Born Margaret Macdonald, at Tipton,[1] Staffordshire between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, her father was a colliery manager and engineer.

[5] She began collaborating with her sister Frances, and in 1896 the pair worked from their studio at 128 Hope Street, Glasgow, where they produced book illustrations, embroidery, gesso panels, leaded glass and repoussé metalwork.

[7] Yet she was celebrated in her time by many of her peers, including her husband who once wrote in a letter to her, "Remember, you are half if not three-quarters in all my architectural work ...";[9] and reportedly "Margaret has genius, I have only talent.

Reception of the work was mixed, and it was commented that the gaunt, linear forms of the Macdonald sisters' artwork – clearly showing the influence of Aubrey Beardsley – were 'ghoulish' and earned them the moniker 'The Spook School'.

They also created a set of illustrations for William Morris' Defence of Guenevere that was recently re-discovered in a special collections of the University at Buffalo.

Many of these were executed at the early part of the 20th century; and include the Rose Boudoir at the International Exhibition at Turin in 1903, the designs for House for an Art Lover in 1900, and the Willow Tearooms in 1902.

[16] In 1902, the couple received a major Viennese commission: Fritz Waerndorfer, the initial financer of the Wiener Werkstätte, was building a new villa outside Vienna showcasing the work of many local architects.

Gleeson White wrote, "With a delightfully innocent air these two sisters disclaim any attempt to acknowledge that Egyptian decoration has interested them specially.

[20] For instance, immediately following the 1896 opening of her Glasgow studio with her sister, she transformed broad ideas such as "Time" and "Summer" into highly stylized human forms.

Her grandest work is the Seven Princesses, three wall-sized gesso panels showing a scene from a play by the same name, by Maurice Maeterlinck.