Mullrany Project Reveal: Minimalism Meets Personality

Tara Lenney

6 hours ago

11 min read

Bright modern kitchen with white cabinets, green tile backsplash, stainless fridge, island, and a book reading La Mesa Mexicana.

What happens when you're a minimalist living in a house that seems determined to collect clutter?

And what if you also happen to LOVE color, personality, and fun, but need your home to feel like a calming retreat from the outside world?

Well, that's a design challenge I can get behind.

Our Mullrany clients had a 1970s Dallas home with plenty of square footage, windows everywhere, and a whole lot of potential. But somehow, despite all that natural light, it felt dark, heavy, dated, and disconnected. The kitchen was tiny and sunken, the formal dining room sat largely unused, and the courtyard was less "outdoor oasis" and more "why is our grill on a stage?"

These clients weren't asking for a sterile, millennial-beige minimalist museum. They wanted color. They wanted personality. They wanted FUN. They just didn't want to come home to visual chaos.

And that distinction became the design force behind this entire renovation.

THE STORY

We love a good TLD neighborhood takeover.

We've worked on quite a few homes in this particular Dallas neighborhood, and one of our favorite things is when wonderful clients send their wonderful friends our way. It's a pretty reliable system. People tend to surround themselves with people they like, so when we find clients we absolutely adore, chances are we're going to adore their neighbors too.

And these two? SOOOOOOOO cool.

They both work in emergency medicine, including delivering babies full time, which I think explains a lot about why they were such a joy to work with. When your actual day job involves life-or-death situations or 2 AM wakeup calls, choosing a backsplash doesn't tend to send you into a tailspin.

They cared deeply about their home and were excited about the process. But they also understood that they'd hired a team of professionals to help them get there. Their general approach was something along the lines of, "We'll be over here with our feet up and a glass of wine. Let us know when you need us."

They were the people on the roller coaster with their hands in the air, smiling the whole way down, rather than gripping the safety bar for dear life.

My kind of people.

But their initial design request was actually pretty straightforward:

I'm a minimalist living in a cluttered house, and I hate it.

The SUNKEN kitchen (bless) was too small, the layout was frustrating, and there wasn't a proper home for all the things a busy family of four needs to function. They wanted more space, better storage, more light, and a house that finally reflected their personalities.

And they wanted it to feel peaceful.

Not boring. Not beige. Peaceful.

THE BEFORE

Let's discuss the very strange phenomenon of a house having windows absolutely everywhere and somehow still feeling like a dingy cave?!

That was Mullrany.

The original home had plenty of interesting architectural features, including an interior courtyard and a beautiful wood ceiling in the family room. But between the beige walls, dark floors, dated finishes, and choppy floor levels, the whole thing felt much heavier than it needed to.

And speaking of floor levels, you practically needed a trail map to get through the main living spaces.

The front living room and kitchen were sunken, while the hallway, breakfast area, and family room sat higher. So moving through the house meant stepping down, stepping up, and occasionally sacrificing a toe to the cause.

The kitchen itself was roughly half the size of what it is today. Meanwhile, an enormous formal dining room was sitting nearby, looking very important and getting approximately zero use.

A classic case of square footage in all the wrong places.

Then there was the courtyard.

Because this house wraps around an interior courtyard, you can see that outdoor space from practically everywhere. Which is wonderful when the courtyard is beautiful.

It's decidedly less wonderful when it's a tired wooden deck with a long-abandoned hot tub situation, struggling plants, awkward furniture, and a grill sitting proudly atop a raised octagonal platform.

Yes, an actual grill stage. A platform for the pit master.

The courtyard was partially covered, but not enough to make it particularly comfortable or functional in the Texas heat. So this enormous opportunity to connect indoor and outdoor living was mostly just a view of a space nobody really wanted to use.

Inside, the family room had a lovely wood ceiling, but sparse furnishings and a layout that wasn't making the most of the space. There was plenty of room, but not much of a reason to settle in and stay awhile.

The house wasn't short on square footage or architectural potential.

It was short on intention.

THE PLAN

The first order of business was to make the house work better. And that meant addressing the floor plan before we started getting distracted by all the pretty things.

Before-and-after house floor plans showing a redesigned family room, kitchen, dining area and courtyard, labeled Before and After.

We brought the sunken kitchen and front living room up to the same level as the surrounding spaces, eliminating those awkward transitions and making the main floor feel dramatically more connected. Huzzah! A revelation! Great first step.

