As one young couple embarked on a new Fort Worth residence with architect Lisa Teters and interior designers Mallory Robins and Elizabeth Bennett, their priorities on how it would live were clear: Downstairs, they envisioned a mix of formal entertaining rooms and everyday spaces; upstairs, they desired five bedrooms to accommodate their growing family. Throughout, they wanted splashes of saturated color that would feel fun yet elegant. The exteriors, on the other hand, required time and exploration to find an architectural groove.
“When you’re starting from a clean slate, you have to do some soul-searching on what style of home you want to build,” Robins muses. Over the course of a year, the team supported the clients in exploring their options and balancing the different design directions they were considering for the exterior. “She definitely leaned more traditional, and he leaned more contemporary,” Teters recalls of the owners. “We went through quite a few iterations.” In the final design, Teters blended elements of a Colonial and Tudor abode, but she imbued a more modern look using design choices such as the minimal window pattern and cornice.
Home Details
Architecture:
Lisa Teters, Lisa Teters Architecture
Interior Design:
Mallory Robins and Elizabeth Bennett, Kobel + Co
Home Builder:
Scott Mitchell, Scott Mitchell Custom Homes
To fit the clients’ desired spaces onto a relatively narrow lot, the team came up with several solutions, all of which were expertly executed by builder Scott Mitchell. One clever touch was a pocket door opposite the front door, which allows the owners to close off the polished front-of-house from the casual family spaces when they entertain. Back-to-back corridors that connect the kitchen to the dining room were another helpful innovation. One passageway is a “hostess hallway” that acts as a bar and an extension of the dining room, and the other is a traditional pantry used to organize large kitchen items like Crock-Pots and coffee makers.
While designed to be closed off from the public areas, the family’s gathering spots are just as stylish as the formal rooms. For example, the classic white kitchen features elevated accents that steep it in personality. “We wanted to have small moments of refined detail, but nothing that felt overly fussy,” explains Bennett of elements like the countertop’s modified Dupont rounded edge. Likewise, the marble backsplash meets the windows on either side of the range, where the edges of the stone are cut into an elegantly curved shape.
These understated moments of repetition are key to the polished look. “Each room shouldn’t feel like a different Pinterest board,” Robins says. “There should be a through line.” The designers also created consistency through interior architectural details including doorknobs and hardware, as well as rich colors that tie the design together.
“The homeowners wanted to have fun with color, but in a way that would still feel traditional,” Bennett describes. A bold palette weaves through the formal rooms as a result. Papered in a floral chinoiserie wallcovering with a complementary lacquered sage paint on the ceiling, the dining room’s colors bleed into the hostess hallway, underscored by a gold metallic wallpaper overhead that matches the brass hardware. An aubergine shade gives the library opposite a dramatically drenched effect, with its velvet armchairs that pull from the tones of the dining room. A powder room beneath the stairs wallpapered in a lively stripe carries the library’s same hue on the millwork, while the softer tones relate back to the sumptuous upholstery on the dining chairs. The upstairs bedrooms, each with an en suite bath, tell their own color story: A flowery pink was selected for the girl’s room, while the boy’s room is clad in a playful red-and-beige stripe and accented in serene blues. “The wife wanted each child’s room to feel equally well-adorned,” Robins says.
The spaces in this home reflect a vibrant young family, which has grown from three to five members since the project began. The house is sophisticated yet youthful—and completely one of a kind. With the help of their design team these clients fine-tuned their personal style.
Pattern takes the lead in the powder room, where a Farrow & Ball wallpaper plays off the Calacatta Viola marble vanity. Vaughan’s Berrington mirror provides a foil to the linear design, and the faucets are from Newport Brass.
In the kitchen, a stainless-steel Lacanche range pairs with Arabescato Vagli marble countertops. Custom stools cozy up to the oak island and brass accents, including Visual Comfort & Co. lighting, Baldwin hardware and Waterstone Faucets plumbing.
In the dining room, a chinoiserie wallpaper from Rebel Walls anchors the space. Coley Home chairs covered in a Holly Hunt velvet surround a table from Casita Dallas beneath a chandelier by Julie Neill for Visual Comfort & Co.
Benjamin Moore’s Stratton Blue saturates the hostess hallway, punctuated by Farrow & Ball’s Amime wallpaper on the ceiling. An Ann-Morris Inc pendant illuminates the Negresco granite-topped bar.
Upholstered in a Dedar fabric, Lee Industries armchairs add depth to the library, which is drenched in Farrow & Ball’s Preference Red and hosts artwork by Slim Aarons. All of the lighting is by Visual Comfort & Co., and a Clarence House fabric composes the curtains.
Pattern takes the lead in the powder room, where a Farrow & Ball wallpaper plays off the Calacatta Viola marble vanity. Vaughan’s Berrington mirror provides a foil to the linear design, and the faucets are from Newport Brass.
Pulling from the wallpaper, the boy's bedroom ceiling uses Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue and a similarly hued Schumacher fabric with Houlès trim appears on the curtains. A wall light from The Urban Electric Co. is mounted above the bespoke nightstand.
Artwork by Lindsey Meyer hangs in the boy’s room over a vintage dresser sourced through Chairish; the picture light is from Visual Comfort & Co. The walls wear a Kravet pattern, and the woven jute-and-wool rug is by From Jaipur With Love.
A tulip-patterned wallpaper from Polly Fern adorns the walls of the girl's bedroom. The designers echoed the floral motif in the bathroom with the vintage-inspired floor tiles from American Restoration Tile. The sconce is from Visual Comfort & Co.
The girl’s bathroom is painted Benjamin Moore’ Georgetown Pink Beige. Sweet details like the Beata Heuman bow-shaped drawer pulls and a rattan stool up the charm.
Blending Colonial and Tudor influences, the residence’s exterior features a custom front door and fenestration by Lincoln Windows. Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights’ London Street lanterns embellish the brick façade.