Lisa Staton specializes in undoing decades of misguided renovations on historic homes.

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So when a young family purchased a patchwork brick Colonial Revival in Seattle—charming in spirit, if muddled in execution—the Washington-based interior designer was a natural first call. “My team focuses on heritage houses,” she explains. Here, that meant a top-to-bottom overhaul: reworking an outdated kitchen, upgrading the bathrooms, and transforming the unfinished attic into a gracious new primary suite.

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For the color story, Lisa drew inspiration from a vintage Turkish flatweave rug in the entryway, using its blush, brown, and blue hues to shape the palette throughout the house. “It's fun to start with a textile and let it guide you,” she says. It was a natural starting point for a client who wanted the home to feel calm and elegant, without too much contrast or tonal drift from room to room.

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In the kitchen, Lisa honored the home’s age with Shaker-style cabinets and traditional wall paneling, then introduced a more contemporary note with an allover coat of Elephant’s Breath by Farrow & Ball, a putty-toned pinkish gray. “The client wanted an edited space, so we didn't add wallpaper or tile,” she says. Instead, classic Carrara marble and color drenching lend warmth without adding visual noise.

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Lisa also achieved a sense of airiness by forgoing upper cabinets and shifting much of the storage to the adjacent dining room, where a large custom breakfront frames an original leaded window. The custom piece sits beneath lantern pendants and alongside 1940s chairs by Ico Parisi. “I have a thing for Italian mid-century furniture,” she admits. For the Expert, the appeal is in the details: the brass casters, the worn white leather seats, and the nailheads that give the chairs their charm.

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The dusty blue living room—painted Silver Mist by Benjamin Moore—features its own mix of old and new. Vintage gems include a curvy brass floor lamp, a pair of Pierre Chapo leather sling armchairs, and an Americana-style chest repurposed as a coffee table. Newer additions, including a linen sofa topped with a custom gingham cushion, keep the room grounded in family life. “The extra layer makes it easier to live with day to day—kids, dogs, and all—without worrying about the textile underneath,” Lisa reasons.

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Up two flights of stairs, past the kids’ rooms on the second floor, the newly minted top level introduces interior transom windows and a jewel-box reading nook tailored to the clients’ love of books. The cozy primary bedroom, with its raspberry sheeting, is nestled beneath the pitched roof, where ornamental rafters and a white chandelier draw attention to the room’s lofty, angular lines. Built-in drawers make smart use of the low, awkward spaces along the roofline. “We could capture all that primary closet space that there was just no room for,” says Lisa.

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The primary bathroom centers on a historic brick chimney breast, flanked by fan windows that Lisa took particular care to preserve. Around them, she layered in old-fashioned wood floors, warm brass fixtures, a console sink, a wood-paneled tub, a separate shower, and an upholstered bench for an elevated experience. “It feels spacious and private—almost like its own retreat,” she describes. The result is a quieter, more secluded setting, distinct from the lived-in family energy that defines the rest of the house.

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