Artistic Endeavours: a creative couple’s garden square apartment
Words by Hannah Nixon
It’s little surprise that Kevin Mackintosh and Daryl McGregor have a flair for creating beautiful vignettes filled with beguiling objects. Building their respective careers as a photographer and a set designer for storied publications and fashion brands including Vogue, Gucci and Hermès, they’d grown tired of the fast-paced bustle of their former home in Hoxton and had started to crave greenery and calm.
“It was not in a good way,” recalls Kevin of his first impression of their raised ground floor apartment in St John’s Wood. While the interior might have been off-putting, the expansive French doors opening onto the private residents garden provided the connection to nature they desired. Equally important was the ceiling height which cleared over three meters, “When we were looking, the prerequisite was that it didn’t have low ceilings,” says Kevin, “When you go into stucco apartments, they have such a feeling of scale and proportion.”
Having ticked the necessary boxes, the couple embraced the idea of a full renovation and set about reinstating its Victorian bones. Restoring the original fireplace and cornicing, they cleverly extended the doorways in width and height to give even more of a sense of spaciousness and generosity. “Necessity drove the design,” explains Daryl, “we played with the tricks of scale and made it feel like you can breathe in a smaller footprint.”
It also helped that Daryl was able to work with his set design team on the project, “they knew what I liked in terms of proportion,” he says, “I’m lucky in that I just measured up, did drawings and they priced everything for us, from the cabinetry to the new floors.”
Practicality played a large role in the bespoke joinery that runs throughout the home, “Storage comes first, and then you make it look interesting.” says Daryl. Nowhere is this balance more evident than in the kitchen, where floor-to-ceiling open shelving houses, not just pots and provisions, but a vibrant collection of treasures gathered from their travels and from frequent returns to their native South Africa. It’s a rich and personal display infused with colour, character and soul.
Having worked together on countless creative projects over the years, Kevin and Daryl have filled their home with mementoes from past shoots. One of the most treasured is a circus-style ‘H’ light, now mounted above the chimney breast, originally constructed for a campaign they worked on with Hermès.
Lighting, unsurprisingly, plays a central role in the apartment’s design. A 1990s portrait of Kate Moss by Corinne Day for The Face is gently illuminated by wall lights picked up in Paris, while the rest of the room is set on dimmers. “You can leave it to the photographer to fiddle with everything all the time,” says Daryl with a smile. “I’m used to that on set, so at home, he gets all the lighting he can play with, and I have no complaints.”
One of the most enveloping elements of the home is its jewel-toned palette. Walls, skirting and cabinetry are painted in varying finishes of Farrow & Ball’s Inchrya Blue in the living room and Danish Green in the kitchen. The deep, tonal layering lends the apartment a warm, cocooning glow. “There’s a softness to the colour,” says Kevin. “Because the main feature of the apartment is the garden, you’re constantly looking out at lush green tones. Using them inside creates a sense of continuity.”
Now, after many happy years, the couple are preparing to move on. “We’ve loved living here,” Kevin reflects. “It’s incredibly quiet, even in the square. People come to sit or have garden parties with their kids. It’s been a very happy home for us. But now we’re ready to find something new to pour ourselves into.”
