MEREDITH ELLIS DESIGN POST: Spotlight on...Interior Designer, Barbara Thomas

We were down in the Texas Hill Country this past weekend, visiting my parents, and I felt inspired to take a few photos of their home. My mother is a retired Interior Designer, and her latest and last project was her own home. They moved from their ranch house of 26 years, and were able to re-use just about everything they had. However, what was created was something entirely different.

The ranch house she had decorated so long ago was beautiful...with stained paneled wood walls, limestone fireplaces and Saltillo tile floors. A natural environment, with no wallpaper and no curtains. Dark and heavier texture fabrics were used to hide the wear and tear that comes from raising kids, animals, and life in the country.

Now that my parents are right in town, and the kids are raised, she wanted a"lighter, brighter, cooler" environment for their new home. One that was comfortable, but "fresh". They were able to use most of their existing furniture, however she did re-upholster some of the pieces so they would be updated. She used a lot of cotton, linen, lots of little prints, and tons of blue and white. The walls are all painted White Dove, with the exception of the Master Bedroom which is "Grey Owl". The powder rooms are all wallpapered. The floors are stained in a deep walnut brown, and the second floor is entirely seagrass with throw rugs.

The Master Bedroom now

Master Bedroom at the Ranch, Photo from Southern Living, 1999

Here is the Living room now... Roman shades & pillows are Martyn Lawrence Bullard's Sultan's Garden...Michael Smith's Jasper Dutch Stripe on the Jenny Lind settee with pillows in Celerie Kemble's Betwixt