“I don’t want anything to feel just like Dallas.” This was the main direction that inner designer Marci Barnes’ client gave her seeing her family’s new state home, about an hour out of the Big D. Utilizing soft colors of green and blue, casual textures like burlap and seagrass, a dash of Shabby Chic style, and antiques and ranges located across the road, the designer aided the rustic home provide comfort and ease the minute one views it from the driveway.
M. Barnes & Co
Pictures by Danny Piassick
in a Glance
Who lives here: This is the state home for a family of 6 and the permanent home of 60 goats, 2 horses, 3 donkeys, along with cows and bunnies.
Location: Athens, Texas (about an hour from Dallas)
Size: 4,500 square feet (418 square meters); 4bedrooms, 41/2 bathrooms, plus a pool house
Designer: Marci Barnes of M. Barnes & Co..
“Not feeling like Dallas” to this homeowner meant no fussiness. The family needed to have a casual, comfortable state feeling at their pastoral getaway.
M. Co & Barnes
The inspiration for the home was traditional American plantation fashion, and it combines elements of farmhouses and barns. It’s a metal roof and a cupola, which will be accessible and provides views of the bucolic landscape.
M. Barnes & Co
Among the homeowners loves to accumulate and had many pieces she wanted to try to utilize in the country house. Barnes and her clients also “found things on the way,” Barnes says, at antiques stores and in Round Top, among the best flea markets in the country.
Among the homeowner’s dads collected classic hand planes, and the homeowner continued the tradition by picking up much more as he came across them over the years. They produce a beautiful and one of a kind informative article on the wall. On the right, a long classic chair matches just perfect.
Barnes used crucial elements that hark back to old farmhouse style across the house. 1 big one is the floors, which can be 10-inch-wide hand-scraped walnut walnut. Another shows on a number of the walls, which can be whitewashed boards with distances of 1/4 inch between them.
M. Barnes & Co
The living area, dining area and kitchen all occupy one big, open space, with French windows and doors which overlook the rolling hills down to a pond. “This chamber has a spot for everyone,” Barnes says.
“Your house is quite unpretentious and casual,” she says. “The soft blues and greens plus a healthy dose of white give it that easygoing feel — there’s not a lot of colour, and heat comes from the floors.”
Eclectic rolls like the classic windmill blades across the fireplace and a huge ottoman fashioned from a classic child’s bed also help to keep things casual. “It’s a clean, simple fashion. There is nothing elaborate,” the designer says.
M. Barnes & Co
The living area, dining area and kitchen are wide open to one another (the dining area is just out of view to the right).
M. Barnes & Co
The dining area is a couple of steps up from the family room but totally open to it. The space is slightly more formal but keeps a causal ease.
A long antique farm table scored at Round Top retains meals in here much more casual. Barnes blended in a couple of Chic–fashion moves, like slipcovers, that add to the comfortable feeling. A crystal chandelier dresses up things overhead.
The window treatments are lined sheer fabric and are lightweight. Along with the sea grass carpet and slatted skylights overhead, they also keep things from getting too weighty. Look back in the second photo in this story; the dormers on the ideal side of the house actually serve as two skylights that bathe the dining area in light.
The sideboard is a French state piece that the homeowners had. “I told her, ‘Let us paint it and see if it works in the house,’ and it did,” Barnes says. Specialty painter Sean Kerr completed the piece. Incidentally, his brother Scott Kerr is the artist that made the painting hanging on it.
Drapery fabric: Cowtan & Tout
M. Barnes & Co
On the left you can see the French doors across the excellent room and kitchen ; to the right is the master bedroom. We’ll get there in a bit.
M. Barnes & Co
In the guest room, the bed, nightstand and stool are all Round Top scores. The bedding is by Mary Cates and Co.. The carpet is Exotic sea bud. The cheerful bird art is from Z Gallerie.
Planked walls are more casual than drywall and add texture and thickness. You can see the effect of the milky end on the boards. “It’s almost like they are just primed,” Barnes describes.
