Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1512215
The Bledsoes' restored 1887 Greek Revival house in Smithville. Exterior is painted in Benjamin Moore Snowbound. Tiger statue is Smithville High School's mascot. For the Smithville house, Bledsoe focused on "keeping things welcoming and comfortable, nothing precious," she says. "This home was meant to be a haven and a refuge, a place to come home to and gather." A big new kitchen that flows into the living and dining areas is the heart of the house, with a rustic vibe that puts everyone at ease. Bledsoe designed the 17- foot kitchen island, covered it in reclaimed shiplap from other parts of the house, and used a newel post from the original staircase to support the countertop. She designed shades for the overhead light fixtures from nubby old German grain sacks dating to the late 1860s. Much of the seating is slipcovered in relaxed Belgian linen, including a slouchy sectional sofa in the living room that Bledsoe designed to accommodate a pile of family, friends, and Jack Russell terriers. She put it to the test a month after move-in when she hosted 50 people for a seated Thanksgiving dinner. "Over that week, every uncle, dad, and grandfather fell asleep on that giant sectional sofa at least once," she says. Aunts bustled in and out of the kitchen, and nieces sneaked forks into king cakes to test for babies. "It was pure joy." A neutral color palette was used throughout the interiors, punctuated by soothing ocean hues, such as the study's deep-green walls — so dark, they almost read black. "There's also a high mix of old and new, modern and vintage and antique," she says. Crisp walls play off the old, raw-wood interior doors, many discovered at her favorite Round Top resource, Old World Antieks. And in the living room, a new Arteriors chandelier — which she loves because it resembles sea anemones — contrasts with a worn metal train bench from France, which she picked up in Fredericksburg from another favorite haunt, Carol Hicks Bolton. "Weathered and with a history — that's very much the story of this house," she says. a mud hut in Santa Fe and a boarding school in Toronto. Living in far-flung parts of the world was often thrilling and sometimes even glamorous, but it was never very stable, she says. She attributes her attraction to architecture and design as a way of controlling her environment, later leading her to study interior design at Atlanta College of Art (now SCAD). She worked as studio and design director at Gensler before opening her firm in Austin. 37