The quaint home sits on a quiet street on Fort Worth's west side, shaded by the leafy branches of mature trees. Its rooms were once filled with stately antiques, oriental carpets, oil paintings and heirloom silver. Elegant, most definitely, but also expected. And, yes, a little dull.
Raughton incorporated many of the homeowner's existing pieces into the front room, including a pair of lamps with new shades, favorite artworks and a family portrait, working from existing colors in the art and recovering chairs with Samuel & Sons" fabric. "I really like mixing old and new together," Raughton says, noting the dramatic chandelier, which remained in its place. Raughton added a custom Stark carpet and custom draperies that include Roman shades in chartreuse silk velvet .
Custom-crafted, powder-coated stair railings add shine to the interior stairwell, which is carpeted with a runner from Stark in a classic cheetah print.
Which might have been fine for most people. And it was fine for a while for this homeowner. Until she decided it was time for a change. She wanted her home to reflect her own vivacious personality, to complement her daughter's effervescence and creativity. She wanted rooms filled with optimism, joy and color. Lots and lots of color. "It's what my life needed," the homeowner says. "It came at just the right time."
This room is all about impactfully blending old and new, vintage and modern. The abstract oil painting by Amy Young is from the Park Hill home furnishings shop, Park & Eighth, as is the vintage brass swan table that takes center stage, surrounded by a suite of chairs in Schumacher fabric. The room's pièce de résistance: a spectacular golden Agave Americana chandelier by Marjorie Skouras for Currey & Company that Raughton and the homeowner have nicknamed the "Tree of Life."
The first thing Raughton did to maximize light in this room was to remove the shutters that covered the windows. For privacy, Raughton added drapes with an inner layer of café curtains. Raughton designed the table and the bench, which were made by a craftsman in Aledo. The chairs are done in Shumacher and Osborne & Little fabric, with Samuel & Sons trimming and a final touch of an oversized monogram.
Enter Kellye Hunt Raughton of Maven, an interior design firm and boutique on the bricks of historic Camp Bowie Boulevard. Over the past three years, Raughton has worked together with the homeowner to inject lightness, brightness and vibrant color into every room while maintaining the elegance and sophistication of the prior décor and respecting the bones of the 1940s Cape Cod-style home. It's a difficult balance to achieve, Raughton acknowledges. "I think you truly have to have the right balance of color and texture and print, and they all have to work together simultaneously," she says. To achieve that, Raughton began with fabrics, then added layer upon layer of custom pieces, clever touches and controlled contrasts.
The vivid magenta and orange color scheme in the office was inspired by a needlepointed owl that the homeowner's mother crafted when she was young, along with an orange leather heirloom chair. Raughton and the homeowner fell in love with the vibrancy of the Osborne & Little wallpaper. Fine Paints of Europe did labor-intensive lacquering across the room's millwork and built-in shelving to achieve the perfect chocolaty richness. A painting by Joey Lancaster hangs on a wall of mirrored beveled tiles. Raughton considers it the centerpiece of the office.
Nina Campbell fabric hangs over what Raughton refers to as the "Champagne tub," complete with a custom cornice with orange Kravet trim.
The homeowner appreciated Raughton's ability to create high-concept design that could withstand both the tests of time and the trials of everyday life, with its spills, clutter, dust and more – the more here being dogs, a cat and a backyard full of prize chickens.
The master bedroom offers a respite from the riotous colors downstairs, but there's still plenty of texture, shine and luxury. Nearly everything from the thick, soft carpet to the oversized quilted headboard has been custom made to fit the dimensions of the room. Raughton designed the Art Deco-esque bench at the foot of the bed. Although the room includes countless indulgent touches – Schumacher fabrics on the bedding and curtains, velvet pillows, a Hermes throw blanket – Raughton opted for wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries that mimics silk but is actually vinyl.
In the guest room, Raughton chose to use a daybed (complete with Osborne & Little custom pillows) to allow the room to double as a sitting room. The giant Einstein homage is by artist Brenda Bogart.
Today, it's still the same traditional home on the same quiet street, but any sense of same-old now stops at the door. Raughton has lavished every inch of the three-bedroom/three-bath home in a full spectrum of glorious color, texture, pattern and shine, from the entry foyer and formal front rooms to the laundry closet beside the back door that connects the breakfast room to the expansive backyard. The oriental carpets and the heirloom silver are still here, as are the stately antiques, but they've been given a new life, revitalized by the vibrancy of the new surroundings.
Sophistication meets fairy tale in the homeowner's daughter's bedroom. A dramatic canopied daybed is made with Galbraith & Paul fabric with matching hand-painted wallpaper; above the bed, Raughton color-matched the sconces from Dunes and Duchess to complete the vignette.
Looking around at her finished rooms, the homeowner beams. "This house," she says, "is my happy corner of the world."
