Step Inside This New Traditional Tuscan Abode

A Lone Tree couple embraces color and pattern, joyfully revitalizing their family home.

4 hours ago

Christine Emming,

Foyer This bold alpine wallpaper by Thibaut makes a vibrant statement from the foyer. “We were pleasantly surprised by the combination of functionality and design that was delivered,” the homeowner says. | Photo: Susie Brenner

This 2013 build in the Montecito neighborhood of Lone Tree had been home to a very active family for seven years before homeowners Megan and Nate found time to redesign its interior. While they love the neighborhood’s walkability and their access to local outdoor spaces, they felt overwhelmed by design choices and were busy raising two active sons. Instead, Nate says, the family “lived with blank beige walls for years!”

“We wanted to inject personality into our home and outfit it for hosting family and friends,” the couple says. After posting on their neighborhood’s network, Megan received a recommendation for Beautiful Habitat. She and Nate loved what they saw on the company’s website: rooms rich with patterns and color.

Kitchen Designer Wood envisions this New Traditional design as an updated take on the classic— melding elements like crown molding, wainscoting, or antique-inspired furniture with vibrant colors and different pattern scales. | Photo: Susie Brenner

Beautiful Habitat’s owner, interior designer Tennille Wood, enjoys “solving the problems, making life flow more easily and helping our clients really understand and embrace their own design style.” The homeowners’ furniture was from a much smaller home, and with 4,700 square feet of space, they lacked seating to gather their friends over meals. They also wanted to upgrade the home’s finishes with more elevated, durable options. In addition, Wood was instructed to “maximize the statement potential” of the home’s large foyer.

Now a brightly patterned wallpaper sets the tone for the home inside the front door, an oversize gilt-framed mirror softening its impact. Wood says the wallpaper hit all of the clients’ inspiration points: the mosaics of Gaudi’s Park GÜell in Barcelona, the rich woods of restaurants in Colorado mountain towns, pottery, flowers, birds and some whimsy.

Living Room In this game-changing redesign, the homeowners say they had “no idea how incredible” the vivid colors, arresting tilework facade and hand-constructed custom hardwood mantel would turn out. | Photo: Susie Brenner

While the primary goal was elevating this home for entertaining, this project was close to a full main-floor redo, touching the kitchen, dining room, living room, mudroom, guest room and guest bath. Flooring, lighting and paint were updated throughout the entire first floor. The kitchen received special treatment, with wainscoting on the island, plenty of seating and fresh lighting. An updated guest suite offers a warm respite with new wallpaper, lighting and a quartz countertop in the bath.

In the back hallway, Wood’s team carved out space for a mudroom, complete with a wood bench and storage. “The tilework on the floor can take on the dirt and moisture,” the homeowners say, but the Spanish-style flooring “also delivers incredible visual interest.”As the foyer shouts in red, the rest of the home reinforces its colorway. The kitchen layers teal between patterns, the dining room’s darker tones offset its large windows, and the living room leans into blue.

Dining Room The dining room welcomes guests to a spacious table with chairs that echo colors introduced in the foyer. | Photo: Susie Brenner

“We get compliments on the fireplace all the time,” says Megan. Even with a whole-home approach of inserting pattern and color, the living room truly shines, cladding a brand-new fireplace with a bright tile facade and an anchoring wood mantel.

Custom window treatments reinforce the Tuscan shades introduced in the foyer and meld well with new rugs and accent pillows over the brightened wall paint. Custom cabinetry now stores the family’s media, tucking away loose wires. Window seats flank the fireplace, offering more seating with great views, and the 72-inch fireplace adds a warm glow everyone can feel.