Then we looked at that enormous, unused formal dining room and decided it was time for a career change. By absorbing it into the kitchen, we could create the kind of generous, hardworking space this family actually needed. A large kitchen with room to cook, gather, sit, store ev-uh-ry-thing, and still have clear countertops at the end of the day.

Because here's the thing about minimalism (the hill I will die on): it doesn't mean owning no things. Sometimes it means having really, really good places to put them. And when you're designing for a family with two kids, real life comes with stuff and things. We wanted to give all of it a home, without making the entire house feel like a storage facility.

The other major move was opening the kitchen to the courtyard with large accordion doors, creating a much stronger connection between the interior and exterior. Suddenly, instead of a series of choppy rooms surrounding a neglected outdoor space, we had the opportunity to make the whole house feel more expansive and connected.

Of course, the courtyard needed a pretty serious intervention of its own.

We worked with our architect, engineer, and the construction team to develop a new covered outdoor living and dining area that would provide protection from the Texas sun without blocking all that precious daylight from the rooms surrounding it.

And because every wall of the courtyard is essentially windows, there wasn't exactly a convenient blank wall for an outdoor kitchen. So we made the kitchen an island instead, allowing it to serve double duty as a functional cooking space and a natural divider between the outdoor lounge and dining areas.

But while all of this was happening, we also had to make some decisions about where to spend the money.

Like nearly every renovation wish list in the history of ever, theirs was approximately twice the size of the budget.

Math can be rude like that.

Rather than renovating the entire house okay-ish, we recommended concentrating the investment in the spaces where this family spends the most time together. The kitchen, breakfast area, family room, courtyard, and powder bath would get the attention they deserved, while other spaces could wait their turn.

And finally, we needed to solve the other half of the puzzle: how to make a colorful house feel calm.

Our clients loved blues, greens, and playful details, but they didn't want a home that felt childish, busy, or visually overwhelming. Especially after the kinds of workdays they have, home needed to be a place where their nervous systems could clock out.

So we approached color with hyper-intention. Rich, layered hues balanced with natural materials. Plenty of hidden storage, with carefully chosen opportunities to display pretty things. Cozy furnishings, thoughtful art, and rooms that felt finished without feeling full.

Because minimal doesn't have to mean empty. And calming sure as heck doesn't have to mean beige.

Let's take a tour, shall we?!

THE AFTER

Going to do something different and start outside in the courtyard. Because you can see this space from everywhere!

The Courtyard

Stylish covered patio with wood beams, blue tiled outdoor kitchen, grill, dining table, white cushions, and potted plants in sunlight

Gone is the grill platform stage! Say hello to our new outdoor space. What was an open pergola before is now a sweeping semi-covered outdoor ceiling structure that follows the architecture of the house.

With UV clear panels, you still get lots of light (because cutting down the light into the house was not an option for us, for obvious reasons) but without all the glare. Fans are now pushing the air around to make this space actually inhabitable.

Sunny modern patio with cushioned chairs, blue tiled bar, wood pergola, and glass doors leading into the house

On one side, a cozy lounge area with serious resort vibes.

And on the other, a dining area and our outdoor kitchen island.

Sunlit outdoor patio with wooden dining table, potted plants, blue-tiled bar, and cushioned chairs beside glass doors

The tile on the island picks up on the navy exterior siding color. Repeating that same tone kept things calming and more minimal without having to use a true neutral color.

Outdoor patio kitchen with wood pergola, ceiling fan, blue tile counter, stainless fridge and grill, and a white vase of greenery.

The paver and rock combo did a few things for us. One, it helped to create visual interest and pattern in a huge area, and two, helped with drainage. With window-walls on all 4 sides, we needed a way to get water out. Keeping these materials tonal kept the pattern from being too dominant. We wanted the seating, island, and ceiling to be the stars of the show.

The Kitchen

If you thought that was a wild transformation, hold onto your pearls.

Bright modern kitchen with teal herringbone backsplash, green and white cabinets, wood island, bar stools, and hanging pendant lights

The dining room and tiny sunken kitchen are gone. In their place? This sprawling, colorful knockout of a kitchen.

Bright modern kitchen with white and green cabinets, island, pendant lights, and cozy seating area by glass doors

So much to talk about here. The perimeter cabinets are a classic white, the best supporting actresses of the space. By going intentionally neutral here, we could dial up the fun and personality in other places, like…

The backsplash! Our client from day 1 told us she was a fun backsplash girl, and she did not lie. This green multi-toned tile laid up in a herringbone was another classic nod (when is herringbone ever the wrong answer) with a modern, playful twist.

