Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/686211
JUNE | PAGE 27 | 2016 siding with a more cohesive, historic-looking shade, Pratt & Lambert's Feather Gray. She removed black shutters that obscured the unique brick pattern, added gas lanterns manufactured by a copper maker in Baton Rouge and removed ubiquitous sago palms. Inside, she took the interior down to its studs. While she left the footprint of the home largely unchanged, a more open layout, new doors and windows, and a new kitchen and bathrooms were all in order. A strict palette of grays, blues and greens creates a backdrop for Barton's vibrant ethnic prints and textiles. Given her constant creative penchant, the design, textiles and paint colors are ever changing — her husband calls her a perpetual nester. Furnishings include family heirlooms and antiques from Round Top to pieces imported from Asia. She will take an old chair with great lines, refinish it and add prized textiles. One Kings Lane took notice, and she occasionally sells her textile-upholstered furniture on the site. H er inventory is housed in the garage along with a small office. While she currently sells online on her website melaandroam.com and locally at The Vintique Flea, Design Antiques Show Houston and various country club trunk shows, she also accepts appointments with clients in her home. Here, they can visualize the product mixed with traditional furniture and see how to assimilate it into their own home. Visitors admire Barton's design concept for her oblong living room. Instead of filling it with stuffy formal furniture, she left it largely open as a playroom for her young boys. An Arabian Nights indoor play tent she created (and sells on her site) holds court in one corner, adjacent to a children's table for painting. A tin basket of bowling pins and balls replaces kindling in the nonfunctioning fireplace, ready to transform the room into a bowling alley. An Indian howdah (a carriage for the back of an elephant) serves as a daybed for naps after an afternoon filled with imagination. Art is seamlessly integrated throughout. In the living room is an abstract painting from Alexis Walter, a friend from Louisiana; a mystical tree painting by In the dining room, a collection of tiffin containers (Indian lunch boxes) sets the tone. Custom dining table manufactured by Barton's factory in India, modeled after a 15-foot-long antique. Vintage leather chairs found at Urban Market. Clay chandelier by Mud Studio. Japanese carp flag found in Round Top hangs over antique beds in son Ory's room. The 1930s steel Simmons dresser was a gift from a client. Barton's living room functions as a playroom for her young boys. Mela & Roam's Arabian Nights tent. Haitian folk art painting over the mantel. In front of the nonfunctioning fireplace, bowling pins are positioned in lieu of firewood. Theo awakes from his morning nap in a Jenny Lind crib with custom Mela & Roam bedding.