Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park N4

Fold back both pairs of tall French doors, opening onto Juliet balconies, and this two bedroom second floor flat becomes half living room, half tree house, with pale limed oak underfoot and a wall of green leaves just beyond the rail.

Calm, light and beautifully finished, this two double bedroom flat has been put together with a restrained, architectural eye. Soft putty tones, glazed tile and wide whitewashed boards set a serene mood from the moment you walk in. It’s a home that asks very little of you, ready to take on your books, pictures and favourite pieces.

Life here centres on the open-plan kitchen, living and dining room, which runs to over 18ft. At its far end two sets of floor-to-ceiling French doors open onto Juliet balconies. On warm days all four doors swing wide so the room meets the branches of a mature tree outside, with a slim vertical column radiator standing neatly between them. Wide-plank oak flooring in a pale, limed finish runs throughout the flat.

The kitchen lines one long wall in handleless cabinetry, finished in a soft putty shade that sits somewhere between stone and linen. Gloss white metro tiles form the splash back, washed in warm light from spots set beneath the wall units. A dark speckled worktop holds an under mount Blanco sink with a chrome swan-neck tap and a flush black glass hob. A built-in oven and combination microwave are stacked at eye level, while floor-to-ceiling larder units keep the everyday out of sight. Our favourite detail is the column of open wine cubbies built into the end of the run, within easy reach of the dinner table.

The bathroom is the flat’s most characterful room. Duck-egg blue glazed metro tiles wrap the walls and catch the light like sea glass. There’s a full-size bath with a thermostatic shower and glass screen, a wall-hung WC with concealed cistern and a chrome heated towel ladder. A mirrored cabinet is set into a recess lined in warm mushroom tones.

Both bedrooms are doubles, finished in the same pale oak boards and soft white walls. The first is lit by a tall timber sash window framing the branches of a street tree. The larger bedroom has a useful recess beside the door, well suited to a wardrobe or a dressing area. A separate storage cupboard off the hallway takes care of suitcases, coats and the vacuum.

Fonthill Road has a story worth knowing. Laid out in the 1880s as a street of shops and light industry, by the 1980s it had become the place for bridal and occasion wear, with buyers travelling from all over the country for its show stopping gowns. Around a hundred independent fashion shops still trade along a short stretch behind the station. Islington Council now protects it as a specialist fashion cluster. The photographer Don McCullin grew up at number 40, and his first great black and white pictures were of local gangs in the 1950s.

The Neighbourhood: Finsbury Park

Few addresses in London sit this close to so much. Finsbury Park Station is a few minutes’ walk away, with Victoria and Piccadilly line services plus Great Northern and Thameslink trains into the City and West End. At the top of the road, the William Butler Yeats is a handsome Victorian corner pub whose sign is based on a celebrated 1911 photograph of the poet. On nearby Perth Road the ivy-clad Faltering Fullback is a true local institution, loved for its rambling split-level garden.

Just behind the station, the Park Theatre turned a disused office block into one of London’s most respected off-West End stages in 2013. Its two café bars are popular with laptop-toting locals by day. Finsbury Park itself, with its boating lake, tennis courts and summer festivals, is a short stroll away. The independent cafés and restaurants of neighbouring Stroud Green begin just beyond the railway bridge.