For warmth (and durability) we chose a white oak for our kitchen island, and repeated the wood tone throughout the space, including the counter stools (leather, because kids) and the vent hood. You’ll see it shortly in other furnishings too. Foreshadowing!

The next place we played – accessories. The artwork ledge at the far end of the kitchen, the runner, and thoughtfully minimal accessories bring in another layer of personality. So many people fear white kitchen cabinets for being boring. But don’t think of them as boring! Think of them as a foundation for the other items you can layer in.

Bright modern kitchen with green herringbone tile, white cabinets, wood island, pendant lights, and a La Mesa Mexicana sign.

We cannot go on for one further minute until we discuss the fact that there is a fireplace in this kitchen!

Bright modern kitchen with white and wood cabinets, green tile backsplash, abstract painting, rug, and fruit on the counter

Our client asked when we proposed this space plan “is it weird to have a fireplace in your kitchen?!” to which we responded “hell no, it’s amazing!” I mean, historically all kitchens had fireplaces. That’s how you cooked in them. And while nobody is making beef stew in this fireplace, it’s nice to think that you could.

Bright modern kitchen with green cabinets, white tiled fireplace, wood bar stools, chessboard on marble table, and a cozy plant-filled feel

The old brown brick is gone, now clad in a simple white vertical tile. The OG plan was to remove the little “wings” on either side and have this be a flat monolith of a façade, but as it turns out, that brick goes alllllll the way through to the roof and was basically structurally holding up the entire house.

Modern kitchen with white tiled fireplace, sage green cabinets, brass pulls, wood floor, and a framed painting in the background.

Since we didn’t want to redo the roof (weird), we opted to leave the former shape. We changed our gameplan on the heath with a quartz slab to connect the two “wings” and it all worked out amazing.

The giant sweeping island has seating for 20. Kidding, but it is huge and it is wonderful. Also wonderful are the little lighting details above the new windows and the island.

Another feature we have yet to touch on – the seating area! This is becoming a whole thing you guys – adding lounge furniture to your kitchen so you have a cozy spot to enjoy your morning coffee or your evening cocktail. This is the third time we’ve done it in a year, and I am in full support of this as a movement. Tell your friends.

Bright modern living room with two beige armchairs, marble table and chessboard, looking out to a sunny patio dining area

Bright modern living room with two beige armchairs, round table, chess set, flowers, and glass doors opening to a patio

And the best part, the chairs swivel, so you can enjoy the kitchen, or a game of chess, or pivot and enjoy the view to the courtyard via our new accordion glass doors

Bright modern kitchen with white counters, green tile backsplash, pendant lights, island sink, and sunny dining area beyond.

Okay, so listen. I’m not supposed to have favorite children. I’ve birthed 3 boys, and they are great, but this next little space is giving them a run for their money.

Bright modern dining nook with wooden table, chairs, striped bench, breakfast items, blue accent wall, and sunlit window.

Get ready for…

The Breakfast Nook

Sunny dining nook with round wood table, striped bench, chairs, framed fruit art, and a window with woven shade in a cozy modern room

Just. I mean.

COME ON.

Bright modern kitchen with white cabinets, green tile backsplash, wood island, plants, and a colorful landscape painting

Is this not the cutest eating situation on the planet!?

Sunlit nook with striped bench, potted olive branch, fruit wall art, woven shade, and wood shelving with basket.

This is the exact same zone where the breakfast table was before. We shortened the windows and brought up the sill to allow us to create this cozy little bench-and-bookshelf situation under the window.

Bright kitchen nook with striped banquette, round wood table, croissant and coffee, pendant light, and warm sunlit windows.

This now takes the place of the never used formal dining room. Hosting giant dinner parties is not their thing, and when people come over, they want to go outside! So between this cozy everyday family breakfast spot and the courtyard, we have it covered.

Bright modern kitchen-dining room with wooden table, mixed chairs, skylight, pendant lights, plants, and teal backsplash

And let’s have a moment of appreciation for the sexiest table base I’ve ever seen.

Sunlit kitchen nook with striped bench, wood table, chair, coffee and croissant, open book, plants, and gold pendant light.

Bright modern kitchen nook with wooden chair, striped bench, potted plant, fruit print, and stainless fridge by a sunlit window.

We’ve repeated our warm white oak here in the nook, connecting it visually to the kitchen. The chairs here have leather seats, for durability and comfort. The banquette seat cushion is faux leather, making it totally livable for day to day with kids.

