Dallas Designer Jean Liu Gives a Traditional University Park Home a Glamorous Glow Up

A traditional red brick house built in 1999 wasn’t what Jean Liu’s clients were looking for when they started house-hunting. “They wanted something much more contemporary and lighter and brighter,” Liu remembers. “But they were initially drawn to the house because of the kid-friendly street, and they loved the atmosphere in Dallas’ University Park where you could just let them run up and down the block.”

Great neighborhoods make for priceless childhood memories, and houses can always be renovated, so the couple took the plunge, embarking on a leisurely redo in 2016 that took several years to complete. “I always tell clients that if they are willing to take their time, they’ll really start to learn about their own habits and how they function in the house,” Liu says. “They’ll see how they really use rooms instead of how they think they might. Doing work in phases gives everyone more clarity and decisiveness on what to do.”

Bean Co. Homes was enlisted to oversee renovations that included exterior architectural changes and adding a pool and covered patio. Inside, much of the work focused on redoing the bathrooms and converting the attic space into a game room for the kids. Liu redesigned the staircase banister with decorative wrought-iron balusters inspired by a railing she’d seen in France. The front door was replaced with an arched glass-and-steel one Liu designed, which feels more contemporary and allows light to filter in. “We worked on the house, space by space, until it looked and felt exactly how they wanted it,” Liu says.

A Boutique Hotel Vibe at Home

The couple, who love to travel, asked for interiors that reflect the casual pace of Cabo San Lucas, one of their favorite vacation spots. “At one point, they said, ‘We’d like to feel a little bit like we’ve walked into a boutique hotel,’” says Jean Liu. “They let us run with our imaginations, which was really fun.”

For inspiration, Liu studied the interiors of such European hotels as Le Cinq Codet, located in a 1930s building on the Left Bank — one of Paris’ most contemporary designs, with Art Deco-infused interiors by Jean-Philippe Nuel. J.K Place, which has hotels in Italy and Paris, feels more like a series of collectors’ houses than hotels, with a mix of mid-century furnishings, art, and rich materials. “I love the level of finish-out for each of these properties, from the lobby to the bedrooms,” Liu says. “The layers, the artwork, and the scale of pieces used made each of these hotels memorable. We incorporated similar elements into this project.”

Here, the dining-room wallpaper, Garden of Eden by New York design studio Aux Abris, is an illustration of Art Deco-style flowers, trees, and greenery printed on shimmering metallic grasscloth. A small New York design studio whose papers are carried through John Rosselli & Associates, Aux Abris is known for a collection of patterns and murals inspired by early-20th-century art movements and for printing on innovative grounds such as grasscloth, silk, linen, and Japanese woven paper. “We used the paper as the starting point for building the house’s color palette with blushes, pale blues, lavender, and yellow,” Liu says.

The main bedroom’s custom headboard, which is upholstered in blue Pindler velvet, envelops a pair of leather-wrapped Croft House nightstands against a backdrop of chunky woven Phillip Jeffries wallcovering. It’s all designed to make the clients feel like they’re retiring for the evening in a bespoke hotel guest room on the other side of the globe.

Some of the most alluring rooms anywhere can be found in the salon-like living spaces off European hotel lobbies, and a similar intimate vibe in the living and family rooms has been recreated here with moody artwork, lush mohair upholstery, vintage mid-century seating, and sculptures and vessels collected by the homeowners on their travels. A pair of bentwood Targa chairs designed in Italy by GamFratesi were reupholstered stateside in blush patterned Zak+Fox fabric and Edelman suede leather. “That chair has always felt very hospitality to me, especially with the black trim,” Jean Liu says.

Memorable design moments are woven throughout, often through Liu’s selection of unusual art and lighting. “It’s always fun to make a statement that way — art and lighting are fairly pricey to begin with, so I like to make them really special,” she says.

A custom installation of an Apparatus Lariat pendant with brass and etched-glass spheres drapes elegantly over the dining-room table, and a delicate raw porcelain Bocci chandelier drops gracefully into the curve of the winding staircase. The pair of rare bronze Laverne side tables in the entryway “was a moment to make a statement like sculpture,” she says. The homeowners, who had decamped to Cabo for a year while the interiors were being done, returned from their long stay “very happy to finally be home,” Liu says.

And, with interiors that rival some of the most beautiful boutique hotels in the world, they may never want to leave again.