Interior Designer Catherine Brooks Giuffre Transforms Her West University House Into an Intimate Family Nest

During the last 15 years, interior designer Catherine Brooks Giuffre and her husband, Dean Giuffre — a vice president with RealFin Capital Partners — have lived together in five different houses and remodeled them all, including three in Houston’s West University neighborhood. Growing weary of redoing houses and moving, Catherine finally decided, “We just have to stay put for a minute.” That resolution didn’t last long. Four years ago, they rang up their real estate broker after spotting a two-story brick house with appealing Nantucket-style shingles for sale in the neighborhood.

Built in 1986, the house had only had one owner, who also happened to be the builder. He was selling it himself, so the Giuffres met him at the house for a viewing. “The interiors were charming and had a really good feeling. We could see the potential of what we could do with it,” Catherine says. As they talked, Catherine realized the owner was the father of one of her clients in London, and this had been her childhood home. “I was designing her new house in Houston, and when he mentioned that he had a daughter in London who was moving back home soon, Dean and I just looked at each other,” Catherine says. “I was, like, don’t say anything until the deal is done.’”

The unexpected connection between the two families was a positive omen, and soon the Giuffres moved into their new house ready to renovate. Then the pandemic hit. “We truly just sat still and didn’t make any changes,” she says. “We hosted our third-grade son’s pod at home and just lived in the house until we decided what we wanted to do.” Once they got going, it was first things first, with nuts-and-bolts upgrades such as plumbing and electrical. A clunky staircase railing was ripped out and replaced with a sleek brass one with intricate wrought iron and brass detailing of Catherine’s own design to “give it a little sparkle when you walk in,” she says. The kitchen, family room, and breakfast nook were paneled in white oak, and Catherine redesigned the living room fireplace in Calacatta Viola marble.

Catherine and Dean have similar tastes when it comes to furnishings, which makes for tailored, handsome interiors that aren’t too masculine or feminine, “I’m a Type A personality, so I like tight upholstery because it has a cleaner look,” she says. “And all of our furnishings are neutral — we let the art have all the color. While Catherine works with color and pattern in many different styles for clients, she loves interiors where you can’t tell if a man or woman lives there.

Catherine developed an eye for art and antiques after working for many years for designers J. Randall “Randy” Powers and Jane Moore. “Jane and I would travel to France for work, and I fell in love with French antiques,” she says. “Randy was my mentor — he’s just so incredibly talented — and we’d go to all the galleries in Houston together. It taught me that if you’re going to spend a lot of money on art, it should be something of value. I try to carry that forward with my clients, helping them start their own collections.”

At home, the Giuffre’s art includes works on paper by Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, and James Surls. One of Dean’s favorites is a punchy work by California artist Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez, which vies for attention with two other large pieces, including a portrait of Queen Elizabeth embroidered entirely in pearls by English artist Ann Carrington, which the couple commissioned years before Carrington became known.

“Dean loves to move art around the house, so [the Muñoz Hernandez] piece ended up over the fireplace,” she says. “It was getting overwhelming in there, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll just have to paint the room black to calm it all down.’” Dean balked at the idea of a black room but changed his mind after he saw the stunning effect. The gold background of the painting gleams against the dark wall, and Catherine added a pair of honey-hued Art Deco burlwood chairs, a Klismos-style chair by The Wicker Works detailed in gold leaf, and a pillow in goldenrod velvet to brighten the mood.

The family room, which opens off the kitchen, has an intimate, salon-like appeal with elegant wood paneling and art by Motherwell and Rauschenberg. The space is minimally furnished with vintage pieces in rich materials — a suede sofa Catherine snagged on Chairish, an Italian marble coffee table from Found, a Bill Sofield armchair in polished wood and mohair, and a gleaming nickel Eileen Gray drinks table from Knoll.

“It’s really nice at night because everything glows,” Catherine says. “It feels like you’re in some kind of fun club. When the room was first finished, one of our cute neighbors came over and he said, ‘Oh, this feels amazing. I’m not leaving.’ We feel like that too — we sit in there every night.”