“Our goal was to evoke the classic principles of French design, but with more streamlined silhouettes and a bold contrast with the black-and-white color palette,” Deborah Walker says of her team’s concept for the grand foyer of an elegant family home in Dallas. They custom designed the marble-slab floors to match the curves of the architecture and modeled the railings after ones Walker saw in France.
Glittering against all the black and white are bursts of gold from a few select pieces. “The first item I sourced was the chandelier I found at Galerie Glustin while shopping at the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, in Paris,” Walker says. “It started the juxtaposition between the classical and modern elements.”
The most contemporary piece here would have to be the brass Bow Tie chair by Chinese artist Zhang Zhoujie, which Walker purchased on 1stDibs through Gallery ALL. Zhang’s geometric chair, Walker says, serves as a preview of artworks displayed throughout the house.
South of downtown Austin, Sara Cukerbaum, of SLIC Design, collaborated on every inch of this brand-new house’s interiors with the homeowner, who planned to retire there. “The client wanted a colorful feminine palette to balance the modern architecture,” says Cuckerbaum. “In the living room, we played with scale, color and pattern to give her a lively space.”
To counter the slenderness of the room, the designer brought in tall De La Espada wingback chairs and a Sputnik-style chandelier from Blueprint Lighting, whose conical shades are complemented by the vibrant teardrop patterns on the Rug Company carpet below. The vintage acrylic console, from 1stDibs, and white Restoration Hardware sofa echo the interior architecture, while the original Joan Miró painting speaks for itself.
When asked to define Texas design, Cukerbaum says, “Dallas and Houston have their own aesthetic, but modern architecture has really swept the market in Austin. I think that in line with our Austin desert vibes, we tend to lean toward spaces that are bright and light, lots of glass and natural materials.”
Ashton Oberhauser, of Ashton Taylor Interiors, looked to her clients’ Italian roots when designing this luxe Houston residence. For instance, she says, “the fluted plaster dome in the home office draws inspiration from ancient Roman columns and is contemporized with the burnt sienna color of the plaster.”
Playing off the plaster walls, rough-hewn ceiling beams and French-oak floorboards are sleek furniture pieces: a Christopher Kreiling lamp, Arper office chair and Zanotta desk, the last representing a more modern nod to Italy.
“The goal of this design,” Oberhauser summarizes, “was to pair timeless elements of old-world architecture with a contemporary interior.”
In last year’s Kips Bay Dallas showhouse, Mark Cravotta converted a windowless attic into a laid-back lair for listening to music on the hi-fi. “The space was dark,” he says. “So, rather than try to mitigate that factor, I decided to lean in to it and make a moody lounge space as a treat for all of the senses.”
To soften the sound coming from the A for Ara speakers, Cravotta covered the ceiling in linen, applied a Phillip Jeffries wood veneer to the walls and placed a bespoke Kyle Bunting rug atop the wall-to-wall carpeting. The steel-and-leather hammock is a Jim Zivic design for Ralph Pucci, and the lounge chairs and media cabinet are by Jiun Ho. The ceiling light is by Apparatus, and the art came from a local Texas gallery. Cravotta found the Christophe Côme dry bar (not pictured) at Cristina Grajales Gallery.
“The dark, rich color palette, sumptuous textures, pristine audio and romantic lighting,” says the designer, “all come together for a delightfully immersive experience.”
Petra McKenzie and Jonah Kilday, the founders of MK Workshop, accentuated height and light in their loft-like revamp of an East Austin bungalow. This is most evident in the new-bohemian-style bedroom, which the designers grounded with an oversize Ethnicraft oak bed.
“The bedroom is fairly small, so the very tall ceiling and all-white detailing give it a much airier, generous feel,” McKenzie says. “The huge bed fills the entire room, and there is really no other furniture in there — also no TV, since the clients wanted a calm, serene space.”
The articulated Piatto wall lamps are from Blueprint Lighting, the Gatto table lamp is an Achille Castiglioni for FLOS design, and the bubble chandelier is by the Light Factory. The vintage appliqué-and-embroidery blanket came from Studio Variously’s 1stDibs storefront, and the woven rug is part of McKenzie and Kilday’s MK Objects collection. The slender bud vases were designed by Gunnar Nylund for Rörstrand.
“You often see these old bungalows being either renovated with a certain look — usually modern farmhouse — or torn down in favor of large, supermodern builds,” McKenzie says, noting that MK doesn’t follow such Austin trends. “There are certainly Texas-specific details in this project, like the inclusion of rustic and natural materials. We like to embrace rather than eliminate these elements where they work and integrate them into a timeless approach.”
With all the white-box galleries in the world, one would be forgiven for being fearful of pairing contemporary art with colorfully painted walls. In this updated traditional Houston house, J. Randall Powers proves such phobias unwarranted.
