Matilda Goad’s tricks for decorating a room your kids will love

a woman and a child in a room with a window
Matilda Goad’s tricks for decorating kids’ roomsAlicia Waite

Designer Matilda Goad freely admits that when she and her husband bought their traditional terraced house in London, thinking about how it might function with children in it wasn’t a consideration. ‘I had quite a naive approach to my interiors, I guess!’ she laughs. Before too long, their daughter Domino was born and they realised extra space was needed – it was time to convert the loft.

Today, Domino, now aged three, and her one-year-old brother August have the run (or crawl) of this home’s top floor, with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a large playroom located on the landing. Matilda chose to sacrifice a tiny bathroom and guest bedroom to create this space, which is securely contained behind a tomato-soup red stair gate that feels as much a design feature as a safety one.

a room with a bed and a dresser with a toy car on it
Alicia Waite

‘It’s a funny thing, the stair gate,’ she muses. ‘Sometimes it feels like spending money on that isn’t quite right, but then you think about how it really is part of your everyday.’ Matilda’s husband Tom’s company, Blockhouse Build, crafted all the joinery, including in Domino’s room, which is tucked up under the eaves.

A fitted wardrobe and bespoke bed make the most of every scrap of space, as well as helping to conjure a fairytale-like sense of magic. ‘I thought back to my own childhood and the things that were so exciting,’ explains Matilda. ‘I loved staying with my older cousins or siblings, sleeping in their rooms. We wanted to create this sleeper bed with another mattress in a drawer underneath so Domino can have friends to stay over.’

a bedroom with a bed and a lamp
Alicia Waite

Long and thin, the room is lit by two Velux windows. ‘I’m quite claustrophobic and I wanted to have another outlook, so it’s also got a small circular porthole window that looks into the bathroom,’ Matilda explains. The room is enveloped in a striking Josef Frank wallpaper that is expanded across the walls and sloped ceiling. ‘It’s quite full-on, but I really wanted to use it somewhere and it felt very fitting,’ she adds.

It’s perfect for a child’s room (dense prints seem able to hide the odd felt-tip scribble), but Matilda also chose the design with longevity in mind; the space could evolve into a spare room, study or somewhere for the children to share.

a room with a bed and a shelf with objects on it
Alicia Waite

‘I love having that sense of fun and imagination, but I don’t love stuff made particularly for kids – it dates too quickly,’ she says. The sense of playfulness is down to the styling: pictures, vintage bamboo furniture and toys, carefully arranged by Domino.

When it comes to the endless clutter that children seem to produce, Matilda tries to strike a balance; ‘It’s about having systems in place. I’m a fan of baskets that you can just chuck toys into, but you have to slightly embrace the mess without going crazy.’ Little wall hooks– placed within a child’s reach – make tidying up fun for them. ‘It’s about thinking of things at their eye level.’ matildagoad.com