Amy Pitzel used one word to describe the old living room and dining room in her family’s Katy home: sad.
They had drab surfaces and furniture, but until recently she never felt it was the right time to do anything about it.
However, when she left her job as a government teacher and head cross country/tracker coach at Katy Tompkins High School last May, Amy decided it was time to focus on her family home. It helped that her 13-year-old daughter encouraged her all along the way, collecting ideas on Pinterest and Instagram.
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It was Amy’s daughter who found interior designer Veronica Solomon of Casa Vilora Interiors, and when Pitzel looked at her portfolio online, she liked what she saw.
The San Antonio native was interested in classic style with whimsical accents and lots of color. And she wanted a whole new look.
Amy, now 46, moved to Houston years ago when the company she worked for transferred her. Jason Pitzel, now 51, worked for the same company but in Minnesota. After he too was posted to Houston, the couple met and have been married for 20 years. The couple also have a teenage son.
Solomon approached each room—the living room, the dining room, the foyer, the powder room, and a guest room that was converted into a home office for Amy—with a wealth of ideas.
Millwork creates an architectural feature that runs up the walls of the living room, a space now saturated with color.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
For starters, the home’s 12-inch floor tiles were replaced with hardwood floors, instantly elevating the entire home.
The living room was a sizeable vertical space, so Solomon gave the Pitzels and their guests something to draw their eyes up. She added trim work for a paneled effect and a chandelier worthy of the attention it’s now receiving.
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“The front living room was this volume with high ceilings and everything in it felt so dwarfed and so lacking. It was such a missed opportunity,” Solomon said. “She said she loved color and wanted to do something different. I knew the new flooring would make it stand out, so I had to find a way to make the space more to scale, and the millwork feels more architecturally relevant.”
On the floor, Solomon added a rug with a deep blue background and lots of accent colors, with deep blue curtains hanging high on contemporary acrylic poles.
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Solomon suggested a simpler chandelier for the dining room as other elements served as statement pieces in the room.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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The living room rug sets the palette for the space, which is filled with blues, greens and even a little bit of pink.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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Petrol appears in curtains, upholstery and wall coverings in the living room and dining room.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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A plain powder bath has been given a lively makeover with chinoiserie patterned paneling and wallpaper.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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A plain powder bath has been given a lively makeover with chinoiserie patterned paneling and wallpaper.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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The stairwell has been embellished by refinishing the stair treads, paneling the walls and adding a cute round table with a pair of ottomans.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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Amy Pitzel’s new home office has an amazing light/ceiling fan combo called “Fandolier”.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
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The Pitzels used an upstairs guest room to set up a home office. A Murphy bed that folds down from the wall gives it a new purpose when family is visiting.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
A dark blue sofa and two pairs of armchairs, one in pink and one in muted green, complete the seating.
Between plants, lamps, cushions and art pieces, the living room is a lesson in how accessories can complete a room. Solomon also brought a pair of artificial trees and artificial flowers in vases.
“I always get trees – at every opportunity. They’re full of texture and add height and life to the space,” she said. “Small flowers help bring colors together and bring nature into play, even if they’re artificial.”
In the dining room, the walls speak.
Solomon chose teal Thibaut grass cloth made from banana tree bark for the walls, paired with an oversized floral pattern in tonal blues by Phillip Jeffries for the ceiling, leaving the tray ceiling moldings brilliant white.
Teal wall coverings and upholstery play an important role in the formal living and dining room.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
“I could put weed in every single room. What I love most is the natural look – the seams don’t line up and you can see the panels. Some people hate that, but I absolutely love it because it adds depth,” Solomon said.
They also added a long buffet with a mirror, vases and a tray of barware. The acrylic and brass chandelier above the dining table is more subtle, letting the wall coverings and other things in the room shine.
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In the foyer, a curved wall for the staircase received its own millwork to continue the architectural treatment in the nearby living room. A small round table with a cone-shaped base and a pair of velvet stools make the space a chic place to sit.
Colorful Asian print wallpapers provide the energy behind the dramatic powder bath makeover. The room received a custom sink on a brass pedestal, complete with brass fittings and a framed gold mirror.
The blue-green-pink color palette continues in Amy’s home office, where a teal desk looks good against light chinoiserie wallpaper.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
“I’ve always loved this motif. You’ll see it in a jar or something,” Solomon said of the powder bath wallpaper and another print in Amy’s new home office. “I love to see it being taken off. It’s such a traditional classic element that will always be relevant, so I bring it in when I can because I personally love it.”
An upstairs guest room became Amy’s new office, but it fulfills Jason’s wish, who works in software sales, to have a guest room for visitors.
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The compromise was to install a Murphy bed that when closed just looks like a blackboard with pretty art and well-decorated shelves surrounding it. Across the room, a built-in desk with cabinets and shelves gives Amy a place to get things done.
All of this brings function to the space, and the beauty comes in cabinets painted in Benjamin Moore’s “Oasis Blue” – another teal – against a colorful chinoiserie wallpaper on a sun yellow background, with a pair of modern chairs set in Yellow upholstered. A rug in the center of the room showcases the colors—pink, blue, and green—that you’ll find elsewhere in the room.
To top it all off, what should be the “It” light of the year – a “Fandolier”. In the center it is a ceiling fan, but the simple interior is hidden by the light that surrounds it.
This vignette shows the whole palette in the home office: teal, yellow and pink.
Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography
After all of these updates were installed, Solomon encouraged the Pitzels to update their family room, since old parts of a house can look even more worn and dated compared to the new things.
They got rid of the old brown sofa and brought in a comfortable sofa, a new coffee table and a rug.
The bright new colors make Amy happy.
“I didn’t think this would ever be my style, but I love it. I love the color and the pattern,” Amy said. “I knew I wanted wallpaper in the bathroom, but I would never have thought of putting wallpaper on the dining room ceiling. But it’s amazing.”
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