green in the living room was a shade she used in Clapton, but which she could not enjoy long enough. The contrasting coral (Neptune’s rhubarb) is a far cry from the neutral beige that Twining had used.
“I’ve been getting braver,” she says, “but I didn’t want to do too much because I feel like I’m the manager of this flat on behalf of Peter. It has his mark on it, and now my footprints.
‘I feel like I am the manager of this flat on behalf of Peter. It has his mark on it, and now my footprints.
Melanie Cantor
The lounge color scheme is a combination she loves and is featured on the cover of The F*** It List.
The projector and screen she inherited in the living room were an invitation for Cantor to use the two fold-down cinema seats Orange Otter design. Under one is the apartment number, on the other is ‘Author’. “It’s brand new [this job] – I feel like a novice author!” she says enthusiastically. On the shelves are several metal white light boxes, commissioned by Twining, two of which have the unusual shape of beehives.
In the bedroom, the brick-effect paneling and turquoise tiled walls further demonstrate Twining’s creativity. A clever detail are the deep shelves above the brass-clad doors, which provide extra storage space.
After playing with a bright palette, Cantor chose the soothing shades of Solstice from artisan paint brand Atelier Ellis. “I just wanted some peace and quiet here,” she says. Generous in size and flooded with light, the bedroom houses the aforementioned library nook that Cantor has since redecorated with a clothes rail and hidden with a printed curtain.
Outside is a vestibule with a microscopic wardrobe (possibly housing the few clothes Twining had), a drying cupboard and the bathroom. The bathroom is clad in Carrara marble and is a testament to timeless, classic design. All Cantor added the wicker shower screen and a matching medicine cabinet.
The writer gets decor inspiration from interior design magazines and Pinterest, and likes to browse in second-hand stores.
“I feel so grateful. I wake up here in the morning and there’s a really good, strong energy.”
Melanie Cantor
She also favors the Netflix real estate hit Selling Sunset: “I find it quite useful as a novelist, as a writer, to see the best and worst of humanity performing. I love it because you look at women, and a lot of them are very sharp.” But it’s purely about entertainment and less about decorating aspirations: “What’s enough for these people – why do they need nine bedrooms and 16,000 bathrooms?” she laughs.
Cantor’s happy place is being surrounded by her collection of beautiful things – glassware and mugs are a weakness. “There’s a part in the book where Daisy says big doesn’t matter, and I’m the same way. You don’t have to be big to be beautiful,” she says of her 40 square meters of living space.
Cantor’s weeks in London are much quieter than those in Dorset.
She travels with her dog, Mabel, and enjoys walks through Queen’s Park, trips to the theater and even manages to cook dinner for friends on the two-burner hob. “I feel so grateful. I wake up here in the morning and there is a very good, strong energy. I feel really privileged to be able to live in this small apartment.”
She is working on her next book and writing by the living room window. “What inspires me is the sense of contentment I have here, and that makes me feel happy as I immerse myself in the worlds I create.”
Will that sense of fulfillment be enough to keep her here for now? “I don’t want to speak out of turn. But I feel like this is a forever home.”
The F*** It List, £8.99, is published by Penguin and comes out tomorrow.