How an architect and an antiques dealer fell in love … and completely redesigned a tiny flat

Richard Curtis couldn’t have written it any better. Newly single architect Jenny Fleming moved into Kevin Palmer’s street just before the first lockdown hit in March 2020, unaware of what life-changing events were in store for her. Spotting Kevin’s curtains had been closed for several days, and worried he had been struck down by the virus, Jenny stuck a note through his door to check he was OK. “Kevin replied to say that he had Covid but he was all right – and we began messaging from there,” says Jenny.

Post-pandemic, their relationship blossomed, but the couple felt it was too soon to start living together. However, Jenny did ask Kevin for a second opinion on a flat she had spotted for sale. It was a rare find: a one-bedroom flat on the fifth floor of Keeling House, a 1950s Grade II*-listed modernist building in Bethnal Green, east London, designed by Denys Lasdun, creator of the National Theatre building.

This formerly L-shaped sofa was an eBay find, split in half and reupholstered in leather to mimic an expensive design from Heal’s.

Jenny walked past Keeling House on the way to work (she is director of architecture and design practice Carter Fleming) for almost a decade and had always admired it. And the flat’s bijou proportions – just 33 square metres – meant it was within Jenny’s budget and seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

“It has this great south-eastern aspect overlooking the city skyline and the light is beautiful throughout the year,” Jenny says. “However, it looked like a dental practice – white tiles, white walls and a shiny, white kitchen.”

Jenny enlisted Kevin’s help to rip everything out and start afresh. The pair removed a plethora of unnecessary boxing, and discovered three different floors had been laid on top of the original throughout the entire flat. But just as they were getting into their groove, work came to a halt after Jenny received a shock diagnosis. Doctors had discovered tumours on her spinal cord, which had to be removed immediately to avoid paralysis.

Inspired by overhead luggage racks on train carriages, a space-saving parcel shelf replaced the bedroom’s fitted wardrobes.

With the flat in an unliveable state, Jenny moved in with Kevin temporarily so he could nurse her while she recovered from surgery. Gradually, Kevin’s influence as an antiques dealer at Palmer Sinclair started to soften her “architectural purism”, and her previous notion of a bold primary colour scheme became more tempered. Although one design choice that remained steadfast was the joyful yellow kitchen. “I’m a massive Columbo fan,” Jenny says, “and I was inspired by this fab acid-yellow kitchen belonging to murderous food critic Louis Jourdan.”

Keeling House’s aspect and Jenny’s love of modernism gave the building strong appeal.

Functionality and space-saving were critical in such a small space and the “wall of yellow” cleverly conceals the appliances, as well as offering oodles of internal storage. Off the kitchen island sits a lower-level surface that serves as a desk and as a table for two with a view, while a half-height wall separates the living space. The pair found an L-shaped sofa on eBay for £90, resold one half of it and reupholstered the other in leather to recreate a Heal’s design Jenny had fallen in love with but couldn’t afford.

In the bedroom, the couple saved space and cash by replacing the cumbersome fitted wardrobes with a floating “parcel shelf” – an idea inspired by train carriages – that makes the space feel more intimate. In the bathroom, pink walls soften the grey tiles and terrazzo floor, while wall-hung sanitary ware creates a clean, uncluttered look. Throughout the flat, a peppering of vintage knick-knacks and 20th-century artwork reveal Kevin’s influence and add character.

The bathroom’s pink walls soften the grey tiles and terrazzo floor.

As the project progressed, so did Kevin and Jenny’s relationship. “We realised that we wanted to live together permanently, plus we got a dog, Twiggy the whippet, which definitely changed things,” says Jenny. She sold her apartment and they moved in together. Before long, they also started work on Kevin’s 1830s home. “It wasn’t the plan, but we’re now renovating the entire house from top to bottom!” laughs Jenny.

Keeling House was designed to replicate the sense of place and belonging felt between neighbours living in Victorian terraces.

True to form, the project hasn’t been without its challenges – to reinstate the cornicing, the whole ceiling had to come down as it was so uneven. Still, the pair remain undeterred, with plans to renovate the basement-level kitchen-diner and living space, before adding a hammam-style bathroom to the cellar. “The more things that get flung at us as a couple, the better we are. We’ll always keep going,” says Jenny.