As a mom, cook and head housekeeper — and a former registered architect — Laura Houston said she understands what people need in their homes.
Commonsense things, she said, like the correct line of sight to see your children playing in another room while you’re in the kitchen. Or using drawers instead of cabinet doors in the lower cupboards, making access much easier.
She formed Tributary Design and Construction Company Inc. in 2017 after taking time off for the births of her four children. Friends would ask her for design help and then couldn’t find the right person to carry out those plans.
“They said, 'We don’t have a contractor friend. We only have a designer friend,'” Houston said. “So I became a general contractor.”
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She teamed up with Megan Nelson of Nest with the Nelsons to form the first all-woman team in the 19 years of the Professional Remodeling Organization of Nebraska-Iowa Remodeled Home Tour.
Their project is one of 15 remodels being showcased Saturday and Sunday across the Omaha area. Five houses on the remodeled home tour are virtual only.
Houston said she was asked to open up the kitchen of the Rockbrook neighborhood split entry to the rest of the home. The owner is one of her children’s former teachers.
With the help of tour officials, she brought in Nelson after watching her work from afar on social media for several years. Nelson selected new furniture, lighting and helped choose colors.
They think the partnership has been great, both for them and the homeowners.
“Some of our strong suits are communication and transparency, and that’s so important when working with someone in their home,” Nelson said. “That should be their sanctuary.”
By removing a wall, Houston was able to design a much larger kitchen. An open pantry and an island with seating were added, as well as new appliances, custom cabinets, quartz countertops, a backsplash to the ceiling and improved lighting.
They refinished the woods floors throughout.
As often happens when walls are removed, that work led to some renovations of the home’s entryway as well as changes to the bedroom hallway.
A room that had been used as a play area also has been turned into an office. A dining nook was added to a corner of the living space and the wall with the fireplace redone.
Everything was painted, with light fixtures replaced and added. The completed project cost more than $120,000, with some compromising if some wants threatened to expand the budget too far.
The stone floor in the entryway, for example, had to stay because of those limitations, but Nelson loves the color chosen for the area — cyberspace by Sherwin Williams. The color coordinates with the kitchen island.
They think their renovation has a fun vibe that fits the residents, with enough unique items to make it their own.
“The entryway looks entirely different. The fireplace wall looks entirely different,” Nelson said. “It looks like a totally different house in the best way possible.”