Allison Deblitz and her husband, Brian, loved their neighborhood. Having lived in their home since 2002, the couple had grown fond of the friends they and their children had made. But even though they loved their current house, the Deblitzes always said that if they could find a reasonably sized lot in their neighborhood that allowed them to build a home from the ground up, they would jump at the opportunity. As luck would have it, an older ranch home on a desirable cul-de-sac became available. Before the home hit the market, they scooped it up. “We couldn’t believe our luck,” Deblitz says.
After the home was razed, the Deblitzes enlisted architect Miller Nicholson to draw the plans for their new home and builder Kelly McArdle to bring them to fruition. “We just knew we wanted something different,” says Deblitz of the home’s architecture. “We searched Houzz, drove around Myers Park, and took photos of homes we liked or parts of homes we liked architecturally. And then we handed it over to Miller and said, ‘Run with it!’” Though the home is not modern, it’s also not traditional. It features cleaner architectural details that separate it from the more traditional homes in the Deblitzes’ Cotswold neighborhood.
The Deblitzes wanted the interiors to reflect the more streamlined, clean lines of the home, so they sought out interior designer Traci Zeller to create a design scheme that pushed the couple outside of their comfort zone. “I’d seen Traci’s work at a friend’s home, and I fell in love,” Deblitz says. “I know what I like, but I knew I needed a professional to pull it all together for us. And Traci was perfect for us.”
“I was thrilled to work with Allison and Brian, and especially excited to work with such a strong design team,” says Zeller of Nicholson and McArdle. “It’s my favorite kind of project, where I can be involved from the ground up, so I know we’re building a really cohesive flow and accomplishing their objectives of flow and style.” Though the home has traditional roots, it takes a less-is-more approach. “The architecture of the home doesn’t neatly fit into any category,” the designer says. “But if I were to choose, I’d say it’s a modern take on Craftsman.”
The interior design plan from the start was to complement Nicholson’s stunning architectural details. “Miller did such a beautiful job with the architecture,” Zeller says. “When you have really pretty details like this home has, it also makes it really easy to work with simpler color palettes because you have the architecture being the star.” After culling through the Deblitzes’ inspiration photos and tearsheets from magazines, it was clear to Zeller that a neutral but soothing color palette of blues, creams, and grays—and even a pop of purple—was the foundation she needed to start with. “I think calm, neutral palettes really sing when you have good architectural bones,” she explains. “Sometimes color and pattern can detract from those great details and we didn’t want that here.”
The homeowners were not fans of lots of pattern and color, so the design board Zeller presented to them was limited on both yet was still aesthetically pleasing to her clients.“It was about creating the interest and dimensions by varying the shades and textures and creating that flow throughout the home with different depths of color,” she says.“I love blue—it’s an easy, pretty colorto work with.”
The dining room is one such space where Zeller truly wanted the architectural details to play center stage. With a coffered ceiling laid on a diagonal accented with tongue-and-groove paneling, the ceiling detail was the star of the space. “This could’ve been such a simple room,” Zeller says. But by adding interest with texture, subtle color, and pattern, the dining room comes alive. Shimmery purple grasscloth by Phillip Jeffries plays off the Duralee fabric on the backside of the Lillian August for Hickory White dining chairs. The lavender hue in the drapery pattern of the Lindsay Cowles fabric is just subtle enough to draw your eye to them but not detract from the overall space.
Zeller took a similar approach in the kitchen, where a barrel ceiling entry to the space welcomes guests. Simple cabinetry and pendants in mixed metals by Savoy House complement the architectural details. Not one to overlook the need for practicality, Zeller added a pair of bench counter stools from Lee Industries swathed in a durable and practical Stout vinyl. “They have young daughters who like to have friends over, and what better way to have everyone gather up to the counter to hang out than a bench stool,” she says.
With kids at the forefront, Zeller designed the Deblitzes’ daughters’ bedrooms with style—and with the same neutral color palette in mind. Their youngest requested a canopy bed after spying one at her friend’s house that Zeller had also designed. “Canopies are really so pretty and just fun,” she says of the custom design in a Ferrick Mason fabric and matching Roman shade. “I grew up with a canopy bed. We haven’t seen tons of canopies for a while, so this was fun to do.” In her sister’s room, Zeller designed built-in shelving to store books and charge mobile devices—ideal for a teenager.
For the Deblitzes, who have never used a designer before, the design process took no luck at all. “We could tell the team our vision—they listened and took that and brought it to life without them influencing us or adding in their own style,” Deblitz says. “I think that’s difficult. Traci took what we liked and made it all come together exactly as we envisioned it.”