Tour a Funky Texas Cottage Filled With Color

A few years ago, as Melissa Abdine coped with a chronic health issue, it occurred to her that livening up her family’s 2,400-square-foot home in Austin, Texas, was the remedy she needed. “My body was changing and, as I started to feel better, I wanted that reflected in my surroundings,” she says. “I was taking inventory of my life and I was like, Oh my gosh, I’m not really expressing myself anymore.” (Pictured here: Melissa and Alan with Magnolia, 12, Paisley, 14, and mini blue merle Australian shepherd Ollie)

The house had a lot of not-so-perky neutrals going on. “I’d done what friends did in their places,” Melissa continues. “But I’d had fun with color when I was 8, and I knew I could do it in my 40s!” She also sought comfort in whimsical stuff that had always delighted her: eclectic art and objects and pattern. (“I mean, I named one of my daughters Paisley!”) Enlisting designer Amy Hadley, she went all in with redecorating and reenergizing. An infusion of brightness here, a dose of prints there, and soon enough, the house was full of cheer. Says Melissa, “I look around and it’s colorful and playful, and I feel that way too.”

Hip starts here, with a console from Riverbend Home that has mod triangular legs and a colorful print above it by artist Hayley Mitchell, accented with a string of beads. The Dutch door is painted aqua on both sides (for a similar shade, try Waterfall by Sherwin-Williams).

Its eclectic-glam mix is partly driven by vacation memories. There used to be open shelves on both sides of the TV; now a section of 8-inch-by-8-inch geometric tiles by Clé brings Melissa back to a girls’ trip to Mexico. Another adventure, to Morocco, influenced the combo of pillow designs, the throw from Anthropologie and the rug by Surya.