Inside and out, the house now reflects Lisa’s vision. With minimal structural changes, she transformed the French country manor-style home, using soothing paint colors to create a streamlined backdrop for the open kitchen/family room, a formal dining room and front parlor.

Throughout the interiors, organic elements amplify the warmth of plentiful natural light. Quiet shades of blue and just-so punches of green pull everything together, and an interplay of textures with an intriguing mix of art (including her own), antiques and one-off finds energizes everything with the designer’s vibe.

The first impression of the reimagined home is delivered via the curb appeal of the white-painted facade. Lisa notes that as a member of the HOA’s design committee, she advocated allowing homeowners to paint their brick exteriors, although at the time she had no intention of painting her own house. But when the short-lived window of opportunity opened, she seized it. The transformative lift is undeniable. Pale aqua-green shutters add a distinctive Caribbean Colonial flair.

A winding road led the couple to Texas. They met in Chicago (he’s from Boston, she’s from Ohio) and, after marrying, moved first to Keller and then, in 2010, to Southlake. In 2017, Jake, an attorney, was offered a job in Long Island, a move that Lisa embraced. They sold their house, but after buying and gutting a New York cottage, the couple determined that staying in Southlake was the better choice for the family.

“Clearly, the schools are good, and we love that we meet people from all over the country and, really, the world, here.” Lisa finished remodeling the New York cottage and flipped it, working first from her mother-in-law’s house in Keller and then from a rental near their current home. While walking the kids to school five years ago (they’re now 15 and 12), Lisa enjoyed cutting through the Wyndsor Creek neighborhood. “I fell in love with it, the feel of the community and the green spaces. So, when I heard that a family from our school was about to sell their house, I made our interest known.” They closed in 2018, but Lisa had already begun the remodel.

“The floor plan was perfect for us. And I knew what everything was going to look like with my changes. The homeowner was kind enough to let me in to measure things; it was an opportunity to get so much done before we moved in. The new kitchen island and cabinets were ready to be installed day one.”

In the kitchen, which is open to a family room, wall cabinets painted Benjamin Moore Simply White stretch to the ceiling, giving it an optical lift. Glass fronts showcase a collection of ginger jars as well as stacks of white tableware and orderly ranks of glasses. The Shaker-style cabinets that form the base of the oversize quartz-topped island are painted Benjamin Moore Saybrook Sage, a soothing green warmed by brushed-brass hardware. In a signature move, Lisa sourced hardware in a different finish for the wall cabinets: polished nickel pulls, also from Top Knobs.

Jake, the cook in the family, chose the matte white subway tile for the backsplash. His only other request was for workhorse appliances, including a Viking gas cooktop set into the quartz countertop above a KitchenAid oven. The dishwasher and trash compartment are tucked under the island.

The other side facing the family room features white subway tile set in a gray-grouted parquet pattern that creates a playful dialogue with the navy-and-white weave of the rattan stool seats. The chairs mirror the Currey & Company rattan chandelier in the adjacent breakfast nook, now reimagined as a lighter, brighter beverage center.

Instead of a table in the nook, a waterfall quartz-topped island wired to serve as a charging station and study area is centered in the space. Across from it, a granite counter, leathered for Lisa locally, rests on new storage cabinets and a small fridge. Open shelves above the counter display glassware illuminated by polished nickel sconces.

Rid of dark wainscoting, the nook is wrapped in a blue and white Serena & Lily wallpaper, a now discontinued fluid graphic pattern that gives traditional stripes a sophisticated tweak.

Lisa elevated the existing architectural trim on door casings here (and throughout the house) with the addition at each corner of wood trim squares with a classic rosette detail.

Elongated bookcases bracketing the fireplace in the family room now stretch to the ceiling, making the window-hemmed space look airier. But the first floor’s biggest light channel was unexpectedly opened when the DeBoevers replaced the dark engineered wood floors with white oak following flood damage from the hard freeze in 2021. A river of light flows through the home.

On the other side of the family room’s two-sided gas fireplace, a dining room includes a contemporary white oak mantel with inlaid tile of Lisa’s design. The room overlooks the recently installed pool. The treads of the adjacent staircase are also white oak, while the banister is red oak. A gallery wall of framed Andrew Wyeth prints draws the eye up.

Artwork of different provenance and in interesting frames figures prominently in the home’s decor but nowhere with greater effect than in the front parlor. Just inside the front door, what was the dining area is now a cozy sitting room painted Benjamin Moore Vintage Vogue, a smoky gray-green. Deeply padded vintage-look leather chairs that have a midcentury feel encourage settling in for conversation. In contrast to the contemporary lines of a cerused-gray sideboard, large classical landscape paintings in baroque frames add to the room’s clubby feel.

“I ‘shopped’ my mother-in-law’s closets for them,” Lisa says. “I don’t know that they are anything special, but the frames are quite extraordinary.”

And such is the magic in the home’s makeover. The design tweaks, taken separately, are subtle, the colors classic, the furniture welcoming, but there is something more in the spin, a je ne sais quoi that gives the nest that Lisa has feathered its own style: bespoke DeBoever.