Tiffany and Mike Nguyen arrived in Houston four years ago, but their décor style was fully formed by their years in California.
They liked more contemporary styles and light colors. The indoor-outdoor experience was important, as was having big windows that let in plenty of natural light.
The Nguyens bought a 5,456-square-foot house in West University Place because it had good bones and was in a great location, but it was too traditional and too French. They preferred details done with a lighter hand and executed in a cleaner, more contemporary style.
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Tiffany, 43, is originally from San Jose, Calif., and Mike, 43 and a finance executive, is from California’s Bay Area. They married 16 years ago. Tiffany left a job doing talent and organizational development at Silicon Valley tech companies to be a stay-home mom to her daughter, who is now 7 and has just finished second grade. Tiffany is working again as a human resources consultant.
Her vision for their family’s home was informed by a lot of experience. In the past decade, they’ve moved four times, and from each move, she learned more about style, color and furniture brands. So she now knows exactly how she wants her home to flow and what it needs to work for her family.
Mike was involved, too, sitting in on meetings with Shannon Smith and Laura Umansky of the Laura U Design Collective and making choices with his wife. In fact, he noted that they reached out to Umansky and her staff — finding them online and through social media — as they were considering buying the house, to walk through the house with them and get their feedback on what could be changed up front.
The stairwell got a contemporary makeover with a new iron rail in a sleek style.
“I feel like our style has evolved. When you get your first home, you’re so happy with whatever it is,” Tiffany said. “Then you take it up a notch and figure out what you really love. Overall, I wanted a home that was very clean but calm and serene, and we hit all of that with the remodel.”
With Umansky’s team, they gave the entire house a California casual face-lift — and filled it with almost all new furniture, lighting and window treatments. And the combinations of Tiffany’s preferences and ideas from Umansky and Smith likely elevated the result.
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“The collaboration is what makes the project all that it can be,” Umansky said. “It’s better to have a client injecting art or bringing in a favorite light fixture, and it all gels. The result is better than it would have been on its own.”
The house was well taken care of, but the prior owners had children and lived there for quite a while. So the beautiful white oak wood floors needed to be refinished.
An enormous sectional sofa with 12 feet of seating on each side brings cozy comfort to the family room.
In the huge family room, they added eyebrow arches to a pair of niches that flank the fireplace, as well as built-in cabinets of blond wood with doors that have a textured finish, plus floating wood shelves that hold photos, books and objets d’art.
The room has a sectional with 12 feet of seating on each of two sides. Two more sectional pieces serve as a coffee table, but they can also slide over to function as ottomans or to create chaise lounges. A benchlike piece straddles a backless, armless piece of the sectional, serving as an end table for drinks or even a quick game of cards or Scrabble.
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From shopping for prior homes, Tiffany came with a favorite brand: Palecek, a northern California furniture maker known for using natural materials in more modern styles. A pair of its Strings Attached lounge chairs sit in the family room, while a pair of the company’s Ella lounge chairs sit opposite a smaller sofa in the formal living room at the front of the house.
The kitchen got a dramatically new look, including painting dark cabinets white and adding gold hardware, then contrasting the lighter look with an island painted Sherwin-Williams “Black Fox,” a warm black with gray-brown undertones.
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Beautiful Phillip Jeffries vinyl woven sisal wallpaper and chandeliers covered in natural fiber add texture in the dining room.
A pair of Palecek chairs with leather cushions and natural fiber detailing were chosen for the family room.
Elegant draperies add softness to the primary bedroom.
The primary bathroom got a top-to-bottom makeover with new flooring, tile and other finishes, such as this beautiful tile on a vanity wall.
A chandelier made of coconut shells tops off the niche with a free-standing bathtub in the primary bathroom.
Black and white provide high contrast in the kitchen.
A small table of petrified wood sits next to a comfortable chair in the home office.
Photography in the Nguyens’ home office shows one of Mike’s favorite places to play golf, Pebble Beach.
Plumbing fixtures in black matte were paired with a new, framed mirror in the powder bathroom.
Butler’s pantry cabinets are painted Sherwin-Williams “Black Fox.”
The Nguyens’ 8-year-old daughter got to help pick finishes for her bedroom and bathroom.
The Nguyens’ 8-year-old daughter got to help pick finishes for her bedroom and bathroom.