In the library, the designer chose a glossy red by Fine Paints of Europe to complement — not compete with — edgy artworks by (from left) Allison Schulnik, Eve Sussman and Jackie Gendel.
“The young homeowners acquired this property by noted Southern architect John Staub and wanted it to have a fresh, younger feel but not to lose any of the detail that Staub homes are noted for,” Powers says. “The immediate conversation was all about color — as much color as we could get away with without it feeling like a box of Crayolas.”
The couple’s family, on both sides, collect 18th-century English furniture, and they themselves started to amass select antiques soon after their wedding. “We had a plethora of pieces to choose from,” the designer notes. “We carefully chose fabrics to update the furnishings and give them zest.”
The William Haines cocktail table belonged to the wife’s grandfather. The club chairs were reupholstered in a Brunschwig & Fils print, and the ottoman is covered in Pierre Frey linen velvet. The sisal rug came from Stark. Powers says the clients were pleased with the finished product: “The result was ‘It’s always been this way — but our way.’ ”
Kristen Nix made brilliant use of the curved landing of the staircase in a busy family home outside Austin by transforming it into a multipurpose nook. “The kids pile onto the banquette,” Nix says, adding that the handles on the A. Rudin chair backs make it easy for them to pull the seats away from the table “without having to grab the upholstery.”
Her aim, she notes, was to make the space “light and happy.” The Hunt Slonem bunny painting introduces plenty of cheer, as do the blush hues found throughout the home, including in the Schumacher upholstery covering the chairs and the Lee Jofa fabric on the throw pillows. A gleaming Bradley table amplifies the bright morning light, and an Apparatus chandelier illuminates the room at night.
The natural textures of the Venetian plaster walls and wide-plank wood floors are reminders of the Hill Country scenery outside. “We love embracing rustic elements in our more rural projects,” Nix says. “These characteristics paired with the big vistas of West Texas can feel really good when they have a relationship to the landscape.”
Palm Beach–based Tom Scheerer converted a transitional space off the sunroom of a Dallas pool house into a smile-inducing tropical bar to be used, he says, as an “all-seasons entertaining space.”
Inspired by Roman and Williams’s design for Le Coucou restaurant in New York, decorative painter Frank Reijnen seamlessly extended the mural on the Ananbô wallpaper up onto the vaulted ceiling. The batik fabric covering the banquettes is by John Rosselli for Michael S. Smith’s Jasper collection; the ceiling fixture is a Paul Ferrante creation; and Scheerer custom designed the rattan bar as a nod to his French mid-century forebears.
Being from the East Coast, Scheerer doesn’t work on many projects in Texas. He’s seen enough, however, to characterize Lone Star State design as “over-the-top spaces for over-the-top houses!”
On a sprawling ranch in Medina, Melissa Morgan, of M Interiors, filled a newly built limestone-walled house with high-quality antiques. In the open dining room, these include a pair of Italian chandeliers, a carved Louis Philippe table and Maison Jansen chairs upholstered in an Old World Weavers textile.
“The green tapestry fabric on the dining chairs was an important element,” Morgan says. “It brought in the outdoors, against the warm, natural colors of the stone and wood.” The taxidermy on the walls came from the clients’ collection.
“We wanted to make this a warm, comfortable home, with antique furnishings to give it some history and interest,” Morgan says. “Also, nothing in the house could be too precious, as it’s a house set in the country.”
How do you create a modern feel in a space dominated by pieces from the not-so-recent past? That’s the task Morgan faced in this San Antonio living room. Her solution: artful arranging. “Most of the furnishings are French antiques,” she says, “but they’re placed in a way that doesn’t feel heavy.”
Holland & Sherry blue silk-velvet upholstery adds richness to the Louis XVI bergeres, while vintage French side tables from Maison Baguès, a vintage Pierre Vandel coffee table and an antique Chinese folding screen round out the room.
Michael Imber Architects designed this master bath in a rural farmhouse just outside of Houston “to frame the vista of pecan trees in the landscape,” says Fern Santini, founder of the design studio bearing her name. “Using reclaimed timbers and hand-planed Texas post-oak flooring to set the tone, we added furnishings and lighting that mix periods and styles for an accumulated look full of personal touches for the client.”
To execute her eclectic scheme, Santini paired an antique chandelier and lantern with contemporary sconces from The Urban Electric Co. Pieces from different past eras coexist happily, as well, as witness the Louis XVI writing desk and Louis Philippe gilded mirror that together serve as a vanity and the 1930s French bar cart.
“All you need to add is champagne, and it’s the perfect place to spend the afternoon,” Santini says.
