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downtown transformation story
after 30 years of marriage or clients decide to change it up!
scope
These wonderful clients decided to move from a rural area to the big city and asked our help blending their very different tastes.
The husband favors very clean lines and restraint while she is more of a free spirit and likes a mix of unique antiques and lots of color. They are both outdoorsy, he likes golf, fishing and hunting and they both love sports. Both enjoy collecting arrowheads they mostly find on their ranch and she loves collecting crystals and gemstones and spiritual - meditation books but had never properly displayed any collectables in any of their homes. They found a 3900-sq. ft. three-story townhouse with great views of downtown and the park and even though the home had good bones it needed a freshening up. They asked us to update this home - project manage all renovations and and completely design interiors down to the linens for a turn key result. Their other request was that the house needed to be easily maintained for her and no clutter for him.
Although this new residence is less than 20 years old it still felt very 80’s-90’s with high polished, yellow-hued wood floors and black granite clad fireplaces and tan painted walls among other out-of-date details. But immediately we were intrigued by the large open split-level living and dining area, the high ceilings on the top 2 floors and we absolutely loved the well designed, steel and wood industrial style open staircase.
We agreed that our clients would spend most of their time in the open concept living, dining, kitchen, pool room, powder room and large city view balcony areas, which makes up the 2nd level of this residence. The total bottom floor would be dedicated to guests with a large hallway, laundry room, full bath and two rooms, one used as a bedroom and the other a den. Each room has glass sliders to backyard. The 3rd top floor would become their retreat including the master bedroom and en suite bathroom, large deck with city and park view and loft that would be used as a reading room.
living room
Among other details a fresh coat a paint in a crisp art gallery white and refinishing the wood floors - natural gray wash in beautiful matte finish shaved years off the interior and provided the perfect canvas. The exterior would be refreshed with the same white paint and tile we used on the interior for a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor. In the living room, we placed a custom extra deep sectional positioned to experience city view, fireplace and tv, a pair of very comfortable distressed leather swivel chairs (these are now a favorite of the husband) and a gold leaf coffee table all work to really warm up the room. Hector usually creates a painting for each client based upon what he has learned about their personalities throughout the project. In living room, this large panel of acrylic paint and plaster on wood in beautiful greens echoes the nearby park where she loves to walk and the husband’s penchant for golf - it was quite a hit with them.
The fireplaces in the living room and the master bedroom were stripped of their 12” marble tile surface and we had each fireplace redesigned to simplify the shapes and then clad in custom poured concrete slabs in which Hector and client went to factory and carefully embedded metal springs from the husband’s spring business and crystals and gem stones collected by the wife - they absolutely loved this personal touch. Instead of artificial logs in the new remote controlled fireplace, we placed ceramic spheres stacked up, which look great and are very sculptural even when they are off.
dining room
This room is designed to be like a private coffee house - we wanted to provide a very comfortable and casual place which invites one to sit down with a laptop, read a book, play games or, even have a meal. We designed a custom seating banquet that has custom upholstery and a bench made of American walnut which was combined with modern black chairs. This built-in look not only helps to take away the formality of a traditional dining room but allows the very sculptural dining table to be front and center of attention under the mobile style chandelier made of handblown glass and brass accents.
We had the barn doors that also function as art, custom made and even painted them ourselves with soft washes of colors rubbed into the wood. The client requested angel wings to be somewhere in the house. We painted graffiti style silhouette of angel wings, one on each door that made her VERY happy. When the doors close, the wings come together to make one large understated image.
kitchen
Even though the clients are more a fan of restaurant menus than cookbooks, the kitchen needed some attention. We painted all the cabinetry and installed white, quartz counters, new white appliances - we like to use white appliances because they are always timeless and chic. A coffee and juice bar was created per client request and all the small appliances in the kitchen are now hidden behind pocket doors.
pool room
Behind the kitchen is a large room where we created a special spot for the husband with a pool table, super flat panel TV on a swivel wall mount swivel and a custom bar height table made from a huge, 36” industrial steel spring. along the wall is a walnut floating bar with a geometric live edge that has notches cut to hold pool cues. Shiny gold bar stools provide a great counter balance to the dark wood of the bar.
upstairs
In the hall on the way to the reading room - loft space is a large round functional art bookcase we designed which actually spins on the wall - this holds many of the wife’s books from her collection. The loft is a space designed for the wife - with a 22' tall x 15' wide wall photo mural we had made behind the sofa, a custom bookcase and a collector’s cabinet which we specifically designed in the style of a commercial jeweler’s cabinet to perfectly house her collection of semi-precious stones and crystals.
master bedroom suite
The master suite was very successfully updated with the new concrete clad fireplace and we replaced the wall to wall carpet with tile and placed a jewel toned handmade rug under the upholstered bed. The emerald green original art over the bed by a local artist was a gift from the husband to his wife and is flanked by vintage, oversized early 20th century iron lanterns. Opposite the bed along the concrete clad wall, a sexy vintage 1970’s burled wood and brass cabinet offer a focal point and the warmth of wood to the space.
master bath
The master bath was completely rethought to improve an awkward floor plan, minimize the over use of many structural angels and enlarge shower. a new very large double shower is as luxurious as the space saving new standing European soaking tub. the feature wall in the shower and behind the tub are covered in matte tumbled marble stones. tub wall enhanced by water proof up-lighting placed in the floor. The countertops, like all counters throughout the residence are now white quartz. Our surfacing materials such as paint, tile, countertops and flooring are purposely consistent though out this home. By doing this, the spaces appear larger. art next to tub is imbedded in a cleanable acrylic panel making it very water friendly.
ground level guest floor
The bottom floor features a guest room, sitting room and a full bath. This dedicated suite was created to offer guest their own private space.