Houzz Tour: Family-Friendly With a Home-School Suite

Photos by Matti Gresham

House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their four children
Location: Dallas
Interior design: Urbanology Designs

The project involved makeovers of the public spaces, including a space over the garage that Curtis transformed into a home-school area. “Having clients read our reviews on Houzz is really powerful for us,” Curtis says. “These clients had a lot of trust in us from the start because they had read our reviews. Because we had that trust, after we assessed their needs and what they liked, they gave us the freedom to really go for it.”

As for those needs, having four children elementary school age or younger meant the family needed a practical, functional, comfortable and indestructible design. The couple wanted beautiful pieces but prioritized function over style. The design team helped them achieve both.

The house had great bones, a spacious and flexible floor plan and white oak floors that were in such good shape they didn’t need refinishing. The aim of the project was to furnish the home comfortably; add functional, stylish built-ins and other architectural details; and make the spaces suit both the family’s lifestyle and personal style.

A great example of function and form working together is this vignette near the front door. One set of grandparents lives directly across the street, so Curtis knew that, unlike most of her clients, the family would be using its front door as much as mudroom or garage entries. She knew it would need a bench for family members to put on and take off shoes. The bench is sturdy and rugged yet has a sculptural, geometric silhouette. A gallery wall and three modern sconces give the entry a fresh, modern look.

Find an interior designer on Houzz

This photo shows more of the foyer and the dining room beyond. The foyer space is large, which made it challenging, as foyers are usually kept relatively clear of furnishings. “It was a big, awkward, empty space,” Curtis says. She brought it down to size with a soft rag rug, a tall plant, a ladder and a round table with a pendant over it (not seen in this photo).

The foyer opens directly to the dining room and living room. Note the way the black on the bottom of the ladder in the foyer relates to the black millwork on the dining room wall. This creates a pleasing visual connection from room to room.

Wall color (for all rooms): Pure White, Sherwin-Williams

Browse pots and planters

“My clients did not want fluffy, fancy or formal in the dining room or anywhere else in the house,” Curtis says. “They wanted to use these spaces often and they wanted them to feel unfussy and laid-back.” Choosing a simple metal light fixture rather than an elaborate chandelier set a more casual tone.

Architecturally, the designer needed to address a curved wall at the far end of the dining room. The curve was lovely but made it difficult to place furniture there. Instead, she installed wainscoting topped with a picture rail that follows the curve. Painting the millwork black added contrast and anchored the artwork on top of it.

The table is hefty and chunky, which suits the clients’ penchant for rustic style. But its light wood and pleasing proportions make it sophisticated as well. A mix of light wood wishbone and black Windsor chairs are also stylish yet casual.

New to home remodeling? Click here to learn the basics

Between the first family room and the kitchen was another light-filled space, with large windows looking out to the yard and skylights in the vaulted ceiling. Curtis dubbed this “the atrium,” and gave her clients several functional options for it. They chose the sun-filled reading nook scheme.

The designer came up with one-of-a-kind shelving composed of white oak with a black accent. Its stepped composition nods to Japanese tansu cabinets.

The atrium is open to the eat-in area of the kitchen. The kitchen was in good shape and didn’t require a down-to-the-studs remodel. “This is one of the biggest kitchens I’ve ever seen and it had too many cabinets — the number of them was overwhelming,” Curtis says. “It’s rare to take out storage space, but in this unique situation it was necessary. We needed to edit and add a few new finishes to freshen it up.”

The scope of the kitchen refresh included removing some of the upper cabinets to create negative space, painting the remaining cabinets black, replacing an oversize, elaborate range hood with a simpler one, swapping in new quartz countertops and replacing the lighting.

The back wall seen here used to be a solid line of upper cabinets. The team replaced them with a countertop cabinet that meets the corner of the room, as well as open shelving. The new countertop quartz extends up the wall as a high backsplash that meets the bottom of the long shelf. And new V-groove paneling adds character to the wall from the shelf up to the ceiling.

The homeowner also wanted a desk of her own close to the table, where she could keep organized, work on lesson plans and review work. It’s seen here on the right side of the room, with a glass calendar overhead. The white oak desk is part of the adjacent storage built-ins. This makes it easy for Mom to stash everything she needs while at her desk.

Curtis designated this alcove as a quiet reading area. The built-ins include a cozy bench with a light overhead.