Guests often refer to it as “The Howard Hotel”—the elegant Plant City residence of Krista and Steve Howard. With its massive crown molding, gilded backsplashes, crystal accents and ornate chandeliers, this house remodeling project has resulted in a home that is both castle-like and traditional. Still, it retains enough eclectic, unexpected elements to make it one-of-a-kind and fun.
“It was such a beautiful house already and had so much potential,” says Trudy Waterworth, a designer for Annabelle’s Fine Furniture in Odessa, who worked on the Howard project and contributed remodeling ideas from conception to execution.
The home contains about 8,000 square feet of space, with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a built-in movie theater and a vast kitchen. The structure itself was initially built in 2001 on two acres of land, and while the Howards lived in the adjacent pool house during the remodel, they ordered a total overhaul.
Krista drew some of the remodeling ideas for the décor from her travels to New Orleans, Louisiana. “I was at a hotel there and I saw these wonderful mirrors that looked like windows,” she says, pointing to the space below the high ceilings in her current family room that produce the same optical illusion. This effect adds an extra dimension to the already grand room, and makes the upstairs bedrooms look like they have their own arched windows.
Finding quirky ideas like the mirror windows was one of Krista’s favorite aspects of the house remodeling process. When she first walked into Annabelle’s, Waterworth appreciated Krista’s adventurousness—from her willingness to experiment with color to her bold taste in upholstery and drapery—and knew the redo would be a thrill. “She came into the store and we hit it off right away. She was so much fun. She wanted the house to be very grand, so she brought in her blueprints and we worked away at it, piece by piece,” Waterworth says. “No matter what I showed her, she was game. It was refreshing to work with someone who wanted to get everything done right.”
Comfort was key for the family room, which led her to select a long, custom sectional sofa from Vanguard with an ottoman from Leathercraft that would seat everyone and fill the giant space.
“What Krista really wanted was high-end, exceptional-quality furniture, and she wanted domestically made furniture whenever possible,” Waterworth says. “Krista and I selected all of the drapery fabrics and trims. We created a color scheme for every room and worked those colors into the drapery and furniture. The drapes all operate by remote and can be lowered or raised by the click of a finger.”
Despite all of the stress and decisions, the house remodeling project was well worth it. They wanted to create a space where they could gather with their family and friends and with several creative remodeling ideas and fun personalities, that’s just what they got.