A Hidden Play Room and More Clever Details Make a "Modern-English-Cottage-Mansion" Feel Cozy

Having too much space sounds like the kind of problem we all wish we had. But in the case of this 17,200-square-foot house in Westlake, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, the struggle of how to make each room feel inviting was real. "Homes of this size can almost feel commercial," says Janelle Patton, founder of Lark Interiors, who began working with the homeowners shortly after they bought the empty lot. "We wanted this to be the right scale for a family."

Together with architectural lead Alison Ames, Patton designed a home with seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and an entertaining wing, but almost no hallways. "When rooms open onto each other and you walk through them, it feels cozy," explains Patton. The bedrooms are also close to each other, so a kid who wakes up in the middle of the night doesn't have far to go to find their parents.

The ceilings were another conundrum; in the living room alone they are over 34 feet high. To avoid cavernous expanses of drywall, Patton and Ames installed wooden beams in the living room and primary bedroom and added coffered ceilings and 10-inch crown moldings elsewhere. Patton also carved out intimate spaces within rooms: a niche under the stairs for putting on shoes, a loft with a slide into a secret room, and a homework nook in the kids' playroom.

They were willing to invest a little more in kid-friendly things that last.

The homeowners have big plans for entertaining, so Patton and Ames designed "the lounge," a complex of different hangout spaces that includes a den with plenty of seating, a pool table, and a bar. Nearby is a golf simulator, a screening room, and a basketball court (okay, just a half-sized one).

To make the disparate parts of the home feel cohesive, certain shapes repeat. Rounded corbels show up on the breakfast nook's framing, the floor pattern in the dining room, the bathroom vanities, and toe-kicks and cabinets in the kitchen. And throughout, Patton worked from a color palette of greens and blues balanced with mustard and terra-cotta.

The homeowners were thrilled with the marriage of their distinct sensibilities. "His tastes are more modern, while she loves detailed, English-inspired elements," says Patton. "It's tongue-in-cheek, but we ended up calling the home's style 'modern English cottage...mansion.'" A little something—and space enough—for everyone.

Living Room

Almost every piece of furniture in this room is a custom commission. "We just needed a different scale than what was available," says Janelle Patton of Lark Interiors. Pillow fabrics: Lulie Wallace, Maresca Textiles, Virginia White, Studio Four NYC, Lee Jofa.

Prep Kitchen

This room is the house's informal entry point, with a Dutch door that leads out to the driveway. Chandelier: Visual Comfort & Co. Paint: October Mist (walls), Dark Olive (cabinetry), Benjamin Moore.

Kitchen

The island that sits opposite the Lacanche range houses a four-foot-wide sink, dishwasher, and an undercounter microwave, while the other is designed for seating and storage. Stools: Cuff Studio.

Breakfast Nook

Every surface of this high-traffic dining space is wipeable, including a Pollack vinyl fabric on the custom white oak bench "that doesn't feel like vinyl at all." The owners invested in performance fabrics throughout the home. Table and chairs: custom. Chandelier: The Urban Electric Co.

Dining Room

The 18th-century cabinet, sourced from an antique dealer in L.A., was once part of a shop display in England. Chandeliers: Visual Comfort & Co. Armchairs: Century Furniture, in Morris & Co. fabric.

Bar

The bar is framed in white oak with a custom wine rack that helps delineate it as a discrete space within the lounge. Pendants: Lucent Lightshop. Cabinet paint: Narragansett Green, Benjamin Moore. Stools: Century Furniture.

Primary Bedroom

Nobody wanted to cover up the white oak flooring, so Patton chose a small rug as "something soft underfoot when they step out of bed." Bed: Made Goods. Chairs: Century Furniture, in Parker & Jules fabric. Nightstand: Vanguard Furniture.

Bunk Room

The family likes to host holidays, and requested this guest room designed for kids so that "all the cousins can come," says Patton.

Boy's Room

The structure accommodates toy storage and a custom "big boy bed." Behind it is a partially concealed play loft with a sleeping area of its own. Bed upholstery: Kelly Ventura. Paint: Avalon Teal (bed frame, stairs), Benjamin Moore and Tidewater (cabinetry), Sherwin-Williams.

Primary Bathroom

Wood beams and wallpaper define a distinct space for the tub. The fluted design of the custom vanities is another design detail that repeats throughout the house. Wallcovering: Sandberg Wallpaper. Sconces: The Urban Electric Co. Tub: Signature Hardware.

Daughter's Bathroom

The scalloped detail on the vanity is repeated in other rooms, linking this space with what the designers call the "English cottage aesthetic" of the rest of the home. Layered tile that acts as wainscoting on the wall carries through to the shower. Vanity paint: Pelt No. 254, Farrow & Ball.

Playroom

Inside the loft area is a slide that leads to a secret room Patton calls "the cool kids club."

Mural: Natswood Art from Etsy. Ladder paint: Indigo Batik, Sherwin-Williams.

The playroom's built-in bookshelves echo the gabled ceiling. The modular sofa is custom from Vanguard Furniture. All the pieces are movable and interchangeable.

Basketball Court

A bump-out at the back of the court was added so the home’s exterior wouldn't be an ungainly rectangle, and is now the perfect nook for red bleachers. Pendants: Visual Comfort & Co. Water fountain: Kohler. Fan: Big Ass Fans.