“The young family embraces entertaining in a casual yet luxe way,” Holly Rabinowitz, Collected Design Studio principal designer and creative director, says of her San Antonio clients. Rabinowitz designed their home lounge accordingly, taking cues from English sporting clubs and the homeowners’ impressive collection of heirlooms.
The sumptuous space is painted a deeply saturated Farrow & Ball green hue, which is complemented by 19th-century barstools with hoof feet from 1stDibs and a generations-old rifle mounted above. “It’s lovely to see photos of the homeowners with their friends gathered around the bar, often in gala attire, which was what the space was intended for,” Rabinowitz says.
“This Dallas home is a fresh distillation of traditional design inspired by both the English country homes of the Cotswolds and Midwestern family estates,” says interior designer Justin Seitz. “The room was designed to be functional for working at home but also as a warm space to decompress and settle in for reading or conversation.”
An Edward Wormley stool and early-20th-century Jugendstil brass pendant, both purchased on 1stDibs, plus a custom lounge chair all fit with this warmly functional plan. But Seitz added an element of surprise to the mix with bookcases he designed that open up to reveal a secret passage to a charming third floor.
This Galveston residence demonstrates that California has no monopoly on laid-back coastal vibes. “I am always inspired by the ocean and, in this case, the bay on which this house was built,” says interior designer Ginger Barber. “We wanted a lived-in, casual home for family and friends to enjoy.”
The star of the bedroom is the French parasol beach scene by one of the designer’s favorite photographers, Karen Sachar. The rest of the space is fluid and serene, with a pale color palette picked up in the linen headboard, vintage wooden beams and Matt Camron rugs.
Laura Umansky, founder and creative director of Laura U Inc., made sure not to sacrifice the personality of this 1930s house in Houston’s historic Avalon Place neighborhood, even as she gave it a major facelift. “The home has little touches of its original character throughout, like the dining room chandelier and staircase banister. Any new finishes and furnishings were made with 1930s style in mind,” Umansky says.
The kitchen felt separated from the rest of the house, so she enlisted Newberry Architecture to remove the room’s bulkheads and bring in sunshine courtesy of a giant bay window.
Beveled tiles from Ann Sacks shine from counter to ceiling, standing in sharp contrast to the cabinets, which are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy. The graciously large island is illumined by gilded pendants from Circa Lighting.
“We wanted to create a vintage indoor/outdoor bohemian retreat,” says Jana Erwin, designer at Nest Design Group, describing her vision for this space in a 100-year-old Houston Victorian. “Having a screened-in porch is nostalgic and something you don’t see too often these days, so preserving it was an important aspect of our design.”
Erwin used the clients’ own vintage trunk as both centerpiece and touchstone for the rest of the decor. “We designed a custom leather bench that is as comfortable as it is durable,” she says. “Next, we scoured pieces from the Round Top Antiques Show, including the leather poufs, art and pillows.” The remainder of the furnishings she sourced from the local Stardust Antiques shop, including the table, chairs, fans and planters.
“The symmetrical arched steel doors at the front of the home offer a glance into this entry and into the courtyard garden,” says designer Audrey White, describing this grand space in an Italiante Southampton, Houston, residence. “I wanted to bring the outside in by creating a solarium feel that complements the view.”
Helping evoke that sunroom vibe are large antique olive jars from local shop Skelton Culver and a custom daybed covered in Le Gracieux fabric, to which White added an antique gun chest to serve as a cocktail table — this is Texas, after all.
“The whole house, which the homeowners use as a second home, was a balance between style and comfort,” interior designer Marcus Mohon says of this Blanco residence. “We wanted everything to be striking yet comfortable, and that idea influenced all our design decisions — even those seen here around the dining table. The pieces were collected from Round Top. The client has loved collecting there for years.”
“I love this Dallas living room. It was designed with daytime entertaining in mind, which, to me, is decidedly more feminine — think ladies who lunch,” says Julie Stryker, designer at Corley Design Associates. “I wanted to create a lively, colorful room that looked both current and timeless.”
The clients’ only requirements were that it be traditional and purple — an interesting brief, to say the least. And Stryker fulfilled it beautifully by deploying a pair of antique French bergeres clad in Clarence House fabric, a Brunschwig & Fils sofa and a pair of Michael S. Smith Jasper leather stools, all with lavender leanings.
A lover of color, the homeowner nevertheless needed a respite from the rich hues saturating the rest of her Houston house. So, Ann Wolf designed the bedroom in quiet neutrals.
“The shade on the walls is Benjamin Moore’s November Rain,” Wolf explains, “which serves as a great backdrop for the soothing gray-and-white scheme throughout the space.” The vintage chest is by Baker Furniture, and the light fixture is from Arteriors.
