A Run-Down Ranch Gets Totally Revamped

Ashley Goforth doesn’t mince words when she describes her first impression of the 2,500-square-foot home that she and her husband, Scott, eventually bought. “It was a total dump,” she says, with a laundry list of hideous details: green shag carpeting, wood-paneled walls, a sorely outdated kitchen and bedrooms stuffed with boxes à la Hoarders. Yet Ashley, an interior designer, wasn’t deterred. “For a 56-year-old house, it was in great shape,” she says. “You could see that it got a lot of light, and the rooms flowed together nicely.”

Plus, the Goforths were running out of options: Both grew up in Houston’s Memorial neighborhood and wanted to move back for its school system. But finding a place they could afford was proving difficult, even after six months of aggressive hunting. So they went rogue and contacted the owners of the ranch house, who neighborhood friends said were about to list it. “We wrote a letter to them, and they sold directly to us,” says Ashley. It took a dozen or so gallons of paint and some high-impact cosmetic changes to transform the home into something not only livable but also beautiful. “There are things about it that still aren’t perfect,” says Ashley, “but for right now, it’s perfect for us.” 

One of the couple’s first projects was updating the exterior with new gutters, Andersen windows from The Home Depot and a fresh coat of pale gray paint (Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore). The front doors are painted Luau Green by Sherwin-Williams. “We cleared out the brush and weeds, then planted a short row of boxwood and a row of ligustrum behind them for a super-clean, manicured look,” says Ashley.

While a sofa with a white slipcover might seem like a risky choice for a family with two children in grade school, Ashley maintains that “everything is practically indestructible” in this space, thanks to sturdy fabrics: Sunbrella sailcloth in salt for the sofa’s slipcover, Perennials fabric on the barrel chair and easy-to-clean Novasuede on the stool. The Parsons coffee table is from Crate & Barrel, and Ashley scored the French-style chair at Round Top, a biannual antiques fair in Texas, and had it re-covered in mohair. The rug, purchased in Turkey, covers most of the tile floor, which they didn’t bother to change. “This floor is not my first choice, but it’s somewhat neutral, so we left it as is,” says Ashley.