Hi Friends! I hope you all had a fun and festive Fourth of July weekend! I was so excited to see one of my favorite Newberry Architecture homes on the cover of Aspire Magazine!! Also featured in our fourth design book, Segreto Impressions, we had so much fun collaborating with the homeowners, The Newberry Team, and Goodchild Builders. Kaitlyn Clark did a beautiful job writing up the article for Aspire, that we re-shared it and added a few extra comments and photos shot for our book! See her spread as posted here. I hope you enjoy your walk through of this beautifully eclectic home!

When tastemaker and owner of the beloved Round Top Inn set out to build her new family home in Houston overlooking the Bayou, she made one thing very clear: she was up for anything. Like most start-from-scratch home construction, the owner’s vision for their home evolved as the project progressed from the initial cool-meets-farmhouse inspiration to a full-blown haven evoking a freewheeling spirit and cultivated artistic taste.

“The client was really inspired by the modern farmhouse, and she wanted to incorporate a lot of her artistic flair and love of color,” describes project manager Elizabeth Echols. “A lot of Houston clients stay traditional in their palettes and don’t necessarily enjoy the process of picking things out, but she treated her house as an art project, which opened endless possibilities of different layering techniques.”

Our part? The walls and ceiling plastered to compliment their incredible art pieces. The reflection from the pool off the plastered ceiling showcases the custom brass light fixture which was templated and laid out on the ceiling first, before its construction began.

One element that didn’t change, however, was the home’s function. The homeowners sought to cultivate a lived-in sensibility designed to immediately put guests at ease, while also withstanding the spills and accidents of the couple’s young children. As the owners are the consummate hosts who need no excuse to throw a bash, they needed large communal spaces with lots of seating to host family gatherings for holidays and celebrations.

One thing that the homeowner was not short on was ideas – for example, bringing a sample of a New Age-style, holographic deer-antler wallpaper to their very first design meeting. From then on – and for every weekly meeting thereafter during the nearly three-year endeavor – it was off to the artistic races.

Notice our SegretoStone countertop in a blush pink tone. Making a great pair with the colorful backsplash!

“She really wanted to push the envelope,” explains Clint Johnson, principal at Newberry Architecture. “I mean, when a client comes to you with something like that holographic wallpaper, it makes the rest of being creative easy.”

In a reprieve from the usual white-box kitchens, the expansive, light-drenched space is defined by bold textures, technicolor treasures and custom pieces, starting with the oven hood, a vintage find from the client. “It’s actually an Italian altar with original pastel colors that really inspired her, and she knew she wanted to use it somewhere,” describes Echols, adding that she came up with using it as a vent hood. “So we flipped it upside down and then turned it into a vent, hollowed it out and made it work.”

The altar is flanked by white custom cabinets with glass panels and brass finishes on either side to complete a sense of flow and cohesion. Another dazzling antique find is the hardwood flooring throughout the kitchen, with the few leftover panels repurposed in the upstairs wet bar, while several other varieties and shades of vintage wood grace the home to deliver bespoke, artisanal details.

The Segreto touch was finishing the new wood needed to retrofit the alter piece into a range hood!

You can find this home on pages 244-255 of Segreto Impressions. There are so many Segreto details, I decided to include more pictures from our shoot! From Custom Floors Unlimited reclaimed flooring to the leather chandelier from Ngala Trading Company to the colorful wallcovering on the ceiling. Its now time to play my favorite game…

…iSpy! Can you spot them all? By painting the cans and vents to blend with the colorful wallcovering, your eye is not interrupted with blocks of white and statement pieces in the room are highlighted without distraction.

The fireplace is anchored with a blush pink SegretoStone hearth and plastered walls and ceiling. The beauty of SegretoStone lies with its organic, seamless look, and subtle modeling that marries so well with many materials and different styles.

The family room is centered around a soaring, arched custom hutch that was transformed into a TV cabinet and finished by Segreto to work in its new space.

The exterior fireplace is a combination of the home’s painted brick, a reclaimed timber and a natural concrete-toned SegretoStone facing. These very simple architectural statements let the owner’s pieces, which are beautifully vibrant and strong, come forward.

I love the antique doors built in to highlight her silver closet. Although beautiful to start, Segreto’s added finish made them work perfectly in the space. At least Kitty thinks so!! Thank you to all the wonderful people I get to collaborate and for them trusting Segreto with their projects. We are so grateful for all the opportunities and to be featured on the cover of Aspire alongside our friends, Newberry Architecture and Goodchild Builders! Till next time, XO Leslie