Katy and Steve Trent moved to Swiss Avenue about nine years ago, before their kids were born.
Their first house had been renovated before they moved in, but the Trents installed new kitchen countertops and finished out the third floor for a media room.
The whole time they lived there, the house next door was vacant.
After their first two children were born, they decided they wanted a bigger house with a bigger backyard.
And since they love living on Swiss, they decided to buy that house next door.
“It was already gutted,” Katy Trent says.
They spent a year and a half renovating the house, starting with new plumbing and electrical wiring.
Today, their 4,300-square-foot house is both historic and modern.
Trent pulls out a book featuring the homes of Swiss Avenue and flips to the page with her house on it. The home’s original owner was a man named Shook, who was once the mayor of Rusk. He built it for $25,000 in 1925.
The Trents re-cased the original stained glass windows, which are back in place in the formal living room at the front of the house. They salvaged the original crown molding and wood flooring.
But they also added plenty of modern touches. A 600-square-foot family room with powder bath was added to the kitchen. The addition opens up the first floor, which once had a C shape, but now circles a double staircase.
And the addition features a wet bar with a built-in pizza oven.
“One of our friends growing up had a pizza oven in their basement,” says Trent, who is originally from Springfield, Mo. “So I always wanted one in my own house.”
Walking in the front door of the home is like walking into a boutique hotel — chic 1920s furniture and dark wood, a little library off to one side, a formal living room with baby grand piano and zebra rug, a dramatic dining room with an antique china cabinet.
But the back part of the first floor — the eat-in kitchen and living room — is informal and modern. The u-shaped kitchen features granite countertops, a big island and a long Ikea dining table with lime green chairs, complete with a few crayon scribbles.
But it all flows together, and the family room opens to a covered outdoor living space with a built-in fireplace and enormous backyard.
Upstairs, Trent designed spaces that reflect her personal style, with a mix of new and repurposed vintage furniture.
A few changes were made to the upstairs floor plan. They added a huge master bath with closets, closed doorways here and there, created a laundry room and converted a former walk-in closet to a cubbyhole Trent calls her “cloffice”.
An interior designer helped her with the kitchen design, but most of the interior decorating is of Trent’s own design.
In the girls’ room (the Trents now have four children and a weimaraner named Cooper), she “got out the jigsaw” and made the twin headboards, which are covered in a black vinyl that sets off the room’s unusual color scheme.
She drew the room’s avocado greens and bright blues from fabric she used in the bedspreads. And she used them in paint colors in the girls’ dressers and desks. The matching desks are 1960s modern pieces Trent pulled from her parents’ basement, leftovers from their now-closed real estate office.
The master bedroom is a bit more subdued, but Trent showcases her talent for color there, too. The walls are painted a light blue, and the Trents had sleek bedside tables and a TV console made for the room. But Trent added punches of color, such as twin 1970s armchairs in a gold fabric, that make the room seem colorful and a little funky.
“I guess I like a mix of vintage and new furniture,” she says.
Before the Trents moved to Swiss, the SMU alums lived in two houses in Lakewood.
“We just love renovating,” Trent says. “We did a lot of cosmetic work on our Lakewood houses. We never thought we’d live on Swiss.”
But they were at an estate sale one Saturday, and there was an open house across the street, so they took a peek. Just for fun.
A few weeks later, they closed on their first Swiss Avenue house, and they have no plans to leave the famous street.
“We love our neighbors and our neighborhood,” she says. “Everyone knows each other.”
After a year and a half renovating and four years living in their second Swiss Avenue house, Trent says she’s happy with the way it looks.
“I’m finally at the point where I’m pretty much done, and I don’t have to mess with it much anymore,” she says. The Trents’ house is featured on the Swiss Avenue Mother’s Day Home Tour next month.
