House of wool
Clever use of colour and texture have transformed this terraced property into a warm, welcoming home
Adding colour and texture to a Victorian terrace
‘Inever really make plans,’ says textile designer Katie Mawson. ‘Things just seem to happen spontaneously.’ What prompted the family’s move back to her native Cumbria was the fact that Katie’s son Oscar was approaching school age. However, although she and her husband Chris were looking for a rural location, prices for country properties were high at the time and so they found themselves buying a home in the Cumbrian market town of Penrith.
Built in 1860, the four-storey terraced property that has been their home for the past 10 years originally formed half of a Victorian school. Fortunately, the previous owners had done some structural work to get the house into good shape, so Katie and Chris simply knocked the ceilings out on the top floor and moved them up to the rafters before putting in skylights to create two airy bedrooms and a bathroom under the eaves.
They did, however, have to do a lot of stripping back. ‘I’m a clean-line, white-wall sort of person,’ says Katie, so the red paint in the dark basement had to go.
‘Katie loves to inject colour with bold blooms’
A few coats of Old English White by Crown Paints – used frequently throughout the interior – did the trick, bringing a lighter feel to the space that is now the family’s cosy kitchen and dining room, with its woodburning stove, terracotta floor and cheery mix of rustic wooden furniture and cool, contemporary plastic chairs in bold colours.
Upstairs, on the first floor, there are two stylish sitting rooms. Both have a calm feel, with vintage furniture, prints and paintings displayed against pale walls, but offer different options for relaxing. One has honey-toned wooden boards, an open fire and the only new piece of furniture in the house – a 1950s-style sofa from Habitat – while the other, its floor painted in the delicate pink-tinged Setting Plaster by Farrow & Ball, accommodates the family’s books and a sound system. Two mid-century oak-framed armchairs also catch the eye. Due to be thrown out by friends, they were rescued by Katie and Chris, who stripped back the dark wood and reupholstered them in a subtle green fabric.
In fact, most of the furnishings are second-hand. ‘I like things that have had a life, where you can see signs of their history on them,’ says Katie. The eclectic pieces the couple have acquired over the years have come from a variety of sources; Katie prefers ebay whereas Chris likes the cut and thrust of car-boot sales, flea markets and charity shops. But despite their passion for vintage finds, the house has a curated feel. ‘I enjoy collecting things, but I don’t like clutter,’ says Katie. ‘It’s a difficult balance to get right.’
She generally finds pattern too fussy so, apart from a couple of kilims in the sitting rooms, her choice of textiles leans towards the plain. But this absence of decorative distraction adds to the sense of stylish simplicity throughout, and is more than compensated for by the abundance of brilliant colour. Creating a vibrant trail throughout the house, Katie’s bright, felted woollen accessories in her favourite grassy greens, fiery oranges,
‘Textures, shapes and colours provide inspiration’
cobalt blues, piccalilli yellows, tomato reds and plummy purples bring uplifting, energising hits of intense colour to every room – from eye-catching cushions and throws to patchwork blankets for the beds of whippet Archie and lurcher
Joey, and even dramatic striped knitted curtains on some of the windows.
‘I like colour in a very clean, pure way,’ says Katie. She has an instinct for putting together striking combinations and cites the simple geometric abstraction and colour blocks of innovative Bauhaus designer and weaver Anni Albers as an influence, along with the work of the St Ives School of painters. The artist Winifred Nicholson lived nearby when Katie was growing up and the soft-glowing colours of her work made a lasting impression.
Katie’s interest in wool dates back to her teenage years when a friend’s mother taught her to spin. She then gathered enough sheep’s wool from fences on country walks to knit herself a tank top. She went on to study textile design at Camberwell College of Arts and has since knitted everything from socks to ‘very 1980s’ jumpers, children’s clothes, fashion accessories and, more recently, covetable items for interiors.
She and Chris run their small designer knitwear company from home with a hands-on approach and incredible attention to detail, carefully felting pieces for extra softness in a dedicated washing machine. Chris modestly refers to himself as a ‘scribbler’ and is also the domestic linchpin that, as she gratefully acknowledges, enables Katie to concentrate on the creative side of things. Also expert with a needle and thread, Chris finishes many of Katie’s distinctive lambswool hats, scarves, gloves and homeware by hand in his studio on the middle floor of the house.
Katie’s own studio is situated at the end of their garden and it’s there that she works on new designs or experiments by ‘doodling’ on her knitting machine. Shelves are stacked with vivid cones of fine two-ply merino yarn from a mill in Yorkshire, while the walls act as mood-board-cum-nature-tables with their array of dried seed heads, vintage buttons, delicate leaf skeletons and old sewing notions. ‘The textures, shapes and colours provide inspiration, even if not directly,’ says Katie.
Always on the lookout for ideas, she keeps a sketchbook to hand.
‘I find a beauty in all kinds of things – fragments of plastic, metal and wood, rusted objects and beachcombed finds; they all go into the mix and can provide the starting point for a design.’
This spontaneous, organic approach, which has given rise to a flourishing business and a beautiful home, seems to have served her wonderfully well.