Tour Designer Paloma Contreras’s Garden-Hued Houston Home

Interior designer Paloma Contreras had been looking for a house in Houston, Texas, for over a year and was about to give up and build something new when a realtor showed her this classic colonial built in 1987. “I very quickly saw what the vision for this place could be,” she says. “It’s a little bit more feminine and traditional than any of our previous homes, but I embraced that direction.” Even though their daughter, Margot, is an active toddler who scooters around the house, “There isn’t a room in this house that isn’t lived in,” says Contreras.

“I always start with a traditional, sort of classic core, but I believe the most successful rooms are those that bring together seemingly disparate pieces or periods and have a little bit of tension in them,” says Contreras. “It’s that unexpected element that can come as a result of an interesting texture, a graphic piece of modern art, or a modern light fixture.”

After the furniture plan, fabrics are usually the starting point for Contreras. “Textiles can do so much for space,” she says. “They can add color, texture, personality, a point of view. I usually will find a hero textile that I’m inspired by and then build my palette from there. Sometimes I think it’s as impactful to use fewer patterns as it can be to go the maximalist route, but I like for my eye to have a place to rest and to have some white or a solid to balance everything else out.”

The house is layered with inviting color and pattern, from the custom mural in her daughter’s bedroom to the transporting de Gournay wallpaper in the dining room to the rich browns in her primary bedroom. Watch the full tour to see how Contreras masterfully orchestrated all the beautiful details to create her warmly enveloping family home.