Words Kate Jacobs
Photography French + Tye

“When you meet someone who sees the world in the same way as you, it’s an extraordinary thing,” says Erica, Head of Design at design house Toogood Clothing, which she co-founded with her sister Faye. “Early on, Thomas was our design director, creating everything for our first Paris Fashion Week – from hangers to structural rails.

“Thomas and I realised we shared a love of obsessive details. When we were working together, we were able to effortlessly visualise things in 2D, then 3D, and then back again, all in a fluid motion. We see everything with the same goggles,” enthuses Erica.

They’ve since poured their joint creativity and diligence into every place they’ve chosen to live. “We work together when making our homes,” explains Thomas. “Erica is my sounding board. Her technical skills and her mind are very similar to mine, it’s just that her output might be an object or a sculpture that you wear, while mine might be a building. It’s the same process and journey – applying the materiality, refining the detail and making it personal.”

In this case, the couple’s focus was the radical reimagining of this late-Victorian terrace, tucked away in a peaceful area of east London, just south of Victoria Park and close to Mile End tube. “The location has been a godsend for getting around, along with the magic and charm of the independent coffee shops, bars and little organic stores in the area,” says Thomas.

As an architect and interior designer, Thomas is the founder of the RIBA award-winning Atypical Practice. “We bring a considered, holistic approach to design across all scales of project. In the case of this house, it was all about understanding the different challenges of the space and using its constraints to make those elements shine,” says Thomas.

To elevate the relatively modest outdoor space, Thomas approached its L-shaped layout – a side return and small back garden – by creating two distinct courtyards, each featuring the same brick-like textured tiles as the kitchen. “These are two outside rooms with two different experiences; the one to the side of the kitchen, accessed by a triptych of bi-fold doors, serves as an extension of the kitchen and living areas; while the one to the rear is more separate, a quiet space to retreat into,” says Thomas.

Then there’s the rear living room – often a neglected space in a typical Victoria terrace. The pair designated it as a spacious dining room, linking the kitchen and living spaces and cleverly opening it up onto the entrance hall. “It was the perfect gesture to introduce that space – once the most forgotten room, now the heart of the house,” says Thomas.

The living room at the front of the house opens off the dining room via double doors and has been closed off to the entrance hall. By ditching the door, the couple have created more space for furniture. “We can open the whole ground floor up or create a cosy snug in winter. It’s now a sequence of spaces where the whole family can find their own spot, but still chat to one another,” says Thomas.

The couple were lucky that the house’s period features were all intact – including fireplaces, door surrounds, skirting, cornicing and ceiling roses. “I love them, but I wanted to acknowledge them quietly, so that they didn’t create borders and thresholds within the space,” says Thomas.

Muted tones was also the brief when it came to the home’s colour palette, with the whole house painted in two closely related Atelier Ellis shades, ‘Cloth’ and ‘Cass.’ Both are warm, earthy neutrals and the latter shares its name with the couple’s six-year-old son. “As a couple, we pride ourselves on bringing out the beauty in the raw, humble and unbleached – the bones and the beginnings,” says Erica. “Those honest base materials have always been at the fore of both of our works. Leaning into that in this house means that purity comes across,” adds Erica.

The kitchen was designed with efficiency in mind, with spaces for three core functions: “clean, cook and prep”. The carefully considered details include a wide hob separate from the oven, “So that two people can easily inhabit the same area and cook a roast together,” says Thomas.

They took a similarly thoughtful approach to creating Erica’s home studio. “What I found beautiful in this house is that Thomas will work at a small, humble desk in a corner somewhere, but he has created the most wonderful work space for me,” says Erica. “With a bespoke pattern-cutting table, it’s an environment where I can feel completely at peace and totally focussed on my work. It’s a beautiful thing to feel like somebody understands how you want to work and can provide that kind of space.”

Erica’s studio is located in the second bedroom. “It’s south facing, and all that sunshine beams in. Like many Victorian terraced homes, that second bedroom has a view of the garden. You don’t hear anything from the street and you’re cocooned in the centre of house. This gives me a sense of safety and enables me to go anywhere with my work. I often feel much more secure in smaller spaces, where I can feel the walls around me,” she explains.

And the couple’s curated approach filters down to every object in their home. “Even though we’re in the industry, we don’t continuously buy or collect,” says Thomas. “Our approach is ‘buy once, buy well’, and we like a mix of things that are organic and hand-made. We’re very blessed to be surrounded by a huge community of like-minded designers and creatives.”

“For us, there’s no hierarchy between the humble and the elevated pieces in our home,” says Erica. “Our inquisitive natures allow us to embrace what we already have and not become too indulgent in a consumerist way. We only have what we really need in our world, and this feels more important now than ever, especially when passing down to the next generation. It’s important to realise what you have around you and see the beauty in the everyday – the beauty in the place in front of you.”