When Fearghas MacGregor was picking his way through the few, dismal apartments in central London that he could afford to rent in 2011, he looked so miserable that the real estate agent showed him a flat that hadn’t yet come on the market. It was in the King’s Cross neighborhood, an easy commute to his job as a general insurance actuary and within walking distance of the School of Oriental and African Studies, where his American-born wife, Regan Leahy, was studying for her master’s degree.

ImageThe homeowners enjoy their living room bar cart.Credit...Anna BatchelorImageTwo tones of paint do the work of paneling. The coffee table rises and expands for dining.Credit...Anna Batchelor

But the fifth-floor apartment was small — just 430 square feet. The kitchen stove had three tiny burners, and there was a sticker on the oven, “as if it was new,” Mr. MacGregor, 37, recalled, although it obviously wasn’t. The sticker read: “Made in West Germany.”

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The couple nonetheless signed the lease and moved in. Eight years later, they were able to buy the place for 465,000 British pounds (about $581,000 at the time), and to think about investing in a renovation. They hadn’t gotten much further than fixing up the hallway, though, when the pandemic hit.

ImageA vintage sideboard inspired the living room’s complementary red hues.Credit...Anna BatchelorImageThe early-20th-century building is rife with fireplaces.Credit...Anna BatchelorImageVinyl records are stashed in an upholstered bench.Credit...Anna Batchelor

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