Tiffany Nguyen loves the style of Palecek furniture, and added a pair of the brand’s chairs to the formal living room.
Tiffany Nguyen loves the style of Palecek furniture, and added a pair of the brand’s chairs to the formal living room.
Tiffany Nguyen loves the style of Palecek furniture, and added a pair of the brand’s chairs to the formal living room.
Beautiful Phillip Jeffries vinyl woven sisal wallpaper and chandeliers covered in natural fiber add texture in the dining room.
The Houston home of Tiffany and Mychael Nguyen.
They used two slabs of Silestone to cover the 12-foot island, book-matched and waterfall-style, for a more contemporary finish and installed a new vent hood with a creamy plaster finish to replace the large stainless-steel hood that hung over the cooktop set in the center of the island.
“You’ll find me in the kitchen cooking a lot. It’s so convenient to have the bar stools; we have most of our meals there and reserve the dining room for when we have guests over,” Tiffany said. “It’s so convenient to set up appetizers and a charcuterie board here because the island is so large.”
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The dining room’s organic feel starts with interesting Phillip Jeffries wallpaper, a vinyl woven sisal in light taupe and a geometric pattern and a pair of chandeliers covered in woven fiber hanging over the table. Eight blue leather chairs bring a big pop of color to an otherwise neutral room.
“We love blue, and we were trying to incorporate it somewhere. When Laura and Shannon brought up the idea of blue leather, I hesitated for a second, but I’m glad they pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Tiffany said. “It makes the room pop, and we’ve had nice gatherings there. … It also has nice morning light, and our new puppy likes to lay there in the sun.”
Removing a large stainless steel range hood in favor of a simpler one with a plaster finish tones down the visual appeal in the kitchen.
The front foyer got a new black iron stair rail that looks sleek against the white walls. Since the arrival of the puppy, Theo, a bichon frise, they’ve added a runner to the steps, too.
The home office got plenty of use during work-from-home days early in the pandemic. Nowadays, it’s used by both Mike and Tiffany for occasional work at home, and they like to use the office as a place to sit and talk to plan their week.
Before, this room had more ornate, French-style millwork. Now it has simpler paneling painted a lush charcoal gray, Sherwin-Williams’ “Web Gray.”
Walls and cabinets painted Sherwin-Williams “Web Gray” make a handsome backdrop for the furnishings in the home office.
Tiffany found a wood desk for the room at Arhaus in Houston. Mounted behind it is evidence of Mike’s love of golf in a pair of Gray Malin photos of the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California. One wall has built-in bookshelves and a window seat, and another comfortable chair cozies up to a side table made of petrified wood.
“The room had very heavy, French molding and it was a lighter color. The room was a mix of white wash and a whole bunch of different finishes. You’d walk in and that’s all you could see,” Umansky said. “Now it’s so handsome — I love a dark color in a study, and the room is large enough that it doesn’t feel oppressive. The color enhances the space.”
In the primary bedroom suite, Umansky and Smith brought in warmth with an accent wall covered in a Maya Romanoff wallcovering made of a thin veneer of wood in a geometric pattern that almost makes the wall look three-dimensional. White draperies with an understated tape trim replaced fussy draperies that came with the house.
Interior designer Laura Umansky and her team at Laura U Design Collective used wallcovering made of a wood veneer for an accent wall in the primary bedroom.
A pair of Adriana Hoyos swivel chairs add some comfortable seating.
The primary bathroom got a top-to-bottom overhaul, with new paint, tile, counters, flooring and lighting. The backsplash behind the sinks is a gorgeous choice from Ann Sacks.
The Nguyens’ daughter had a lot to say about her own room and attended some of the design and selection meetings to make her own choices. She wanted to bring a light fixture from their prior home, and they added pink wallcovering and a pretty pink upholstered daybed. Pink tile with a scalloped edge was installed as backsplash at her bathroom sink.
While they kept the pedestal sink in the powder bathroom, they updated the rest with paint, wallpaper, a new round, black-framed mirror, black matte plumbing fixtures and lighting.
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Diane Cowen has worked at the Houston Chronicle since 2000 and currently its architecture and home design writer. Prior to working for the Chronicle, she worked at the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune and at the Shelbyville (Ind.) News. She is a graduate of Purdue University and is the author of a cookbook, "Sunday Dinners: Food, Family and Faith from our Favorite Pastors."