When artist and designer Morag Myerscough came across a three-storey pub in Hoxton in 2005, she didn’t think twice about buying it. It was just the canvas to create her “own little world”, with room to live upstairs, a generous roof terrace and two huge, light-filled studio spaces downstairs. Over the last 15 years, Morag, who shares the space with her artist partner Luke Morgan, has put her typically bold stamp on the house, enlivening corners with geometric patterns and even building a colourful library during last year’s lockdown.

As the house comes onto the market, she tells us how she’s added her own layers over the years and why it’s surprisingly easy to keep the balance between work and play.

Morag: “I’d been living in Clerkenwell and working at a studio nearby, but I eventually decided that I wanted a place where I could both live and work. I was looking in an estate agents window one day and saw an advert for this place. The building was covered in graffiti, but I liked the look of it with big square rooms and good lateral space. I’d grown up in a terraced house in Holloway, which had really put me off that kind of linear, narrow living.

“I walked inside this house and it was total love. It was empty and although it required quite a lot of imagination to make it work, it was my absolute dream home. The main building is Victorian and had been a pub up until the 1970s when it was bought by a car designer. They built pubs to last, it had thick walls and felt good and solid.

“The living section is spread mainly across the first and second floors and I loved the big L-shaped living area upstairs, with a kitchen at one end and five windows spread across two sides of the building. There is a south-facing terrace above this and because the building is on a corner, you get a huge sky, which is quite a rare thing in London.

“Downstairs, there were two massive studio spaces at the back with four-and-a-half-metre high glazed pitched roofs, which had been added on at some point in the 1970s. The back one had a large roller shutter door that you can drive into – presumably a remnant from its days as a car designer’s workshop, but something that’s been very useful for Luke and I when moving our artworks around. There’s also a big basement, which is excellent for storage.

“The building was quite a bit beyond my budget, but I wanted it so much and managed to stretch myself to eventually buy it in 2005, almost a year after I first saw it. It was such a big achievement for me because I came from a family who never bought anything.

“I worked for Terence Conran for a while and I remember him once saying that buying his place in Hungerford in his early forties was one of his most amazing achievements. I felt quite proud that I managed to buy this place at 42.

“At some point it had belonged to Tom Watkins, manager of boy band East 17, and we found some of their memorabilia in the basement and shelves labelled with their name. We think he must have reconfigured and rewired the house at some point in the 1990s, because it was in relatively good shape. Just before we moved in, it had been a stone masons, so one of the studios was jam-packed with marble.

“I’d completely ripped my house in Clerkenwell apart, but this didn’t really need that. We’ve just added layers and given it our touch slowly. I can’t bear to throw anything away, so when I had a lot of leftover London Plane tree boards from a project, we decided to replace the floorboards in one of the top floor rooms. It still had the original floors, but they were covered in this terrible black tar that just wouldn’t budge. It’s a really lovely space now and we’ve built in a seating area, surrounded by lots of plants. We call it the ‘Summer Room’ as it opens onto the terrace through bifold doors.

“A lot of people think that every surface of my home will be brightly coloured, but a lot of walls are actually white and it’s taken me a long time to put my own work in the house. I like white space and modernist furniture, which I’ve been collecting for years. My most treasured possession is a Danish sofa in the living area that pulls out into a single bed, which I bought from Twentytwentyone about 20 years ago. For years I kept it in the original fabric, but it then got quite horrible so I covered it in a yellow cloth.

“I don’t buy as much as I used to, but when I do I’m not really interested in big names. I inherited a teak table recently after my mum died. She bought it from Heal’s years ago, and I love the simplicity of the line.

“Our bedroom, which is at the back of the house, is completely curtained in grey felt. Luke is a big believer that you should sleep in dark rooms and it’s incredibly calming and quiet. It’s a lovely place to sleep.

“Even now, there are just pockets of rooms that reflect my identity as an artist. We built the colourful library during lockdown in what is a very decent sized entrance hallway. I’d originally kept my books in the back studio space, but when Luke moved into it in 2017 from a rented workshop in Bethnal Green, I decided this would be the perfect place to keep them all. I drew up the plans three years ago, but it wasn’t until lockdown when lots of our projects were postponed that we found the time. Luke didn’t have an escape! I’ve now put the books on them, but I almost liked the block coloured shelves left bare!

“I painted the terrace facade during lockdown with bold, geometric patterns and colours. I love being out there as it’s an absolute sun trap. Luke was out there all of the last summer, getting as brown as a berry. I am happiest when it’s summer and I’m out there growing tomato plants. I love watering them every morning. I’m obsessed with plants and decided to fill our dining table with them in lockdown as a stand in for people. It all got a bit much though, so I’ve spread them out around the house now.

“Each bit of the house has a different language, which makes every corner feel interesting. Overall it feels comforting, but each space has quite a unique atmosphere. It could work for one person living alone or for a family – nothing about it feels unmanageable.

“I’ve always been able to separate my work from the surroundings in which I live, and it’s been amazingly easy here to keep the two quite distinct. We tend to keep the space quite open, but the living and studio areas have two front doors so you can recreate a commute if you wanted to. We use the main pub part on the ground floor as an office and small gallery space. Double doors then lead on through to the two studios.

“I love working in my studio and having natural light throughout the whole year. Being in there makes me feel better, even when it’s raining. I’m painting a lot more now and it’s brilliant for that. Luke’s studio has a mezzanine level, which offers great light for his screen printing too.

“I never thought I’d sell this place, but if we don’t do it now we’ll end up staying here forever. I’ve always made gardens wherever I’ve lived, but now I’m craving a big one where I can grow things and let our dog Elvis run around. This is the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, and it feels like the right time to find a new environment.

“We’re thinking of moving west, which will be a huge change as I’m a born and bred north Londoner. I’ll miss the really cool restaurants and chatting to our neighbours in the park while I walk Elvis. I love the urban-ness of this area – you’re cheek to jowl, but at the same time have space and everything is so accessible.

“We want to pass this on to someone who will make it their own and love it as much as we have. We’re not precious about it though. It offers so many possibilities – the front could be turned into a shop, restaurant or gallery. It’s just ready for another layer now.”