Instilling a new home with years of character is no small feat. To cohesively combine modern influences (and conveniences) with a been-here-forever look in a Dallas build for longtime clients, interior designer Chad Dorsey and builder Kurt Bielawski conceived the story of an old home updated with contemporary features. “We imagined we were renovating this European country estate, maybe somewhere in the southern part of France,” Dorsey explains. “What would we do with a classic building if we were going to modernize it but still keep much of its architectural integrity?” Joined by designer Georgia Bass, they used this fictional narrative as a framework to compose multiple layers for the new residence, melding past and present in every room.
Home Details
Interior Design
Chad Dorsey and Georgia Bass, Chad Dorsey Design
Home Builder
Kurt Bielawski, More Design + Build
Characterful architectural finishes helped weave their tale. For the exterior, the team chose antiqued white brick “because we wanted a patina that felt like it had been there forever,” Bielawski says. Inside, thresholds are framed with custom casings whose rounded profiles were inspired by millwork the team encountered in an old Parisian town house. Glossy black lacquered doors and classic brass hardware conjure an old-world glamour. The design leavens these nods to the past with “timeless materials that don’t speak of a specific era,” says Bass, pointing to the thick limestone flooring and slabs of honed Danby marble that encase the couple’s en suite bath.
Natural hardwoods are a central design element: The entryway incorporates a cedar statement wall; the living room’s floor and ceiling are made of wide-plank white oak; and a powder room door is paneled in rich cypress. Most dramatically, hand-hewn timber beams outline the great room, which the team envisioned as the oldest part of the home. The exposed structures help define the otherwise open layout that encompasses the living room, lounge, mirror-tiled bar and contemporary kitchen area. In the latter, white lacquer cabinetry concealing refrigeration, a curved stucco hood and marble-topped island create a visually arresting contrast to the more antique elements in the adjacent spaces.
A sleek powder room further develops the project’s old-meets-new conceit, as if the imagined renovation prioritized modernizing an old home’s more functional areas. Opened through a sleek pivot door that disappears into the surrounding paneling, the room feels transported from a luxurious hotel with its classic Calacatta Viola marble sink and modern aubergine wallcovering.
These engineered layers of time are reflected in details both large and small. The living area is furnished with an eclectic medley of traditional and contemporary, blending a rolled-arm chair’s classic English vibe with midcentury design in the form of an upholstered wingback chair and a free-form custom coffee table. The adjacent library lounge, connected to the living room by thick, limestone-encased archways, borrows inspiration from English members’ clubs. The designers outfitted their version with deep-seated upholstery and enveloped the walls, built-in bookshelves and ceiling in rich blue to convey old-world luxury, while more sleekly proportioned pieces and a Warhol above the bar add a dose of modernity. The formal dining room continues to blend sensibilities, pairing hand-painted chinoiserie mural wallpaper and an antique mirror with a contemporary sculptural chandelier. “The combination of different styles gives a personal and more collected feel that supports the architecture,” Dorsey says.
The rich blues of the breakfast room’s Porter Teleo wallpaper complement a Marina Perez Simão painting. A Mark Jupiter table, Poltrona Frau chairs and a Nobilis-covered banquette sit underneath a Pinch pendant.
Located in the heart of the home, the kitchen showcases custom bulthaup cabinetry with marble countertops, a plaster hood and Dornbracht’s Tara Ultra faucet. A set of Ochre’s Sable counter stools pulls up to the island. The sectional is by Poltrona Frau.
Benjamin Moore’s Midnight Blue defines the debonair library lounge, outfitted with an Ochre rolled-arm sofa and Maison Royère chair covered in Castel fabric. The adjacent bar space shimmers, its walls clad in an Ann Sacks mirror tile. The artwork is by Andy Warhol.
Designers endeavored to instill this new dwelling in Dallas with the character of an old home; see the layers melding past and present in the living room and throughout the space.
The practical scullery maintains the main kitchen’s elegance with its bulthaup cabinetry, sconce by The Urban Electric Co. and Roman shade made from Holland & Sherry fabric. At the center sits a marble-topped oak island inspired by an antique kitchen table.
An aubergine-hued Élitis vinyl wallcovering brings moody drama to the powder room, anchored by a marble vanity and walnut mirror. A pendant and pair of sconces, both by The Urban Electric Co., gently illuminate the space.
The rich blues of the breakfast room’s Porter Teleo wallpaper complement a Marina Perez Simão painting. A Mark Jupiter table, Poltrona Frau chairs and a Nobilis-covered banquette sit underneath a Pinch pendant.
A pink Carlisle & Co. wallcovering adds a flush of color to the guest bedroom, made extra cozy with an Anne Kirk Textiles-upholstered Baker bed. The 1940s Danish armchair from M.Naeve is joined by a Hector Finch lamp atop a BDDW side table.
The wife’s custom closet sits pretty in pink, painted floor to ceiling in Benjamin Moore’s Pale Petal. The built-in seating wears Holland & Sherry and Pierre Frey fabrics. An Ironies chandelier glitters above.
Lush textures swathe the primary bedroom, featuring Phillip Jeffries’ Alexander the Grey wallcovering. A Kimberly Denman chair wrapped in Liaigre fabric cozies up to an Alfonso Marina dresser and John Pomp lamp from The Bright Group.
Custom Zoffany drapes suit the Holly Hunt silk fabric on the primary bedroom’s Quintus bed. A Natasha Baradaran sofa and Collier Webb lamp topping a custom brass-and-parchment side table complete the space.
The guest bedrooms exude distinct personalities. “The couple likes to entertain, so they wanted to have really proper guest rooms,” Dorsey adds. The designers composed unique moods for each, employing pattern and texture: a soft and feminine blush wallpaper for one, and a more rugged chevron fabric wallcovering and alpaca curtains for another. The couple’s primary suite juxtaposes modern striated wallpaper with drapery inspired by 17 th -century verdure tapestries so that it feels like a nod to the past with updated trimmings.
Color weaves everything together into a cohesive narrative. “The architectural elements were all pretty neutral, which made a great backdrop for the touches of blue that the wife really liked,” Bass notes. Select shades were chosen in direct dialogue with the couple’s expansive collection of contemporary art, curated with adviser Sarah Calodney. The museum-finished white walls in the central stairwell hallway, for example, provide a pristine background for vibrant artworks by Sarah Meyohas and Brent Wadden. Meanwhile, the breakfast room’s indigo wallpaper intensifies a vivid painting by Brazilian artist Marina Perez Simão.
Room by room, the newly constructed home builds a rich story of a place nurtured over generations. “I think the contrasting layers only add to its timeless nature,” Dorsey muses. “Good architecture that balances the traditional and contemporary allows for different personalities to live there and for the home to change over time.”
Benjamin Moore’s Midnight Blue defines the debonair library lounge, outfitted with an Ochre rolled-arm sofa and Maison Royère chair covered in Castel fabric. The adjacent bar space shimmers, its walls clad in an Ann Sacks mirror tile. The artwork is by Andy Warhol.