Transitional interior design is all about the clean-lined aesthetic of soft contemporary with some more traditional elements to reveal a highly livable — and always beautiful — look.
Last week, I shared part of my project reveal, bespoke, bright transitional design in a Dallas home renovation. This week, part two. My team and I were called in to refresh a dull and dated ranch-style house. The owner is a widow who has made many wonderful memories there but wasn’t thrilled with the floorplan or older interior vibe. She loves to cook and entertain, especially family, and the house just wasn’t cutting it! This was particularly true of the kitchen, a closed-off galley space without good flow or function (see my “before” photos below for proof!).
Our solution? Take down the wall between the living room and kitchen and build a peninsula with seating and storage on both sides. We took some square footage from her oversized laundry room to create a butler’s pantry and the new kitchen is so much more conducive to hosting gatherings and being able to visit with people in the living room while preparing meals.
One aspect of this design stands out in my mind and I’m proud of our solution to a vexing problem. The family room ceiling is vaulted, so when we took out the wall dividing it from the kitchen, we had a real problem butting in a vent. Had we used a standard one that hung from the ceiling, it would have been off center. So with research and diligence, we found a ceiling vent from Best Hoods that draws up smoke and odors amazingly well — props to Thaddeus from Thaddeus Drew Remodeling who scouted the hood and did a wonderful job during this project.
Sometimes a home office looks like an afterthought. Not the case here! We put a lot of care into carrying transitional interior design into this room to make it both functional and fabulous.
In the psychology of color, blue colors tend to be soothing, like other earth colors — this is the color of the sky. Blues make people feel calm. Darker blue, like this are also linked to creativity and intelligence. For a home office, this will keep tempers steady, mood happy, and thinking sharp.
Throughout the house, we’ve used custom upholstered furnishings to create a luxury look. In the office, we did a sitting area with comfortable chair and side table.
Now onto the master bedroom, one of the most relaxing and posh spots in the house. This blue will not only promote relaxation, but also calm and clarity. Blue slows heart rate and breathing, perfect to promote meditation or relaxation.
In this room, we mixed several patterns, something that makes a lot of people break out in a cold sweat when they try to do it themselves. With consideration of pattern scale, saturation, and personality, we made it look cohesive and complementary.
A problem we encountered in this room was a large window in the middle of the wall behind the bed. We took fabric and had it “paper-backed” so it could be hung like wallpaper, an option not many people know about. Our window treatment fabricator made a custom shade and matched its pattern layout perfectly with the wall’s fabric. Now when the shade is pulled down you can’t even tell there is a window at all!
The master bathroom redesign created a soothing spa-like room for a client who loves to take long, hot baths. As you can see from the “before” photo below, it just looked blah. But the cabinets were in great shape and provided plenty of storage so we repainted them a light cream color, put on new pulls and knobs, and installed recessed lights to brighten up the whole room.
The corner jetted tub was also in great condition, so we kept that and redid the tile surround in a soothing light blue glass tile. On the wall leading up to the tub, you can really see the large-format beige tile we chose for other areas. We also totally reimagined the shower, adding a new glass enclosure, tile, and fixtures to create a flawless, serene look.
New marble countertops, contemporary light fixtures, art prints with mother of pearl frames, and a sliding barn door for the entrance finished off the look.
What do you think about our transitional interior design plan for this Dallas house? We had so much fun with this project! Please leave us a comment here or over on Facebook or Twitter.
We’ve got years of experience creating inspired, gorgeous interiors — contact Barbara today at 214-641-7897 or via the website contact form. We offer DFW interior design services in Dallas, Preston Hollow, the Park Cities, Frisco, McKinney, Southlake, Westlake, and many more parts of North Texas — please see the list of the areas we serve.