We Take A Tour Of Sally Mathews’ Quietly Cutting Edge Home

A reconfigured villa in Jumeirah gave creative director Sally Matthews a blank canvas to construct her new home – one where function fulfils the family, and style has soul

Cosy minimalism isn’t an easy aesthetic to master – it takes a well-trained eye to understand the nuances and behaviours of both a space and what’s placed in it.

But when left in the hands of Sally Matthews, it’s instinctive. Previously Fashion Director at Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and now Brand and Creative Director at Level Shoes, her eye for detail is exacting, whether it is applied to styling high-end fashion shoots or turning a shell of a house into smooth forms that breathe new life into old structures.

The house in question is a four-bedroom villa tucked away on a back street in Jumeirah, with Dubai Canal as its neighbour. Or rather two villas knocked through into one, creating a vast open-plan, two-storey space that allowed Sally and her husband Christian substantial opportunity to test their creativity. “It was Christian that found the house,” Sally recalls, after they spent months hunting Dubai for a new home. “They were tearing it down and he suggested that we redo it with them.” Having fully renovated their then home in Al Barari and recently given birth to their son Beau, a full project wasn’t on the cards for Sally, “But then I saw it and knew we could make it into somewhere special. It had great bones and some amazing old features.”

The original architecture included pillars and a “gorgeous” ceiling that they saved, which then sat alongside redesigned spaces. “Joining the two villas, we had to think carefully about certain areas. We extended the kitchen so that the new space made sense and created a library in the back to fill a wall to ensure it wasn’t just one long corridor. We had a custom bookshelf made to give it a purpose.” Filled with well-thumbed fashion magazines and cookbooks, the library “kind of reflects and represents us,” Sally adds. “It’s the ethos of the house, that everything is worn in and used, nothing’s untouchable and it’s not just for show. With their previous home something of a training ground for renovating together, Sally and Christian aligned easily on this new project. “Because we already had a sense of who we are design-wise and had learnt how to meet in the middle, there was more trust between us.” Forgoing a designer, the couple did “everything” themselves, spending hours at marble yards, pouring over every detail, sourcing and custom-making as much locally as possible. “That sense of living in a space that we’ve created and made our own is amazing.”

Rather fortuitously, the couple have similar aesthetic tastes. “We’re both quite minimalist in how we dress, and we like that kind of more organic feeling, but then, because of Beau, there’s definitely warmth in here, too,” Sally explains of introducing a cosy, spacious simplicity to the home. Complementing the raw cement floors, the kitchen is bathed in a calming, light pistachio green. A green knot pouffe from Design House Stockholm at THAT Concept Store lifts the neutral palette, with the wall-to-wall French windows drinking in the cool green tones of the garden – a space landscaped by Wilden using native plants. “I just love green!” Sally laughs. An embroidered, handwoven artwork by LRNCE Studio – “A Moroccan designer I love, who is always on my moodboards” – imbues more warmth, as does Beau’s bedroom and play area on the first floor – the latter taking up one of the two landings, with an office on the other. “I love being up here. I enjoy mixing different materials and playing with things and it felt like the place I could really do that.”

Soft lines and curves work their magic too – from the custom-made fluted kitchen island to a custom green sofa by Mario Marenco for Arflex and a quilted Togo chair by Ligne Roset. “I’m obsessed with curves,” Sally smiles. “They just bring immediate warmth to a place.”

This ability to reconcile and celebrate different materials – be it travertine, oxidised metals, concrete floors, woven fabrics – results in unassuming depth and hidden layers. Each corner its own little world, telling a story as part of a wider whole. “It’s that mixing of materials and putting things that sit together yet are different that I love,” Sally explains. “In the library, the metal doors speak back to the metal of the coffee table leg that is oxidised metal… Even though things are happening in different materials, there’s a story running through so that they work together.”

Sally attributes her ability to “understand how textures and colours can behave together” to her time spent as Fashion Director at Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and beyond. “I look at my journey from my Bazaar days, where I created these worlds, these sets and different concepts. I earned my stripes there, learning how to tell a story, how to understand a space, to know where the light hits. To see it come to fruition on a bigger scale in Al Barari, at Level Shoes and with the villa… it’s a natural evolution.”

Devoid of clutter, the villa is unquestionably serene, which Sally says is down to cleverly concealed touch cupboards throughout. “We are saved by the storage,” she laughs. The calmness is a purposeful antidote to today’s hectic life. “It’s very quiet and calm, which is needed. I don’t know if that represents me inwardly or the kind of person I want to be, but it certainly helps.”

That said, the quietude is often, and happily, interrupted by a flurry of people – both big and small. “We always have kids coming in and out, the mums… and we do big Sunday lunches for our friends, so it’s constant. Because of that, we wanted to create a place that people feel comfortable in – to never feel like they can’t sit anywhere.” Case in point, Barry the dog usually takes up residence on the “retro ’70s leather sofa”, while Beau uses the Togo chair as a climbing frame.

So, while at first glance the villa might seem a more adult-friendly space, in reality the heart of it is a family home. “I love design and I love interiors – they really bring me joy. But we’re not precious about the space at all – I couldn’t be with a toddler who drives around the house in a police car. Everything in the house is up for grabs – nothing is off limits!”

Photography: Aasiya Jagadeesh. Styling: Imogene Legrand

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia January 2026 Issue