Good Taste with Todd Nickey

From the balcony of Todd Nickey’s house, hidden somewhere high up in the hills of Pasadena, the landscape looks a bit like Tuscany on a sunny morning, a palette of vibrant greens, reds, oranges and scorched browns melting into a cloudless sky; chickens clucking and a steady breeze rolling through the cypress trees.

It’s a really nice house.

A much-sought-after interior designer and the co-founder of the furniture and homeware shop, Nickey Kehoe, Todd is someone who practices what he preaches. “I started out as more of a stylist,” he says, Carol, a rescue doberman, lounging in the California sunshine by his feet. “It kind of morphed into interior design, and then opening a store and designing furniture. I've always loved flea markets and auctions and collecting things. I think I collected so much that I had to start selling it, because it was becoming a little crowded.”

Nickey’s eye for beautiful objects is clear to see in the home that he shares with his husband Greg and Carol the dog. A labyrinthine Spanish villa, there’s an Aga in the kitchen and beautiful art—picked up along his travels—hanging on the walls. The garden is shaded by native trees and desert flora. A landscaped oasis. 

“It’s funny,” says Todd, “when I was 30 I had no idea what I was doing or what my future might hold, but I suppose I’ve always had a knack for curation. My parents used to be terrified to leave me alone in the house, because I would rearrange all of the furniture by the time they came back!”

“My view is that, when it comes to your home and your own taste, everything is up for interpretation. It's always nice to walk into someone's house that feels like real people live there. Sometimes you go to a house and it can feel a bit like a gallery.”

“That’s always the aim when it comes to my own spaces and the ones that I work on for my clients. That they feel like home.”