With water views and modern furnishings, Naomi Watts’ home on the tip of New York’s Long Island is refreshingly coastal and cosy.

NAOMI WATTS welcomes us barefoot and makeup-free in light blue leggings and a matching tank top, wrapped in a blue chunky knit cardigan. The 53-year-old actor, who has proven to be a chameleon throughout her career, with a penchant for intense and enigmatic characters, reveals an instantaneous casualness that immediately draws you into an unexpected world of normalcy.

Her house exudes the same warmth. Throughout, raw oak wood floors offset white walls while giving the space a natural, rustic feel. A renovated kitchen opens onto a window-walled living room, boasting a sprawling two-storey beach-stone fireplace. The graceful five-bedroom house is enriched with natural-fibre rugs and patinated wood and rattan furniture collected over time from antique shops, thrift stores and her travels. Splashes of colour subtly interrupt the overall neutral tones: linen cushions and throws from Turkey and Morocco, wall art featuring assorted paintings and prints, as well as a selection of family photos — an altogether carefully curated mix that unveils the more intimate side of Watts.

“Home is such a big part of your identity and self-expression,” she says. “I find myself investing in my home the way I used to in clothes. I would never have dreamt of spending money on a garden in my thirties. My mum always used to say that after a certain age, you go to the garden. After your reproductive years are over, you take pride in planting trees and flowers. And she’s not wrong. You want to watch something else grow.”

HOME is such a BIG PART of your IDENTITY and SELF-EXPRESSION… I find myself INVESTING in my HOME the way I USED TO in CLOTHES

Watts’ mother, Myfanwy Edwards, who began her career as an actor, inspired Watts from a young age to pursue an acting career. Edwards then became an antiques dealer and costume and set designer, always maintaining a close relationship with her daughter and leaving her mark in the new house’s design.

Read more from this article/interview in our press library.