Big results come from small changes in Houston Rice Military townhome

Jan and Alan Sexton love color, appreciate art and design and have confidence in choices they have made for their homes.

So when they married and combined households in 2010, they had beautiful things to fill their home in the gated Caceres townhome community in Rice Military. Recently, though, they'd come to the conclusion that they needed help.

Nothing they did to tinker with the arrangement of art above their fireplace made them happy, and their aging cornflower blue sofa was in need of replacement. They wanted something that would likely cost more and didn't want to make a mistake.

"We played around with (the mantel) a little bit, but it wasn't working," Jan said. "You know how one thing leads to another? If you’re going to change the sofa, you’re going to have to change the blue wall. And then, will it work right with the rug?And what about the purple and the green in the dining room? It was more than I wanted to tackle. because I didn't want to make a mistake. We needed help."

"I walked in and thought, they don't really need my help. They have a great art collection and have curated a lot of great things in their home," said Oscar Banta-Guevara.

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When Jan Sexton first called interior designer Oscar Banta-Guevara it was because they weren't quite sure how to assemble art on their living room fireplace mantle. They also wanted a new sofa, then one thing led to another and they made several changes throughout their Rice Military townhome.

The Sextons' primary bedroom didn't need new furniture, but they wanted it to be less gray. Tall rectangles of moulding were added to the walls for a Regency-style paneled effect, and then they were painted Benjamin Moore "Chantilly Lace." Custom-made lampshades and new bedding and decorative pillows completed the project.

Interior designer Oscar Banta-Guevara installed Osborne & Little's "Sunbird" wallpaper in metallic gold and fuchsia in the primary bathroom.

Both Jan and Alan Sexton love color in their home, so when Alan found this purple chandelier for the dining room, they were all in.

The primary bedroom was mostly gray, but with a rug that had plenty of fuchsia. Jan Sexton wanted more color in the room, and found it in bedding, pillows and new lampshades.

He understood their need, though. Instead of helping them with a big renovation or massive purchases, they needed a fresh perspective on what they already had. When they saw how small changes could impact one room, they asked him to take a look at the master bedroom and bathroom, where paint, wallpaper, bedding and lampshades could breathe life into a room without buying any new furniture.

Alan, 66 and a retired dentist, had collected art for many years and displayed it at his dental practice. A native of Orange, he'd always been interested in architecture and embraced color. He loves to tell the story of how he came home one day, declaring that he'd found the perfect chandelier for their dining room.

It was a huge, purple blown-glass chandelier with numerous lights and swirling globes dangling from it. It's there today, blending with a lively chinoiserie pattern in upholstery on their dining chairs and olive green draperies and rug.

The Sextons entertain as often as they can, and enjoy using their home to help their favorite causes. One is Prayers of the People, which began in Houston with Presbyterian churches offering lay chaplain services in the Texas Medical Center and now exists in medical settings around the world. For one fundraiser, they auctioned a dinner in their home, calling it "Dinner Under the Purple Chandelier."

Jan, a Baytown native who retired as director of Community Centers and Senior Adult Programs for Harris County Commissioners, studied studio art and art history in college, and approaches home design with a colorful artistic flair. In other words, "More!" is her mantra.

They understand the appeal of white kitchens or homes with light neutral palettes — but that's just not how they want to live.

The two met later in life in a Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Houston and have been married for 13 years. They'd both lived in larger homes and didn't want the maintenance that goes along with one, so a townhome really appealed to them.

The living room fireplace mantel was their first concern. They'd placed a favorite piece, a large Hunt Slonem bunnies painting, on the cast-stone ledge, propping it against a wall and trying to add different sculptural pieces, ultimately liking none of their own arrangements.

Banta-Guevara told them to hang the beautiful painting on the mosaic tile wall all by itself and brought in a professional art hanger to get the right spot for this piece. For the same room, where they had the light blue leather sectional sofa and a light blue wall, the designer found a rusty-red textured wallpaper that brought out a little bit of the color in the painting and blended well with the bronze-brown tile on the fireplace wall.

The sofa was a bit of a challenge because they wanted something with reclining elements but in a sleek, modern minimalist design. They found one at Roche Bobois, a French maker of luxury furniture. Unless the Sextons tell you that it's a reclining sofa, you'd never guess.

In the primary bedroom suite, the couple didn't need new furniture. Their view was that it looked "too RH," with too much gray and not enough color.

The couple wanted their bedroom as white as possible, so Banta-Guevara chose Benjamin Moore's "Chantilly Lace," a brilliant white, and added tall blocks of molding to the wall for a paneled, Regency-style accent.

Banta-Guevara's answer was to opt out of the nice but boring gray and white Frette bedding in favor of beautiful bedding from Tribute Goods, a duvet and shams in its Earth pattern in Meadow Green. Behind the shams, Banta-Guevara placed a trio of large Euro shams in a Schumacher pattern with plenty of fuchsia.

Out in front of all of the pillows is another Tribute Goods specialty, a large lumbar pillow made out of a vintage Hermès scarf, this one a chinoiserie pattern with lotus flowers, butterflies, birds and foliage.

The designer brought another jolt of color to the room by having new lampshades made, covered in olive green fabric that blends well with the new bedding, another small change that made a big difference.

For the adjoining bathroom, Banta-Guevara found a beautiful wallpaper pattern — Osborne & Little's "Sunbird" in metallic gold and fuchsia — for the walls that earlier were painted jade green. They're still contemplating a new rug for this bathroom, but that will happen when they find just the right one.

Though their home was fairly full and its color palette complete, the Sextons feel like these changes brought new life to a home they already loved.

"It's all very vibrant and happy, and I feel like when people come, they feel the same way. We want them to feel warm," Jan said.

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