A special space for everyone in the family
Eight-year-old Alyssa Davis has two small rooms to herself. One is bright purple — she chose the color herself — and is her bedroom, even though she calls it her library.
The second-grader’s other space, just a room over, is her arts-and-crafts room. It’s bright green and has plenty of art supplies and books, along with a hand-made sign on the door that reads: “Where your imagination can run wild.”
Middle child Philip has a big space upstairs — two rooms and a full bath where he and friends watch TV and play video games.
And oldest brother Barclay, studying business at Southern Methodist University, uses a guest house/ bachelor pad — with a pool table and TV on the ground floor and bedroom/TV space upstairs — when he’s home.
Not only are the three siblings’ rooms dramatically far apart, they’re all suited to each child’s needs at this stage in their lives.
Karen and Ric Davis and their three kids moved into this home about a year ago, after living in Memorial on two acres on the bayou. It was also a time of great change for the whole family.
They had adopted Alyssa, who was adjusting to a new city, new family, new school and new home. Barclay was heading off to college, and Philip was getting more grown up by the day.
When they realized their earlier home simply didn’t fit their changing needs, they started looking for a new place and loved Briargrove Park, where Karen grew up.
They found their new 5,000-square-foot home — nearly the same size as their earlier one but with a completely different layout. It had been built in the 1970s but got a major update from a previous owner just a few years ago.
Looking over their furniture and how it might fit, Karen called in Cheryl Baker of CBD Interiors, who had worked with the family on two prior homes.
The house had good bones, but Baker rattled off things that needed to be changed for its new residents. A faux fireplace in the kitchen was replaced by builtin cabinets. Most of the traditional baseboards and crown moldings were removed for a cleaner, updated look. Though some of their furniture came with them, a good deal of new things were bought. And every wall would get new paint, most in Sherwin-Williams’ “Agreeable Gray.”
A shopping frenzy took them to a variety of stores: some tradeonly vendors but also places such as Laurie’s Home Furnishings, High Fashion Home and antiques shops in Round Top. Their list included lots of gray with small pops of color at a variety of prices. They wanted to splurge on nice sofas and chairs, and save on knockoffs such as the kitchen clock or a lamp in the study.
They added color in a variety of ways: The breakfast nook has bright-orange Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs; the family room has a bold, multicolored rug.
“I wouldn’t say orange is my favorite color, but I had this idea that I wanted orange to be the accent color,” Karen said. “I just think it’s a bright and happy color, and we just wanted a familyfriendly, casual home.”
They kept the floors, a base of concrete with Venetian plaster and a glaze. It may be concrete, but it looks like natural stone with a flowing pattern and slightly uneven texture.
In the family room, a dark-gray sofa paired with two lighter-gray armchairs combine with an acrylic coffee table and a mix of traditional and modern art. It all sits on a bright rug.
“This rug was one of the hardest things to find. Cheryl wanted something really bright, and I was unsure,” Karen said. “Now it’s one of my favorite things, but Cheryl had to convince me this was the direction we should go.”
And there’s no worry about stains or spilled food in this familyfriendly room, where the upholstery has been treated to be stain resistant.
“We can watch the Super Bowl, and if people eat a hamburger or hold a plate in their lap and they drop a glob of ketchup on the sofa, no harm, no foul,” Karen said.
Turn to the dining room and formal living room, and you’ll see what color can really do. Walls there were painted a custom mix of teal and topped with modern art from Renovate.
A dining table and chairs — from Carl Moore Antiques — came from their prior home. And a coat of black lacquer brought new life to an old buffet that had belonged to Karen’s grandfather.
Midcentury style comes alive in the formal living room, with two acrylic chairs on metal faux bois frames and a bench of acrylic legs and a Tibetan sheepskin top.
“My husband came home the day this arrived, and he looked at me and said, ‘I didn’t know we were getting a new pet,’ ” Karen said, laughing.
Baker joined in: “Her husband is so great. He just rolls with it.”
The acrylic chairs make this smallish room feel more open, adding seating without making the room look heavy. Fuchsia pillows add a pop of bright color to a velvety light-gray sofa and onyx coffee table that sit on a soft gray-ivory rug.
Karen has her own space, too, a gorgeous study most women wouldn’t want to leave. Blue-and-white Greek Key wallpaper lines all four walls, and a leather-covered desk on a gleaming brass frame is paired with a brightyellow chair.
Along one wall is a clever furniture hack: a twin-size bed turned into a daybed by elevating it on risers and having a bedskirt made to cover up the bottom. It’s all piled with cute bedding and decorative pillows.
While pops of orange and fuchsia may liven other rooms, the master suite is all about relaxing.
A built-in cabinet hides a TV behind sliding doors. When those doors are shut, shelves reveal family photos, books and other mementos.
Wool carpet by Stanton softens the room, as does a four-poster bed with custom bedding, new gray swivel chairs and a shaggy pouf.
Limestone tile covers the bathroom floor, and a decadent oversize shower adds to the spa-like feel. Fussy sconces were removed from the spot atop two mirrors and updated with ones that fit in the contemporary space.
Vanity cabinets were painted and remotecontrolled blinds were installed just above the bathtub.
Then there are Alyssa’s rooms, where everyone just rolls with it.
She picked her own paint colors and made a decorative paper chain that drapes across one window. Built-in cabinets were painted white for her stacks of books, art supplies and Legos.
One new touch is a pink, child-size sofa near her pink-filled closet. (She even has pink cowboy boots.)
Karen relaxes on the family-room sofa and talks about her home as one that works for everyone. She has her own study with bright cheery colors, and everyone else has a place they feel is special.
That bachelor pad will serve her oldest son’s needs until he graduates in a couple of years. After that, she hopes to replace the look with something more grown-up.
She may have to arm wrestle with middle child Philip, who says he has dibs on it next.
“Everyone has so much space, but I also like that it’s not so cavernous that I don’t have an ear on what people are doing.
“And Barclay’s out there,” Karen said, waving toward his man cave. “There’s no kitchen there because he has to come in for something.”