Marooned like a Tardis in the centre of Sharon Horgan and Jeremy Rainbird’s family home is a rose gold mirrored cube that straddles the front room and a kitchen extension at the back. Surely it is a magnet for fingerprints? “Absolutely,” says Rainbird. “It gets polished every day.” It contains a toilet, a larder and a cupboard for each member of the family: Rainbird, Horgan and their daughters Sadhbh, 14, and Amer, nine.
The rose gold is a nod to the sunset skies of Los Angeles, where Rainbird and Horgan – whose TV writing credits include Catastrophe, Divorce and Motherland – have spent a good part of the past five years. Catastrophe was based on the couple’s unplanned pregnancy six months into their relationship. “We had a lot of discussions about the cube,” says Rainbird, 44. “Sharon said it looks like Stringfellows [nightclub]. But we love it.” Rainbird sold his advertising business in 2013, the year they bought their home. “That’s when Sharon’s career went bananas,” he says. “It’s just as well I’d stopped working, otherwise the family might have imploded.”
But Hackney, in east London, is home. Both Horgan and Rainbird were born here. “I remember the rag and bone man,” he says. “There are generations of families still living in this street. Our late neighbour was born in our house.” But gentrification is rife. “We are part of the problem, no doubt. It’s an economic imbalance.” All the work on the house was carried out by local companies: Rainbird, who now runs a property development company, met architect Steve Sinclair (fourthspace.co.uk) at the school gates. They have just developed a nearby derelict pub.
Fourthspace excavated the back of the house, sinking the floor to create a 4.5-metre-high ceiling. The couple wanted an LA warehouse feel to the kitchen, with exposed brick, industrial lights and graffiti-inspired art. Vintage metal seats, attached to an island, swivel disconcertingly. A pivot door leads to the garden where, at the back, a stable door leads to a common.
The house’s existing hallway was removed, leaving a small lobby with black Crittall windows and mustard-yellow curtains. Upstairs, Sadhbh and Amer share a bathroom, with yellow tiles and the odd Space Invader. A family bathroom has recycled antique mirrors and a shower clad in Spanish tiles. The attic houses a bed and an office, where Horgan works. But Rainbird’s favourite room is the kitchen. “It’s my chef’s kitchen – you’re never more than an arm’s reach away from a knife.”
House rules
Most treasured possession Our Polly Morgan taxidermy robin, from early in her career: kids are mesmerised by it.
What would we never see in your house? Anyone who voted leave.
What are you saving up for? A mid-century house in the Hollywood Hills.
Worst home habit People – not me – opening cartons of juice and milk before finishing the last one.
Guiltiest pleasure Good wine; food delivery.
Last house guest We don’t have many, because we are really antisocial. But last of note was Carrie Fisher, in 2016. She was inspirational and hilarious.
