From 1980s Home to Modern, Organic Retreat

What was once a 1980s home filled with dark wood features and a closed-off floor plan is now an open, light-filled, functional family home, with a completely repurposed layout. Together, Nancy Charbonneau and Bill Hughes brought new life back into this retired property through restoration and renovation, from revitalizing the original millwork, reimagining the square footage, to a complete revival and revitalization of the home. And today, we're giving an inside look into the before + after tour of our Watertree Revival renovation project!

kindly featured as the cover spread in the May/June issue of TexasLiving

The key to the success of this project was the great, open communication we had with builder and dear friend, Bill Hughes. It was important to both of us that we took a restoration approach to this renovation — not to tear down and rebuild, but instead honor the legacy of the home, and breathe new life into it so this place can be enjoyed for many more decades to come.

Entry: Before + After

When you walk through the door, it should feel … fresh, balanced, peaceful – as if you can feel the history of the home, while still being excited to make new memories there. It’s the living room you’ll invite all your friends over for Thanksgiving, where your kids will want to watch movies with their friends, where family game nights will happen. It’s home – it’s nostalgic and familiar, while being updated and new.

Family Room: Before + After

We did make a few major architectural + structural changes to the home, including:

Opening up the old sunroom to become an open-concept dining space
Removing a back staircase to create breezeway between kitchen + laundry room
Converting formal dining room into a pantry-planning space
Complete overhaul renovations of all baths + kitchen

Study: Before + After

With our paint selection, we wanted to pursue a soft, familiar, approachable neutrals that felt fresh, but also functional. We approached it as more of a feeling than a “color theme”, but we wanted all of the textures and textiles to compliment the palette and combine to create a space full of depth and interest that could elevate the neutrals to embody this feeling of sophistication, peace, and balance.

Breakfast Nook: Before + After

Throughout the home's walls we chose SW 7035 Aesthetic White (Walls of our Watertree project). This is one of my favorite neutral colors, because it really reflects the warm tones of natural light in the space space without feeling too bright or sterile. It's a beautiful choice for kitchens with lots of windows and tons of natural light.

And on the kitchen island, you'll find SW 7072 Online (Island of our Watertree project). If you're looking for soft spoken color, I love this one because it plays well with sunlight, slowly transforming across the shade spectrum depending on the time of the day. And, when the sun hits it, it really pops into a beautiful blue.

And, all of the textiles were handcrafted right here in our in-studio workroom at Charbonneau Interiors!

Kitchen: Before + After

The kitchen's quartz countertops really helped to elevate and lighten the space, too! Quartz our go-to for busy families and well-loved spaces, like kitchens and bathrooms.

One of the most fun/creatively-challenging aspects of this design was reconfiguring the flow of the entire floorplan. The home had this screened-in back patio that was taking a huge chunk of our square footage for the home. To make it more functional for modern living, we took down the diving wall, added larger windows, and created a dining niche that's open to the rest of the first floor.

Sunroom to Dining Room: Before + After

One of our favorite trends right now is this shift away from formal dining to creating spaces that truly reflect the things we love. For this space, we decided to convert the formal dining room to an oversized pantry and planning room — a storage haven! Designed for a busy family, it was important they had plenty of places to put things away, cabinet doors to close, and open countertop space for catching up on emails, homework, gift wrapping, and more.

Formal Dining to Pantry Planning Room: Before + After

With the renovation, every aspect of this home just needed a breath of fresh air – from the carpeting, to the layout, to the finishes. Brightening up the millwork, changing out the flooring, creating new energy in the home … anything we could do to honor the original work, while ushering in a new era for the space.

Primary Suite: Before + After

It had been almost 30 years since kids were running around, playing in the living room of this traditional family home … and, it showed. What was once the most used room in the home was now outgrown, filled with ornate, dark wood features, a compartmentalized floor plan that was closed off from the rest of the home, and a son ready to bring life back into his parents’ home, in hopes that a new family could create beautiful memories here.

Upstairs Library: Before + After

What do you think of this before + after transformation? We would love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with us at @CharbonneauInteriors and this project at #CIWatertreeRevival 😊 Thank you so much for taking the "deep dive" into this project with us, we can't tell you how much we appreciate your support!