Houston Heights, Houston
Allston Residence
Color does the work of walls, giving each part of an open floor plan its own identity.
Franco Albarran, Founder
Library From the Start
The client and their spouse met through a book club, and both are avid readers. A library mattered to them even on a property without much footprint to spare.
So we built one into the back of the first floor, a wall of royal-blue shelving in semi-gloss that wraps two windows and a reading bench looking into the backyard. A rolling ladder on a brass rail reaches the top shelves, and at the base, wire-mesh drawer fronts ventilate the audio equipment behind them.
Some homes start from a story the people tell at the very beginning. What story from your life could a room be built around?
Zones Without Walls
An open plan can read as one undivided space, with nothing to tell you where one area ends and the next begins.
In this house, the whole first floor opens from the front door as a single room: entry, kitchen, dining, living, library. Color marks each zone in place of walls, all of it running over red oak floors that carry unbroken the length of the plan.
An open plan still needs a way to read its rooms. How would you tell one from the next without walls?
Backsplash as Star
In this kitchen, color had to land somewhere without taking over the whole room.
So we put it in a backsplash, a band of blue and green tile behind the cooktop. The grey-blue cabinets and white countertop hold back to a quiet canvas, which lets the tile carry the color on its own.
A kitchen reads best when one thing leads and the rest supports. What would you let lead in yours?
Pulled From the Old Home
Even a brand-new kitchen can keep a thread of the one it replaced.
So we hung retro pendants over the island, a cleaner take on the lighting from the client's old kitchen. Their aged brass warms the cool blue of the cabinets below.
Lighting sets a room's mood as much as its color does.
An Island Kept Clear
An island that holds a sink or a cooktop is half taken before anyone uses the room.
So we kept this island as one continuous surface with nothing built into the top, and set the cooktop and work zone along the wall instead. When the client hosts, the whole island stays open for prep and for people.
In a kitchen, one clear surface changes how the room works. Which would you keep empty in yours?
Bar as Indulgence
A leftover space sat under the staircase, and the client wanted to make something of it. They enjoy making cocktails together, so a bar was the answer.
We built it in custom mahogany behind a bright red door and a wine wall that holds 153 bottles. The red carries across the open floor plan, the way each zone in this house announces itself through color.
Most homes have one spot worth a little indulgence. Is there a space in yours that could be that?
Craps Table From the Old House
A gameroom was not in the original plan. We laid out the design so it could be built later, and during permitting the client decided to build it from the start.
So we finished it under a vaulted dormer ceiling, around a craps table the client's father built from the flooring of the old house before demolition. A house already full of personal meaning gained one more piece of it.
A new home can still hold something from the one before. What from your old home would you want to carry forward?
Walls Built for Late Decisions
In this bath, the sinks, mirrors, sconces, and lighting all had to line up on one wall. Many of those pieces aren't selected until the end of a project, so their exact placement stays unknown until late.
Here we had to cut into finished drywall to add blocking where the sconces and mirrors landed. After that, the rule became permanent: every vanity wall now gets full plywood substrate, floor to ceiling, before drywall goes up.
Some decisions are better left open as long as possible. Which choices in your home would you want to keep open if the walls were built to allow it?
Color From the House They Lost
A tree fell on the older house that stood here before this one.
So the client asked us to carry its color forward, and this house wears the same navy blue with the same white trim around the windows. We added Craftsman detailing to fit the Heights but kept it restrained, closer to clean modern lines than to the more intricate original.
A color can hold a memory of a place. Is there one that already feels like home to you?
Massing Set by Zoning
Zoning on this street required a garage set back a fixed distance from the front.
So we used that setback, bringing the main living elevation forward and stepping the garage behind it. In plan the house reads as a T: kitchen and living along the long bar, garage to the side, second floor above.
A constraint on a site often hands a house its shape. Here a zoning rule did exactly that.
Building a home is a big undertaking. You won’t take it on alone.
Build the team early
Architect, builder, and designer aligned from day one
Design around real life
We study how your family actually lives before drawing plans
Eliminate surprises
Budget and design evolve together throughout the process