photography: Dominique Vorillon
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For Houston designer Lisa Rowe, "style" and "kids" are no oxymoron. She lives in a chic, 2,200-square-foot, 1930s cottage with her husband, Bennett, their three childrenÑHarrison, 10, Emma, 7, and Lily, 2Ña dog, and two cats. "My house has to be functional," she says. "But I still want it to look elegant and pretty." At first glance, white upholstered furniture, a zebra-hide rug, and a mirrored chest in the living room offer no telltale signs of the house's sticky-fingered and muddy-pawed inhabitants. "It blows my friends away that I've covered the furniture in white, but white bleaches," she says. "Everything here is bulletproof."
When Lisa and Bennett bought the house five years ago, they immediately gutted the kitchen to the studs and redesigned the space for efficiency. "We always end up thereÑthe children love to help cookÑso function was paramount," she says. Open drawers under the stove put cookware in plain sight. "If I need to melt butter quickly, I don't have to dig for a pan." The wide cabinet above the refrigerator pulls up and is deep enough to store large serving trays for entertaining, and
an island in the center becomes the perfect perch for Emma to help stir pancake batter.
photography: Dominique Vorillon
in the dining nook, Lily eats a breakfast of berries. After meals, Lisa often clears the vintage-style table for crafts so the kids can indulge their creative spirits. |
"In this house, mealtime is not formalÑit's stove to table." Lisa punches up the glam factor once more with a new vintage-style Saarinen table. "I held out for one with a laminate top," she says. "Many older ones have marble tops, which aren't practical for children." The table, also a hot spot for arts and crafts, needed to hold up against paint, glue, and glitter. "It's the best thing I've ever bought."
photography: Dominique Vorillon
The hub of activity for the children is the den right off the formal living room. "It's where we watch movies, play games, and just kick our feet up," says Lisa. |
photography: Dominique Vorillon
Lisa's daughters, Emma and Lily, share a bedroom. A headboard and matching footboard
create Emma's daybed. When Lily grows out of her crib, Lisa plans to use both ends as headboards for twin beds. |
Lisa invites the kids to join in the decorating decisions. "I listen to their input," she says. "My son wanted trophies displayed in his room, and my oldest daughter wanted everything pink." And because no room is off-limits, she keeps them in mind with all her choices. The sofa in the den is stain-resistant, commercial-grade velvet, and the tables that are pushed together to make a coffee table are basically white plastic laminate. "They cost $12.99 each," she says. "Everything I have is easily replaceable, so I don't get upset if Kool-Aid spills." She draws the line, however, with her Italian glass lamps. "If they got broken, I would have a conniption; otherwise, it's all fair game."Lisa doesn't believe there's a permanent place for anything. She keeps her backgrounds simple and interchanges the accessoriesÑadding a colorful lamp, swapping out pillows, taking a hide rug from room to room. "I move things around and take things in and out of storage all the time." The Saarinen table in the kitchen
goes out to the patio when friends come over, and a pair of Louis XV-style "ghost" chairs (designer Philippe Starck's modern version of the antique) in the living room get moved all over the house for extra seating. Regardless of what gets edited out and what stays front and center, the kids are a welcome constant. "We're family-oriented," says Lisa. "And that's what matters most."
photography: Dominique Vorillon
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