Bellaire couple bucks the trend with a ‘not so big’ Craftsman-style house
When it came time to rebuild after flooding, builders balked, but smart plan gave pair just what they wanted
Diane and Burt Bailey understand exactly how their home fits into their Bellaire neighborhood.
It’s not a small, midcentury ranch. Nor is it a giant, new two-story that eats up its entire lot.
To them, it’s just right: A Craftsman-style house that’s a mere 2,369 square feet, far less than most of the homes nearby.
They’ve lived on their street in Bellaire since 1994 and had finished a major remodel on their original home just before Tropical Storm Allison flooded them in 2001. They repaired their house but flooded again in the 2015 Memorial Day flood. They vowed “never again” and decided it was time to rebuild an elevated home.
Both Aggies, the couple married shortly after college and lived in Dallas for a while before returning to Houston in 1993. Diane’s brother showed them around, and they settled on a rental in Bellaire. They loved that area so much, they decided to stay and bought a 1,250square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch home built in 1947.
They had a son — Eric, who’s now a student at Cornell University — and space was tight, so they added on 500 square feet. Even at 1,750 square feet, the house felt just right. So when it was time to demolish and start over, going big was never a consideration.
Smart design
The Baileys met Jill A. Bryant, whose designworks architecture firm is now based out of Port O’Connor, several years ago when they entertained the idea of vacation home in HarborWalk on Galveston Bay. Bryant designed a home for them, though it never got built.
But they completely bought into Bryant’s advocacy for smart design in the vein of architect/writer Susan Susanka’s “Not So Big House” philosophy. Susanka has written a series of books about making the most of smaller homes, and architecture writer Marc Vassalo — who co-authored a couple of books with her — recently published his own “little house in the city,” celebrating the virtues of smaller homes in the U.S. and Canada.
Bryant started her architectural training at the University of Texas and finished at the University of Houston and all along learned about efficient design and the importance of spatial relationships, even if it wasn’t called “not so big” design back then. One day she was in a bookstore, though, and she spotted one of Susanka’s books.
“I was absolutely giddy because she described perfectly what I had been trying to describe to my clients for years,” Bryant said. “In one of her books, she gives examples of little things you can do to make a house feel bigger than it really is. One example is simply to frame a large opening between two rooms instead of making it one big room. It gives you the perception that the space is twice as big as it really is. There are hundreds of ideas like that.”
Though much of Bryant’s work is coastal design, Craftsman-style homes are one of her favorites.
“I wish more people wanted to do it. In the original Craftsman era, they had ‘not-so-big’ down. If you go back and look at those floor plans … from the 1930s and 1940s, there were some ‘not-so-big’ ideas that were used repeatedly.”
So Bryant and the Baileys were in sync on finding the space that fit their needs.
“Burt and Diane loved the idea of being efficient with space and make the most of every little thing,” Bryant said. “I feel like, especially in houses with full-time residents, they need to fit you like a glove, the way you live. If they do, it’s a pleasure to come home. If they don’t, it can be the opposite.”
Hitting resistance
If Bryant’s task was easy, the next step of finding a builder had challenges.
“The typical builders acted like a smaller house wasn’t worth their effort,” said 55-yearold Burt, who works in information technology at ENGIE. “One said they wouldn’t work on anything less than 3,500 square feet.”
“There definitely was resistance,” said Diane, who works in EOG’s credit group. “You don’t build a house this size on this lot.”
Once they got past the puzzled looks and shaking heads of a few, they found Southern Green Builders, who build houses all over, including several in the Heights. Burt jokes about wanting a Heights house in Bellaire, so maybe the fit wasn’t such a joke after all.
“No, we don’t hear people asking for smaller homes very often, but it makes so much sense,” Southern Green partner Sam Seidel said. “So many people are going for square footage for the sake of square footage, and they’re not focused on the proper use of the space. Diane is also very passionate about landscaping and the outdoor space, and she was able to achieve that in Bellaire, where a majority of homes cover 90 percent of the lot.”
Feeling coastal
Aging in place was a priority for the empty-nesters — though retirement is a long way off — so their vision was a home with a livable downstairs with room upstairs for their son and guests.
At the front, one small space works as a foyer and music room, with a sunny window seat and a place for Diane’s Kiawa piano.
In the center is an office nook, with a built-in desk on one wall and a built-in saltwater aquarium opposite it. Burt has tended a saltwater aquarium for years, and the new house gave him an opportunity to streamline the tank-cleaning process with a handy closet full of supplies and a reverse-osmosis filtration system.
As he opens the closet door that shows the Sea World-like stash that goes with his hobby, he offers a joke: “I know, it looks like a meth lab in here.”
Paintings by the late Galveston artist Odette Ruben fill the home. She was a family friend and Diane’s parents are longtime Galveston residents, so the paintings of palm trees, gazebos and the iconic cathedral all ring of happy memories.
Much of the art is in bright bold colors, a palette the Baileys have always preferred. Stressed out from the floods, Diane opted instead for quieter tones.
“We have a house in Surfside. I love the feeling of peace and serenity you get going to the beach, and the calming effect of blues and greens,” Diane said of the soft blue and green paint colors in her home. “A lot of people comment that it feels coastal, though we don’t have any starfish or dolphins or anything like that.”
The Baileys have used John Leake of John Leake Interiors for design help, and even though their new home isn’t significantly larger, they needed a lot of new furniture because so much was lost in flood waters.
Their master bedroom is just big enough for two nightstands, a king-size bed, dresser and a lounge chair. There’s a small nook in front of the bedroom with a makeup vanity, a splurge that Diane loves. And in the master bathroom is another splurge that most people wouldn’t think of as anything extra.
“This is the one thing that Jill made us do,” Diane said, standing in front of the double sinks they were certain they didn’t need. “We told her we don’t care about selling it, we just want to be happy living in it. I’m perfectly happy with one sink, and she said, ‘You cannot have just one sink if you ever want to resell it.’ So, we gave in to that.”
Architecturally, ceiling treatments can make big statements in a home, either as decorative touches or to help define smaller spaces within bigger rooms. In the back of the house, a wide expanse takes in the kitchen, dining area and living room, all without interior walls.
The kitchen has a traditional ceiling, but in the center, the dining table sits under a beautiful coffered ceiling. Then a low vaulted ceiling with paneling adds gravitas to the living room.
Bryant isn’t opposed to a vaulted ceiling, as long as it’s not too tall for the space — an issue as ceilings creep ever heigher.
“If you’re not careful, you’re going to end up in a room where you sit down and you feel like you’re sitting in the bottom of a can,” Bryant said. “And depending on how you do your surface treatments, you may even have a little bit of an echo.”