Ordinary home inWestU reinvented as a modern farmhouse
Until recently, Brent Farrell was the proverbial cobbler who barely had shoes for his own feet.
The contractor had a place to live, of course, but spent his days helping other families remodel their homes, or invested in houses to update and sell. Finally, after several years of pondering what he would do, Farrell was ready.
In August 2017, Farrell had just had what he thought was one last party in his 1940s home in West University Place before a massive gut job would transform it into a modern farmhouse. Friends put graffiti on walls and signed their names because they would soon come down.
Hurricane Harvey arrived, though, and Farrell’s plans had to be put on hold for more than two years while he helped clients and their neighbors recover from heavy flooding.
In early 2019, though, he got busy, and by September of that year he was moving back into what felt like a brand-new house — even though he’d lived in it for 14 years.
Walls came out and steel beams went in. He turned his two-car garage into a two-tiered, three-car garage and ripped out ceilings for a taller, vaulted model. What started as a 2,500-squarefoot home expanded to 3,111 square feet.
Farrell had his own plan, refined by his longtime collaborator, Victoria Sheffield of Victoria Sheffield Interior + Exterior Design, with whom he’s been friends since ninth grade. Farrell’s own business is ReCraft Construction Services.
Farrell, 52, started college as an architecture student at Texas Tech University, and after two and a half years transferred to Texas A&M University to study engineering. His prior career was in software sales, but Farrell never lost his interest in homes and construction.
More than 20 years ago, Farrell bought a West U bungalow to renovate and sell. He hadn’t had any luck in the stock market and felt more comfortable dabbling in real estate. He hired a guy to do all of the work, fixed it up and it sold the first day it was on the market. He made about
$35,000 and had a great time.
A second home in Knollwood Village did just as well and sold within a week.
“Eventually, my boss came to me and said,
‘Brent, I’m going to do you a favor today. You’re fired. Just go do your own thing,’ ” Farrell said. “That’s how it started, and I have never worked for the man again.”
Through the years, Farrell has remodeled dozens of homes, and in the past several years his work has been client based rather than flipping homes for himself.
When he was getting started, he turned to Sheffield, asking for her help with a color palette and ideas for finishes. In the more than two decades since, they’ve worked on many projects together.
Farrell’s vision was to turn his dated 80-year-old house into a modern farmhouse. Not only did he remove some interior walls, but he added larger windows and doors and expanded. His two-car garage grew to hold his collection of classic cars. And the entire place was taken down to the studs.
Nowhere is the change more evident than in the main living area — once chopped up by walls. Even the center-of-the-home staircase was opened up, with much of its lower part completely exposed. For fun, the risers were painted with chalkboard paint, and guests usually leave messages and signatures so he can remember them long after they’re gone.
In the living room, Farrell installed two sets of 8-foot doors that fold to open up nearly the entire back of the home. The backyard is a serene view, with towering bamboo installed to obscure the home that sits behind him.
“I have struggled with water in my backyard for years, and when that big, three-story house went up, it got even worse. I was so done with water issues,” Farrell said of his new backyard. He dug it out 7 inches deep, then installed a drain and artificial turf, and he’s never had water problems again.
Clean white walls replaced the darker paint that made the room feel small and dated, and the oak flooring was replaced by a motley mix of reclaimed wood in varying sizes: cherry, walnut, hickory, oak and pine, all from old barns in the Ohio River Valley.
Unsightly fur downs and their ductwork are gone, and Farrell installed minisplits for heating and air conditioning.
For the kitchen, Farrell at first balked at Sheffield’s suggestion that he use Benjamin Moore’s Herb Garden — a deep mossy-olive green — on the cabinets and pendants with terracotta shades.
Over the years, he’s questioned a number of Sheffield’s suggestions, but every one of them turned out great — so he trusted her judgment once again. Other earthy masculine touches in the kitchen area: matte-black hardware and plumbing fixtures, plus poured-concrete counters and speckled gray penny round tile for the backsplash.
The powder bathroom got a special treatment, with Farrell expanding it by taking a little space out of the large living room. Sheffield selected deep-blue paint for the walls and cute floor tile with a gray-andwhite print.
Upstairs, the primary bedroom suite had 8-foot ceilings, and Farrell opened them up with a vaulted ceiling, making the room feel larger. Its once tiny bathroom got a second sink in an update several years ago, and this time, the tub/shower combo was replaced by a larger shower.