The very day that Lori Cates floated the idea of moving from the Lakefront to Uptown, she and her husband Kevin Cates found a listing for a condo in an elegant St. Charles Avenue building where properties seldom come up for sale. The Cateses, who are widely traveled and divide their time between New Orleans and Texas, found that the grand Avenue address was rich in Old-World European ambience, as well as New Orleans history. Built in 1912, it features art nouveau influences, a three-bedroom, three-bath apartment on each of its five floors, the original elevator and the distinction of being the city’s first cooperative apartment building. There also was a serendipitous Texas connection. Houston preservationist, J.P. Bryan, redeveloped the property in the 1990s.
“Several people we knew referred to [the building] as the Texas Embassy,” laughs Kevin, who was raised in Fort Worth.
The couple wasted no time viewing the condo and putting in an offer. Once approved, they turned to Tina Lagasse of Jade Interiors, with whom they’d worked on previous houses (including their Lakefront condo) and developed an easy “synergistic” relationship.
“With Tina, it’s collaborative throughout the project,” said Kevin. “Lori and I both have really strong opinions, but we still rely on Tina to pull it all together.”
Lagasse knew the Cateses’ individual tastes (he goes for more-is-more layering, she prefers “a little more curated”), their personalities and the furnishings and art they’d collected through the years. Color, pattern and a sense of playfulness that speaks to their love of life would factor into the design, as would items the Cateses already had in other houses and cherished items from their frequent travels to all seven continents.
“We love to be surrounded by things we’ve culled from our travels,” said Lori. “Tina takes all of that and distributes it through a home in a beautiful manner. I think the final touches are one of her biggest strengths.”
But first, designer and clients decided to gut and reconfigure the kitchen to work for the couple’s lifestyle. Kevin is a gourmet cook and the Cateses are passionate about food culture and the community it engenders. Though retired from their respective careers, they recently added “restaurateurs” in both New Orleans and Fort Worth to their résumés.
As the chef of the house, Kevin weighed in on the flow of the kitchen and chose the top-notch kitchen appliances, while Lori insisted upon a round dining table which is more conducive to conversation when entertaining.
“Eating is a communal experience,” she said.
Lagasse designed the floorplan for each of the rooms, with the goal of working with the refined architecture and still offering the cozy comfort that has been a common thread throughout the Cateses’ other more casual homes.
“We tried to keep a lot of the original character but make it a little more their style,” said Lagasse.
Curved window casings, wood floors, a stately fireplace and each of the small bathrooms, which made the most of their limited footprints and are clad in timeless marble, were left as is, but the formality of the former owner’s French décor was replaced by a more eclectic aesthetic. As the place where the couple enjoys Mardi Gras gatherings with family and friends and weekly visits with their 2 1/2 year-old grandson, livability was key.
When Lori, who loves color and design, suggested Benjamin Moore’s French Quarter palette as a starting point for the decor, Lagasse enveloped the interior with a succession of muted blues, rusts and greens from the collection. In every room, the chosen color is spread over walls, crown molding and ceiling in what Lori calls a “color drench.”
Sometimes, a piece of art provided inspiration — as in the case of the living room’s painting of koi fish by Joseph Bradley, one of many art acquisitions from one the Cateses’ favorite local galleries — Gallery Orange.
Wallpaper appears in several areas — in the entrance foyer where leafy columns strategically introduce the medley of color and pattern used throughout (“It’s hint of what is to come,” said Lagasse), and in a hall where a serpentine print connects the colors of the office and the kitchen. A Lee Jofa fabric with an Italian marbleized motif bridges the coloration between the blue of the living room where it’s used on a wing chair, the rust of the adjoining dining room, and the green of the kitchen where it’s repeated as a window treatment.
Lagasse further freshened the interior with all new lighting from Visual Comfort — some that relate to the early 20th-century origins of the building, others more contemporary — and designs from local sources including Kathy Slater Designs, Julie Neill Designs (through Visual Comfort) and Interior Solutions. Touches of animal print — on the floor, on a bench, on a wall — are also part of the mix.
“There’s a trick to mixing patterns; usually it has to do with scale,” said Lagasse, for whom the sleight of hand is second nature.
The color and conviviality that reign in the condo are reflections of the Cateses’ life.
“There had to be whimsy because they are fun,” said Lagasse of the couple who also hired her to make updates to their most recent venture, The Italian Barrel, an award-winning white tableclothed destination for Northern Italian cuisine in the French Quarter. In addition to the Cateses being avowed foodies and inveterate travelers, Kevin has Northern Italian heritage and spent summers in Italy growing up.
The Cateses’ Fort Worth restaurant, Teddy Wong’s Dumplings & Wine, opened to fanfare in 2023 and a second location is in the works.
The couple credits their success to making passion, commitment to excellence, building relationships and going the extra mile their watchwords at work and at home.
“You want your house to be an expression of what makes you comfortable in your life,” said Kevin.