M. Barnes & Co
“I actually wanted the guest bath to make this feel like an enjoyable place to stay,” Barnes says. It’s a distinctive experience thanks to ruffled sconce colors, a crystal chandelier and a superb blue leopard wall covering.
“We made a decision to introduce a bit more colour into this guest toilet palette,” Barnes says. “There is a powdery red in the floral shower curtain fabric.” That country fabric with the ruffle and the octagon and dot tile floor would be the farmhouse touches in this.
Wallpaper: Nina Campbell; faucet: through Westside Kitchen and Toilet
M. Barnes & Co
When you look back to the family room photo, you’ll spy this hallway to the left of the fireplace. It contributes to the master suite. The light fixture is a classic; the piece under the windows is a classic wooden bassinet filled with vintage blankets.
Another manner Barnes nodded to old farmhouses was to blot the doors a different colour than the trimming. The bamboo pine contrasts with all the crisp white trim. Throughout the house she selected hardware out of Acorn, a company which specializes in pieces which have an Early American look.
Window therapy fabric: Osborne & Little
M. Barnes & Co
The master bedroom has several soothing blues. Barnes amped up the aqua in here. Of the armchair fabric, the programmer says, “You’ve got to do a tiny leopard where you can!” A large box-check pattern on the bed is a contemporary spin on farmhouse design; an oversize paisley print is dynamic. The white coverlet retains the routine pairing calm. She picked up on the bed sheet fabrics from the window therapy’s banding fabric.
The floor lamp is solid timber. “It weighs a ton and isn’t easy to move,” the designer says. Its feel helps rough things up a bit.
Leopard-print fabric on seat: Kravet; linens: Carleton V.
M. Barnes & Co
In the master bathroom, planked walls and skirted vanities bring about state fashion. “I wanted this space to seem like it had been a different room before and been turned into a toilet,” Barnes says. Knowing tile would have been chilly and vast in here, she used the same pine floorboards as elsewhere but with a different end. They also give the new home a sense of history. “I needed the space to seem like it used to be used for something else,” she says.
M. Barnes & Co
The tub looks out onto an wonderful pastoral view. The skirted ottoman, covered in a matelassé, adds a couple of frills.
Bathtub: BainUltra
M. Barnes & Co
“These days people actually want their laundry rooms to seem like they have been well thought out,” Barnes says. Fabric tucked behind chicken wire brings a farmhouse look to the cupboard doors. A limestone counter gives a folding surface over the front-loading machines. Shelves and baskets offer storage for freshly painted linens and other products.
M. Barnes & Co
Adjacent to the house and pool is the enchanting pool house.
M. Barnes & Co
The major room in this is comfortable. It’s a favorite with the kids and includes a large sectional, a TV and a pool table.
M. Co & Barnes
The homeowners had this couch. Every upholstered piece here is covered in outside fabric to stand up to abuses like moist bathing suits, and the rugs are indoor-outdoor also. The floors are concrete throughout.
Barnes functioned a bit more blue leopard print in through the ottomans, this time. The drapes are a casual burlap, and the majority of the art is of farm critters.
M. Barnes & Co
This assortment of tractor chairs began with some from the dad of one of the homeowners; she collected the rest through the years. They make an artful display on the pool house’s brick wall.
M. Co & Barnes
“I swear, you can’t be unhappy in this area,” Barnes says of the cheerful guest area from the pool house. Her client owned the happy dog painting for years, and it is just the ideal spot in order for it to set the tone. A few of the brighter colors found on the pillows and colors take their cues from the colors within the brick fireplace surround.
“The bed skirt falls from the surface of the mattress to the ground, which gives it a genuine conservative feel,” Barnes says. Tons of extended family and friends enjoy invitations to the farmhouse and stay out here.
Fabric: Pindlar
M. Co & Barnes
More Colours add dynamic ruffles from the pool house’s guest toilet. The walls are covered in a classic quilt layout. White Calacatta marble countertops and crystal knobs add elegance to the mix.
M. Co & Barnes
The bathtub has a view of the pool. The stool is another piece found across the way; among the homeowners found the playful art.
M. Barnes & Co
This is that pond said previously. The homestead is a genuine escape where the homeowners like casual family time.
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