Light and Airy Home With a Playful Spirit and Durable Details

See and read how a designer on Houzz helped a couple create lively interiors with natural materials and fun elements

Mitchell Parker December 10, 2023

Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.

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After more than six years in their Austin, Texas, home, this couple envisioned creating stylish midcentury-inspired interiors that lean heavily on natural materials and tones. With two young kids and a dog, they dreamed of having finishes that were playful and, above all, durable.

To get everything they wanted, they put together a design and remodeling team to strip back the existing home and build an addition. For the interiors, they worked with designer Jessica Nelson of Etch Design Group to incorporate natural elements like white oak kitchen cabinets and marble countertops (sealed to be kid-proof).

In the living room, classic midcentury-style furniture pieces and a matte black tile fireplace elevate the look, while a light-colored sectional sofa upholstered in performance fabric creates a kid-friendly lounge area. Elsewhere, fun details like herringbone flooring, colorful artwork and pink grasscloth wallpaper on the home office ceiling help make this an energetic, no-fuss home.

Etch Design Group

Photos by Madeline Harper

House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple (she’s a real estate agent, he’s a director at a digital agency), their young son and daughter and their dog
Location: Austin, Texas
Size: 3,976 square feet (369 square meters); four bedrooms plus a home office, playroom and media room, 4½ bathrooms
Designers: Jessica Nelson of Etch Design Group (interior design) and Traci Kelley of Kelley Design Group (building design)
General contractor: Skelly Build

An abundance of wood throughout the light-filled home adds lots of warmth. In the kitchen, white oak cabinets with a skinny Shaker-style profile set a soothing tone. The back of the island features a reeded detail. “It just provides another level of texture and interest in the space,” Nelson says. The herringbone wood flooring has the same effect.

Slabs of Calacatta Caldia marble for the countertops and backsplash add soft movement. “It’s sealed by a local company to protect it against — we’ll say the elements but really children,” Nelson says.

Two marble shelves flank the sink window, adding symmetry and a spot for the homeowners to place plants or decorative items. “It’s got a little lip on it so nothing can fall forward off of it,” Nelson says.

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Etch Design Group

Nelson and the homeowners considered covering the range hood in the same reeded wood paneling used on the island back but ended up going with a plaster design. “It made it more transitional and more simple,” she says. The doors to the right of the range lead to a spacious butler’s pantry.

Nelson uses Houzz Pro business tools to manage projects with her clients. “The Houzz Pro tool is really what we use from start to finish of the project,” she says. “So invoicing to client proposals to tracking a project and also creating Room Boards for the client to see how their space is coming together.”

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Etch Design Group

The butler’s pantry features abundant open and closed storage, a sink and places for small appliances. “They wanted a place to store all of their items they use regularly but don’t want as viewable,” Nelson says.

Light-colored quartz countertops provide durable work surfaces and help balance the dramatic black cabinetry. Geometric wallpaper adds a touch of pattern. And white oak shelves bring warmth, “otherwise it’d be this mixture between dark and light,” Nelson says. “But then you add these floating wood shelves that add this warm textural tone to it. It just really balances the space nicely and gives your eye some focal elements to look at.”

Watch now: See more of this home in the latest episode of Houzz TV

Etch Design Group

The open dining room sits off the kitchen and features a built-in bar and access to a covered backyard patio. “This dining room is a main gathering area,” Nelson says. “It’s very clean in the way of a dining room. You’ll notice there’s no rugs, because obviously kids eating on rugs is a detriment.”

A wood dining table with curved pedestal base and top and a handblown glass disc light fixture add midcentury modern flair. A large piece of local artwork on the right introduces vibrant color. “It’s kind of this powerful businesswoman, which is very much my client,” Nelson says. “And it also had these bold colors that are bolder than anything else you see in the house, but we felt like this was the perfect spot to house it.”

Artwork: Patrick Puckett

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Etch Design Group

The elegant built-in bar area features wood cabinets, a black terrazzo countertop and hand-painted ceramic tile.

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Etch Design Group

Large wood ceiling beams and floating wood cabinets flanking the fireplace keep the airy living room in conversation with the nearby kitchen materials. “We wanted to keep that very consistent between the two spaces,” Nelson says.

Matte black Fireclay tile in a vertical stacked pattern adds a touch of midcentury modern drama and contrast to the white walls. “It provides a subtle backdrop and textural element for the space,” Nelson says. “It wasn’t fussy. It was just very streamlined and I think provides such an ambiance for the space. It’s just inviting and kind of welcoming.”

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Etch Design Group

A Herman Miller Noguchi coffee table sets the tone for the furnishings. “It’s obviously a classic midcentury modern staple,” Nelson says. “You’ll see a lot of midcentury modern flair throughout the house.”

Nearby, lounge chairs from Thayer Coggin pop with pattern and color. “It’s definitely an iconic midcentury piece that we had custom-upholstered with a Kelly Wearstler fabric,” Nelson says. “It’s got this large geometric print, but it’s also colorful and playful. We definitely had it treated afterwards to make sure it can withstand the use of the kids.”

Chairs: On 3, Thayer Coggin; chair fabric: District in Tawny, Kelly Wearstler

Etch Design Group

A Verellen sectional sofa is upholstered in performance fabric. “It’s got this overstuffed feel to it,” Nelson says. “Very sink in, hang out, put your feet up and lounge.”

The custom side table was fabricated locally from quartzite. “I think the big thing with a large space like this that has a lot of elements to it is just making sure things feel balanced in the space,” Nelson says. “Doing too much in one room can cause almost confusion for anyone being in the space. But when you can balance the space by having elements that are unique and just very thought-through … it really draws your eye in multiple places.”

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Etch Design Group

The open staircase features white oak treads and handrail with iron balusters. “You’ll also notice this fun juxtaposition between the flat and the arched balusters to provide that added level of detail in this space,” Nelson says. Below the stairs is another pop of colorful art.

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Etch Design Group

For the home office, one of the homeowners, a real estate agent, wanted “something fun and unique and colorful,” Nelson says. “She didn’t want anything boring. So we gave her nothing of the sort.”

A vibrant wallpaper provides a lively backdrop for frequent Zoom meetings. The pink grasscloth ceiling complements colors in the wallpaper. And teal cabinets provide a dose of color while hiding the homeowner’s printer and other office supplies. “It creates more powerful energy, which is what we really wanted in her office,” Nelson says.

Etch Design Group

A workspace for the two young kids has a similar vibe. Patterned wallpaper depicting iconic Austin scenes creates a lively atmosphere. Mint green reeded paneling wraps a patterned daybed reading nook. “We wanted to create a space they could grow in but still allow it to have that fun playful nature about the space and not feel too stuffy,” Nelson says.

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