A Place of Many Parts

Nick and Zoe Bullen both work in television production and their home, furnished with inherited pieces and finds gathered on their travels, reflects their storytelling skills

- HUGH ST CLAIR

Nick Bullen's house is furnished with beautiful antique furniture because his parents had no interest in it. 'I grew up surrounded by bent chrome, smoked glass and plastic, he smiles, explaining that his parents commissioned a modern house in 1970, with an interior that could have come from the set of a 1960s Bond film. Although they had inherited lots of furniture via family connected to 19th-century Liverpool business people, his parents placed it all in storage.

Some years later, when Nick and his three brothers wanted to furnish their new homes, they discovered a treasure trove of beautiful 18th- and 19th-century mahogany rosewood furniture and artefacts, including sets of Victorian dinner plates and large brass lamps. 'My brothers and I loved what we found; none of us went for the mid-century style,' he reflects.