Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1471748
W hen real estate agent Caroline K e e l a n d d e c i d e d t o renovate the 8 3 - y e a r - o l d house she shares with her husband and young children in historic Southampton Place, she didn't have to look far for help. Her father, builder Burdette Keeland III, took it down to the studs and built a thoughtful addition that seamlessly doubled the size of the house. The exterior's beautiful old Chicago brick was kept in its natural state, along with the interior's cozy low ceilings. Respect for the architect's original intent runs deep in the family: Caroline's grandfather, the late Burdette Keeland Jr., was a prominent modernist architect and professor at the University of Houston's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, which honored him after his death in 2000 with the Keeland Design Lab. For the home's interior finishes and furnishings, Caroline enlisted the help of designer and architect Roxanne Wimmel, whose work she admired. Wimmel co-founded Wimmel Design + Construction in 2015 with her husband, Jonathan Wimmel, whose focus is on construction; the couple met while they were studying architecture at Columbia University. Wimmel, 35, is as passionate about interior spaces as she is about architecture. For this house, she was hired midway through the process, which can be a problem if not everyone is on the same page. "This project was very successful because the client came from a background of exposure to architecture, and she understood what we were trying to do," Wimmel says. "I prefer the architecture to do most of the talking, so I kept the interiors minimal and clean. It's contemporary, and the entire house has a casual vibe." Simple materials are sometimes the most beautiful. Wimmel layered the interiors with uncomplicated finishes that age exquisitely and add textural interest, including plaster walls, poured-concrete countertops, and un-lacquered brass hardware and plumbing fixtures. The white oak millwork and cabinetry appear raw and unfinished, and Wimmel designed a crosshatch of oak beams to lower the ceiling in the family room, which is part of the new addition. "It looks as if the room has always been part of the house," she says. And while powder baths are traditionally a space for designers to go wild with wallpaper or paint color, that didn't happen here. Instead, the formerly boxy space was redesigned with unadorned plaster walls and ceiling, whose lines now follow the gentle curve of the sink — an old stone vessel that Wimmel found at Chateau Domingue. The study's brick walls kicked off the muted color palette for the house. The room, which has the same rusty-tone old Chicago brick as the exterior, was likely converted from a porch at some point during the 44