I think that there really wasn't that much actual work done to the interior of the house and it definitely could have been completed by small crew relatively quickly and I don't think that expensively either. She probably had had painters for the walls and cabinets, floor people, landscapers, and probably a general type carpenter for the doorways and trim. Keep in mind when you are ripping out flooring, painters can move in and patch and paint without have to tarp or tape things off. This saves huge amounts of time.The kitchen cabinets were left in place and merely painted. Likely the doors were removed and taken to a shop and sprayed. The face frames are rolled quickly. The new island has basic partial overlay cabinets mixed in with some beautiful architectural details like corbels and applied panel molding. Looks harder than it really is. They may even be slab drawers with applied molding. Prefinished floors would only take a few days to install. Demoing the existing would be 2 days probably. Baseboards are popped off and replaced easily, then nail holes are filled and painted. The bathroom demo would have been the most time intensive but I think tilers would have easily done the whole thing in a week. She may be waiting on glass for the shower; that is usually a long lead time for custom. I think she did a beautiful job and has a great eye. She probably had a lot of the furnishings already. The whole time the interior was being working on, the landscapers were clearing, cutting and placing the stone. The house had great bones, just needed a facelift!

I don't care for most of the rooms in the article--or perhaps I should say I have a hard time relating to them. They're overly formal, overly opulent, overly staged. But I try to keep an open mind about some of the trend pronouncements. What I find, speaking strictly personally, is that I'm a bit slow to like many trends, whether it be in fashion or decorating. Of course some I just NEVER learn to like, but others have to creep up on me, I have to be exposed for a while before I embrace them. Is that just marketing? Maybe. I also find that sometimes I develop a liking for something that later ends up being trendy and I think "wow, I was ahead of the curve on that!" But was I really, or was it subliminal exposure to a coming trend that finally reaches market saturation? One example is sun faces: I started acquiring them several years ago and then suddenly noticed them being sold everywhere. Here's another example: I was browsing an old, maybe 2004, decorating magazine and saw an white ceramic owl vase/umbrella stand. It was instant lust, I really loved that thing. But in the process of trying to track it down I suddenly realized that owls are everywhere. I suspect that my attraction to that owl vase was from being exposed, unaware, to the increasing number in the marketplace. So I'm trying to dampen my knee-jerk antipathy to some of her pronouncements, like white walls/woodwork when I really enjoy strong-colored walls and white woodwork. I suspect that with enough exposure I'll come around. Not that I want to be a victim of trends: wall paint is easy enough to change, but I'd certainly have to think long and hard about painting floors or furniture. I can't see giving up my oriental rugs. I like light furniture, like my antique scrubbed pine cupboard, but I'm not crazy about the washed-out settings they seem to be displayed in now. I wonder if some of these designers are watching too many vampire movies! Oh well, enough navel gazing.

Jan, you're so funny! Beautiful home, I love the arch over the gate and the breakfast room was my favorite, too. So many elegant spaces, but I prefer things a bit more casual, so the breakfast room with the mix of chairs and the cozy fireplace would be right at home on my farm :)

auntjen, Now that's a big, dark house that breaks every rule. And it sold! Just goes to show you that everyone's taste is different. While I enjoy the Cote d'Texas blog and like her design taste and blog posts, I am starting to get a little tired of seagrass rugs, white linen slip covers on everything, white carrera marble etc. I think in a few years - those things will be seen as design staples of 2014-15. I wish I could find a designer who designed comfortable, real people homes. Most of the rooms in design magazines are so uncomfortable looking. Yes, the furniture is beautiful but you can't curl up on that tiny sofa and where's the TV! :-) What's wrong with having some color in a room? A TV? gasp - carpeting? I feel like these design blogs and magazines are designing for .02% of the population. Vent over...lol