This Super-Custom Home Has Purpose-Built Spaces for Everyone in the Family

When a Tulsa family with four kids asked Mel Bean to design their new home, it hadn’t even been built yet. Mel orchestrated the decor and helped fine-tune the home’s floor plan to suit the needs of a growing family all from the home’s blueprints. The final result? A new build with a modern twist on art deco vibes and fun, bold spaces with plenty of function hidden in plain sight. This gorgeous living room, for starters, has a Samsung Frame TV that doubles as artwork when it’s not in use as a TV. The room also has “layers” of lighting, Mel says — the custom cabinets built into the fireplace wall have library-style fixtures to give the room a soft, warm glow in the evenings.

The homeowners wanted elegant art deco vibes throughout the house, but with a modern touch. One of the challenges Mel faced when designing this home was figuring out what to do around this grand staircase in the entrance. It would be easy for this staircase to feel gaudy or dated, but by putting some simple paneling on the walls, Mel kept it feeling classy, fresh, and full of character.

Mel wanted to “show the architecture” in the powder room hidden underneath the curved staircase. She played it up by using a colorful wallpaper print from Eskayel that accentuates the curve in the ceiling. She added a bit of an art deco touch to the bathroom with the crystal sconces on either side of the mirror.

To add some warmer tones to the open-concept kitchen and its cool marble countertops, Mel’s team sourced these leather stools from Hickory Chair. An antique runner with blue tones connects the space with the blue Hickory Chair seats in the living room. “I love finding art or vintage rugs that help everything connect when your eye carries through,” Mel says.