Tuesday Two Hundred: Designer Reno Breathes New Life Into L-Streets Midcentury

Jane Austen once wrote, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”

That’s particularly true when your home is a thing of beauty, like today’s Tuesday Two Hundred at 10229 Lynford Dr., near Northwest Highway and Ferndale. This renovated L-Streets midcentury has a crisp, warm palette and welcoming feel.

This certainly wasn’t the case when Kari and Justin LaRusch bought the house in 2010 (see the “before” photo after the jump for proof!). It was dated and dull, with weird paint choices, like road-stripe yellow in the kitchen. But the bones were good, and Kari, and interior designer with Slocum Street design firm Laura Lee Clark, saw potential.

“We came in knowing that we wanted to change everything,” Kari said. “The original hardwood floors looked great, but we painted everything and put in all new landscaping.”

The result is a cheerful, well-appointed space that looks bigger than its 1,213 square feet. Kari’s designer expertise is evident everywhere, from carefully planned details in the kitchen to an updated bathroom that maintains its vintage charm.

This 3-1 midcentury is zoned for the highly rated Lake Highlands Elementary in Richardson ISD, another big selling point—it’s one of the reasons the LaRusch family originally bought the house. And since it’s just been reduced by $6,250 to $258,750, this is affordable luxury (Kevin Caskey at Dallas City Center Realtors is the listing agent) .

The exterior was boring and blah in 2010. Now it looks fresh with a warm gray paint that accentuates the dimensional brick accents. Kari removed incomplete ironwork from the porch, adding a solid wood post and new railing to make it safe for her family to relax there.

A mishmash of random plants made way for holly, sage, monkey grass, and other plants with low water requirements, as well as a new live oak tree.

The living room and dining area are at the front of the house, painted a soft green-beige. Too bad the curtains and rods aren’t included in the sale of the house—they add so much to the space (and hanging curtain rods well above the window adds a sense of height to the room).

I asked Kari about staging the home for sale, and she said this is actually how it looks most of the time! Impressive, with two small children.

A small hallway leads to the kitchen, where the biggest changes happened. Long gone are the center-stripe yellow walls; instead, green-grey walls and freshly painted cabinets with new, modern hardware. Look at all that storage—rare in a midcentury kitchen. New granite counters, a granite backsplash, tile floor, and stainless steel appliances (except the refrigerator, which is black) add to the appeal.

New recessed lighting in the kitchen and hallway keeps it bright, and there’s a nearby laundry area for a stackable washer-dryer.

The three bedrooms didn’t need much updating, just fresh paint, window treatments, and, in the third, closet doors to match the other rooms. The hardwood floors carry throughout.

In the children’s bedroom, Kari hung Ralph Lauren map wallpaper and placed interchangeable FLOR modular carpet tiles over the hardwood.

“I wanted something that looked sophisticated and not too babyish,” she said.

Sadly, there is only one bathroom in this otherwise lovely house, but it’s a charming spot that has midcentury charm combined with modern updates. Kari kept the original pink-and-gray tile, painting the walls a light pink to complement.

“This bathroom was a labor of love—we re-grouted the shower and I added a new mirror,” she said. “An electrician put in a new light and I had a cabinet built for over the toilet. I added antique glass hardware on cabinetry, and with the large storage unit behind the bathroom door, I made it into an open space for linens with pretty baskets. The room looks so much bigger and brighter.”

The backyard already had the deck, so updating landscaping and painting the detached two-car garage was all that was needed to make the yard shine.

Three cheers for this L-streets midcentury renovation—it’s marvelous. Leave us a comment with your thoughts about the changes.