Bright modern kitchen with green cabinets, island, pears and coffee on a table, skylight overhead, calm cozy morning mood

Legitimately would probably never leave this spot.

Bright modern kitchen-dining room with mint green cabinets, wood table and chairs, framed art, bowl of fruit, and sunny windows

The nook now has a wall of cabinets to store literally anything and everything, from seasonal items, kitchen overflow, medicine cabinet, board games for the family room (more on that in a moment), THIS wall solved every clutter issue this family had been experiencing.

There are so many non-kitchen items that always seem to find their way into the kitchen. This is the storage solution for all of them.

And we made it a cheerful green, because WHY NOT! Some extra fun and personality for our workhorse of a storage wall.

Modern dining room with round wood table, pale chairs, breakfast dishes, blue and cream walls, gold chandelier, calm daylight.

Now, if we peek around the corner, we’ll head into the other spot you’d never want to leave.

The Family Room

Cozy modern living room with mustard and blue sofas, abstract wall art, wood ceiling, bright window light, and styled decor.

Drenched in French blue, this is the cozy family room our clients had wanted forever.

Stylish living room with blue walls, wood ceiling, colorful art, mustard and blue sofas, plants, and bright window light.

The wood ceiling was actually there before, but you hardly noticed it. Now, the wood brings out all of its warmth (via a complimentary color, thank you color theory!).

Cozy living room with mustard sofa, abstract landscape art, white vase of greenery, lamp, pears, and books on a wooden coffee table.

We fixed the floor plan by deleting a second door to a bathroom on this back wall that nobody used. That freed up the whole wall to allow us to add in this mamma jamma gold velvet sectional.

Cozy living room with brown velvet sofa, patterned pillows, white throw, blue-gray walls, abstract art, and a doorway to bright room

Talk about a spot you’re going to sink into and never ever get up from.

Cozy living room with tan sectional, patterned pillows, wooden coffee table, blue walls, art, and a ceiling fan; calm, stylish mood

Funny story – in our initial Welcome Guide we send our clients a survey that includes their design bugaboos – things they cannot stand and don’t want us to ever show them.

Our client said that she hated velvet.

To which I respectfully ignored because my guess was she didn’t like old gross velvet.

And I was right.

Cozy living room with mustard sectional, colorful pillows, wood coffee table, blue walls, art, and a bright kitchen beyond.

When we showed her this luxe golden, family and pet friendly velvet, she changed her tune. Because it’s glorious.

Stylish blue living room with abstract art, velvet sofa, coffee table decor, plants, and pears beside a bright window.

And thank goodness because I also wanted to do a blue velvet chair.

Sunlit living room with a blue velvet chair, colorful pillow, abstract wall art, vase of branches, and gray curtains.

I promise, we do listen to our clients and take their preferences seriously. But when we think that maybe you should expand your horizons and try something different, we aren’t afraid to show you.

Cozy modern living room with mustard sofa, striped pillows, abstract blue art, wood ceiling, blue rug, and pears on a coffee table.

She was also near tears because for the first time ever in her entire life, she has art on the walls. Finally, the relief of a finished room.

Not a to do list.

Not a “one day” list.

Finished.

Sunlit modern living room with a blue sofa, potted palm, abstract art, wood ceiling, and woven basket planter.

The rug, the curtains, the art, all of these elements are telling the same story. Cohesive without being matchy. Calming without being beige.

We made sure that the accessories were meaningful to them. Our favorite game to play is “which coffee table books would you actually want to flip through.”

Bright open-plan kitchen and dining room with green cabinets, wood table, brass lights, and sunlit bench seating, no people.

Last but not least,

The Powder Bath

A last minute throw-in to the project, we refreshed the powder bathroom just off the kitchen area.

Bright bathroom with blue vanity, gold fixtures, large mirror, white towels, and a toilet visible through an open door.

We didn’t change the layout, but just made every element more beautiful and inviting.

Bright bathroom vanity with blue cabinets, gold hardware, round mirror, lamp, and plant beside a white toilet.

It just felt wrong to update all the common areas of the house and then say “hey guests, use this 1970’s bathroom!” Glad we could get it into the mix.

Bright modern kitchen with wooden table, croissant and coffee mug, open book, and bowl of pears on the table.

And that’s all she wrote!

This was such a fun project to bring to life. Amazing clients with fun personalities and a bucket full of trust is just the most exciting combination. Can’t wait to come back and attack the other half of the house down the line!