You can take the girl out of New Orleans, but you can’t take New Orleans out of the girl. That’s what Kathy Brooks and her husband, Jimmy, discovered when they designed a home on Galveston’s Indian Beach. Kathy’s memories of the French Quarter and her family’s waterside camp in Grand Isle, Louisiana, shaped her Texas beach haven.
As the former proprietor of an antiques shop, Kathy had some interior decorating experience. She also had studied drafting. And having renovated two houses and built three, she was well versed in the demands of construction. So when her family decided to build their Gulf-front retreat, she was ready. Armed with architecture books, house plans, and design software, Kathy conceived the initial floor plan, then hired a professional to ensure that her ideas met code.
Designed from the inside out to take in panoramic views, the layout includes four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and an open living/dining/kitchen area. Porches—screened and open—jut out from almost every room.
The melding of Kathy’s camp and city heritage is visible throughout the house. She combined elegant architectural details and French antiques with no-nonsense beach house elements such as pickled pine floors, beaded board, and durable white slipcovers. Because the house’s completion coincided with the closing of her antiques business, Kathy partially furnished it with pieces she hadn’t sold. To finish the rooms, she used inherited items and searched for inexpensive pieces at antiques fairs and flood sales. Catalog buys, such as the dining table and chairs, and an affordable Home Depot kitchen reinforce the “real” factor. Kathy polished off the look with bowls of shells, nautical touches, and fanciful objects to remind visitors that—elegance aside—they are at the beach.
When Kathy’s Louisiana friends visit, the blend of their home state’s influences and coastal cottage style puts everyone at ease. “One of my friends gave me the ultimate compliment,” Kathy says. “When she saw the house, she said, ‘You kept New Orleans with you.’”
Hunt for Treasure
Kathy discovered many of her favorite finds by chance. She recommends frequent visits to antiques shops, flea markets, and fairs, like the one she never misses in Round Top, Texas.
Reuse, Replace, Reinvent
Their mantel, recovered from an old Texas farmhouse, was expanded with reclaimed pine and cypress to fit the modern fireplace opening. Found on the curb outside an antiques shop, the Gothic Revival doors enclose a cabinet. Kathy added a bit of the beach to the formal living room with her shell collection, including nautilus and lightning whelk (Texas’ state shell). Culled from an Adirondacks lake house, a sign that reads “The Kathy” was purchased at an antiques show.
Improvise
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Buy the next-best thing and customize it. “I found a chandelier for the dining area that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was the right shape and size. I painted it and added crystals and seashells,” Kathy says. “I’m no arts-and-crafts person, but in two hours it looked great.”
Think Ahead
It’s easier to decide where you’ll place salvaged architectural elements—such as the French-shutters-cum-doors Kathy installed in a bath—before you start construction. Early meetings with an architect or builder will prevent tearing down walls late in the game.
