Inside Kathleen Munroe’s Toronto Loft
I recently photographed Kathleen Munroe’s loft for Toronto Life.
It’s the kind of space that doesn’t fully land on you right away.
At first, it feels quiet. Then you start noticing how everything sits together - the textures, the objects. Nothing is overly styled or calling for attention, but the longer you’re in it, the more it reveals.
The Space
The loft is set inside a former factory, and that history still shows up in subtle ways. There’s an openness to it, but it doesn’t feel cold or oversized. It’s been curated - through materials, through use, through the accumulation of things that clearly mean something. The concrete is still very much there, but it doesn’t feel hard. Kathleen brought warmth into it - wood elements, flowers, small organic touches that shift the tone of the space without fighting its structure. It softens everything just enough.
Munroe moved to Toronto from Los Angeles and built the space gradually. That part comes through. It doesn’t feel like a “finished” interior - it feels lived with. Books, instruments, furniture, and found objects all share the same visual language without matching. There’s a looseness to it that’s hard to fake. One detail that kept pulling me back was the kitchen backsplash. It was designed to feel like the universe, almost cosmic, and it actually lands that way. Subtle, but once you see it, you can’t really unsee it.
The light that day wasn’t doing us any favours. Flat, a bit stubborn, not much natural contrast to lean on. But in a way, it pushed things in the right direction - slowed the process down, made the focus shift toward composition, texture, and the quieter details that might’ve been overshadowed otherwise.
From a photography standpoint, those are always interesting to work through. You’re not relying on the obvious - you’re paying closer attention, letting the space carry more of the weight.
Kathleen herself was exactly in step with the tone of the place. Open, grounded, easy to be around. That kind of presence changes the pace of a shoot in a good way. There’s less friction, more room to observe.
Shoots like this are a reminder that not everything needs to be loud to be compelling. Sometimes the strongest images come from spaces that reveal themselves slowly - where the job is less about directing and more about noticing.
As always massive thanks to everyone who helped make this on so special:
Magazine: Toronto Life
Art Director: Colleen Nicholson
Writer: Amy van den Berg
Crew: Andrew Fleming, Camron Fong
Rentals: Album Equipment
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