It was three years ago when Mairead Fanning was first charmed by the local gems of east London, from Broadway Market to London Fields. Craving a change of scenery from Queen’s Park, north-west London, where she lived with her partner Phil and three sons, Gabriel, Ennis and Lorcan, Mairead set her heart on Hackney. So, when two flats within a Victorian townhouse on Navarino Road went up for sale, she jumped at the chance to turn both spaces into one light-filled, four-storey home.

The family had their work set out: walls were knocked down and chimney breasts removed to create an open-plan space. Mairead called on the help of her sons: where possible, they renovated the home themselves, perfecting the old wooden floors and painting the walls white. Today, the home plays host to her local business, House of Plants London, where she sells an assortment of hand-size succulents and large leafy houseplants. As her home comes on the market, Mairead tells us of her journey from Queen’s Park to Hackney, the renovation process and what it’s like running a neighbourhood business from home.

Mairead: “Navarino Road is quite special. It’s a tree-lined street with a mix of Victorian houses and housing associations. We were living in a double-fronted Edwardian house in Queen’s Park before and were looking for something a little different. Queen’s Park was quite a rough area when we’d moved there 20 years ago, but it has recently become really gentrified.

“I’d read about east London and lots of different places around here like Violet Cakes. One day, my eldest son and I got the bus down and went to Wilton Way, where there are nice independent shops, and then to London Fields, Broadway Market and Mare Street Market – we just fell in love with the area.

“We saw a house for sale on Navarino Road and I really wanted it. It was so beautiful, but someone had already made an offer. But then the two flats next door went up for sale at the same time – we wanted a big space, so we put an offer in for both of them, with the idea that we would convert them into one house. We were really lucky and both offers were accepted. It’s a semi-detached building from the 1860s and it has lovely steps out the front. I always wanted steps like this.

“When we moved in, the house became a building site. Most of our money went on construction, because we took out all the chimney breasts and loads of walls, and had steels put in. We lived in the upstairs flat while the builders were working on the extension on the lower ground floor, so managed to escape upstairs while the work was happening downstairs. It was a labour of love, blood, sweat and tears.

“We didn’t want to completely gut the house because it just strips the character. We left as much of the original features intact as we could. The floors are the old boards – some of them looked really bad when we arrived but we would fix any holes with bits of wood our neighbour gave us. Now, people say the floor looks quite special.

“After the construction work, anything we could do ourselves we did. We sanded the floors and painted all the walls white. It was really good for my sons to see the process. They were shocked when they first saw the two flats because the whole place was a slum – particularly the bottom space. I would have my sons in the garden digging up the rubble left from the builders and taking it to the dump. We laid turf, which is a nice and affordable way to get a green garden, and used gravel stones to make the courtyard.

“The kitchen and living area on the lower-ground floor is really spacious. We have a big table made from wood to make it feel more natural. There’s lots of natural light too: we’ve got a skylight and large glazed doors that open to the garden. I think there are nine different sources of natural light down there. A lower-ground space can be really dark, but we opened the space up and made sure there would be good lighting coming in.

“We’ve been buying houses for 30 years and have collected three children along the way. This last move I just thought, ‘I don’t want any of my belongings.’ I realised I needed to do a clear out. It just causes problems when you have to carry everything with you – it’s exhausting. We did massive sales on eBay and took things to charity shops. Now, when we move, we really don’t have much stuff to take with us, which is really nice. I mean, it’s the Marie Kondo thing, isn’t it? Now we only have the essentials. It’s so freeing.

“We recently set up House of Plants London. It’s really low-key. We’d previously had a big business and now just wanted to do something local – and it’s really satisfying. We have built up a good little following. We have a stall on Broadway Market on Saturday, or people can come to the house and buy plants from us here. We keep all the plants on the lower ground. It’s nice as we’re so spare with what we have here, the plants stop the place feeling sterile.

“Up until now – before my sons got older and left for university – we would use every scrap of the house. We’d cook on the lower ground floor, where we have sofas and chairs to hang on. The ground floor is where we have the TV and we’d watch films together there. The bathrooms and bedrooms are all upstairs, where the second flat used to be.

“I was quite proud, because I thought, ‘while we’re all there, we’re using this house really well.’ But now there’s only going to be three of us here long-term. Now, Phil and I want to get something for us. We’re looking for a loft space to do up in Clerkenwell.

“We’ve really found a difference between north-west London and east London. East is totally different, it’s much more creative. We moved here and found places like Elliot’s, Violet Cakes and Broadway Market – really, really good quality food. The kids really like it. It’s a cool area for them to be in. I know it’s going to be sad when we move. The house has been amazing.”