Fluid shapes and an elegant pastel are the hallmarks of the homeware entrepreneur Matilda Goad’s characterful north-London townhouse
THE WORD ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ IS NOT IN MATILDAGoad’s creative lexicon. ‘We will always find a way,’ she says of her approach to solving an interiors conundrum. The homeware designer is sitting cross-legged on the sofa in the open-plan living space of her three-storey Victorian townhouse in Kensal Rise. To her right is the cult scallopededge raffia lampshade with which she launched her eponymous brand in 2017; surrounding her is a colourful selection of antique furniture.
Chromatics are everything to Goad: the paprika and primrose shades of the sofa we are sitting on match the Cathy Nordström cushions scattered on top, as well as the lacquer of the adjacent television cabinet. Across the hall, the sun-bleached yellow curtains of her bedroom are echoed by the natural cane of her wardrobe and, downstairs, the same denim fabric features on her kitchen banquette and the pouffe in the sitting-room. ‘I love to pick out colours to thread through,’ she says. ‘There has to be some correlation in a room – especially when I am using prints, so that they don’t feel overwhelming.’
Goad and her husband TomCorbett-Winder, the founder of a building-design company, moved to the house five years ago, charmed by its classic features. ‘You see so many properties that have been butchered, but this one had its original cornicing, staircase and banisters,’ says Goad. ‘When I first looked around, the rooms were cluttered, but I could see the potential in its bones. It had so much soul.’
Since then, the pair have been gradually renovating the space, puttingCorbett-Winder’s construction expertise to work. First, they reconfigured the layout, knocking down a wall between the kitchen and dining-room; transforming what was a conservatory into a calm living-room and office; and repositioning the entrance to the main bedroom to allow for more storage.
Recently, they also created the play area on the first-floor landing for their threeyear-old daughter Domino and son August, who is almost one, choosing fabrics with punchy patterns that hide crayon marks, and adding large woven baskets for storing toys. ‘Houses change as life does – we didn’t have children when we first moved in but now we have two – so it’s about making a space work the best for you,’ she says.
The front door and window frames have been painted in Farrow & Ball’s dusky Calke Green, but Goad has mostly kept the walls neutral th
