Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, Collin Middleton frequently visited her grandmother’s house in Old Metairie. When her grandmother decided to sell, Middleton (who was living in Santa Monica, California, at the time), jumped at the chance to purchase the beloved family home. She first rented the home to a family until 2019 when she decided to make the move to Louisiana. “After living in the house for a while, she was ready to personalize the home and make it her own,” said Martha Pearson, principal at Martha Pearson Designs. “She resides with her German Shepherd, Maggie, who led the design team in the backyard ball-throwing area.”
Pearson, who grew up with Middleton in Mobile – and who later attended college and lived with Middleton in New York City – was a natural choice for the redesign. “She came to me with all the preliminary ideas of how she wanted to renovate the house,” Pearson said. “I would like to think that in addition to knowing me so well, she chose me having seen my work throughout my career. From there, we made a plan to get started.”
Two of the main goals for the redesign were to open the floor plan and to add a primary en suite over the former garage and back shed. After coming up with the initial plans with the owner, Pearson knew she needed to engage structural engineers (Batture Engineering) to help design the project. “Another major feature was the double-height fireplace that went from the open exterior porch to the new primary bedroom,” Pearson said. Once the construction plans were finalized, MPD sourced materials, paint colors, plumbing and lighting in line with Middleton’s tastes and aesthetics.
“Knowing that [Middleton] wanted to transform the interiors from the traditional style of generations past to an open, California coastal style, we had a solid direction of what we wanted the home to look like off the jump,” Pearson said. She and her team redesigned the 3,000-square-foot home (with four bedrooms and three baths) and led the team coordination throughout the design and construction process. MPD also designed all of the new millwork (including built-in bookshelves); indoor and outdoor fireplaces; the kitchen island; two bathroom vanities; custom cabinetry for the kitchen, primary bedroom, and primary and guest bathrooms; plus a custom stair rail for the dining and kitchen areas.
“The arch was a common design feature original to the home, so it only seemed fitting that we used it for some of the custom pieces,” Pearson said. “You can see it on the stair rail, the built-ins in the primary bedroom and in the primary bathroom.”
Since Middleton wanted a California coastal vibe – thereby maximizing indoor/outdoor living, incorporating a light and neutral color palette, and highlighting natural materials – Pearson added a massive 12-foot-wide glass door in the downstairs living area. It fully opens to the covered outdoor living room that features a wood-burning fireplace and cypress-clad ceilings. Pearson also added a dip pool to the backyard surrounded by soaring bamboo, creating a virtual oasis. Similarly, the new primary en suite overlooks the backyard and features vaulted ceilings, a cement-tiled fireplace mirrored by arched built-ins on either side.
Additionally, Pearson modernized and opened up the traditional interior but without erasing the original architectural features of the house. “For example, we removed some of the interior walls, but we kept the original archway from the living room to the dining room, which creates an almost vignette into the room beyond,” Pearson said. “This house is three stories with a total of five different levels, which created a challenge to achieve the open floor plan. The original kitchen was its own room separated from the dining room on the same level as the den on the ground floor. With the help of Batture Engineering, we were able to place the beams required to open up the walls between the levels as minimally tucked away as possible in order to maintain visibility between the rooms.”
When the team removed the walls between the dining and ground floor den, they were able to regain more storage by installing a kitchen island and removed an exterior door in the kitchen that was no longer needed. Pearson also upgraded the refrigerator, added antique terra cotta flooring and had a custom island built. “The kitchen had previously been renovated with [Middleton’s] mother, who has an eye for interior design,” Pearson said. “Because we did not replace the majority of the counters and cabinets from that renovation, we matched the finishes selected by her.”
When it came to flooring, Pearson knew that the wall-to-wall carpet in the living and dining rooms had to be removed. What lay beneath was original white oak flooring that she refinished with a clear satin finish. “The kitchen has French reclaimed terra cotta parafeuille tile from Provence,” she said. “They were salvaged from ceilings in old farmhouses and out of buildings throughout the South of France, and they are beyond divine. In the new primary bedroom, we installed white oak flooring to match the rest of the original house finished in the same fashion.”
Meanwhile, the bathrooms also have special design characteristics. For example, the primary bathroom – which Middleton wanted to feel like an oasis with loads of natural light and organic materials – now features handmade terra cotta from Zia Tile with a unique trapezoid shape to run the length of the vanity and shower wall. “When installed over such a large span, it feels like a piece of art built directly in the wall,” Pearson said. “The unique shape of the tile added a modern and unexpected touch but still was able to remain cohesive to the space when installed in a large area.”
Another impressive feature in the primary bathroom is the custom alder wood vanity with open shelves for towels and hidden storage under each sink. “Additionally, once [Middleton] saw an acrylic tub in person, she knew she could not do without it, so she splurged on the tub, and we made an oversized walk-in shower as well,” Pearson said.
The guest bathroom also got a more playful makeover. It now features cement tile floors, matte square shower tiles, a floating Adler vanity, new fixtures and lighting.
Yet another must-have for the homeowner was an outdoor living room – a place to hang out with family to watch games, relax in the pool with friends and let her dog have room to run. “In the covered living room, she has room for a bar and lounge furniture to cozy up to the wood-burning fireplace featuring a sack-washed brick finish,” Pearson said. “We did not use a landscape architect, but MPD designed a schematic site plan of the backyard, including the dip pool, which [Middleton] took to a pool installer to build. We also designed built-in planters on either side of the fireplace to add a touch of natural beauty and create a cozy, inviting atmosphere. [The homeowner] worked with a landscaper to install a natural-look turf with irrigation system.”
In addition to creating a stunning outdoor space, Pearson also brought it plenty of plants for the interior of the home. “Because we really wanted to embrace the indoor/outdoor living, we relied heavily on natural light and indoor plants,” Pearson said. “Of course, when relying on plants to execute a design, you also have to rely on the homeowner to water them, and I knew they would be in good hands with [Middleton].”
