3 Consultations Later, This Dallas Home Looks Like Custom DISC Interiors
Words by Morgan Goldberg
After. Photography by Lisa Petrole.
In January 2021, artist Lauren Williams purchased a turn-key Dallas home for a very specific reason: she didn’t want to renovate.
But before her family could even move in, the Great Texas Freeze caused the water heater to explode, flooding all 4,000 square feet. “It's a single story, so we had 12 inches of water running through the entire house,” Lauren remembers. “It was so terrible.”
She had to take the soggy structure down to the studs and start from scratch. The silver lining? She was able to infuse the space—which was in perfect condition pre-flood but leaned a little ‘90s traditional, aesthetically speaking—with her own warm, layered look.
Since hiring an interior designer was out of her budget—the insurance company wouldn’t cover the cost of repairs, and she had to reallocate the money she’d saved for building her dream art studio—Lauren bought a book written by her favorite firm, DISC Interiors. “I used it as my Bible throughout the process,” she explains. “But I got to the point where I wished I could just ask them directly how they would tackle specific dilemmas or what they thought about certain materials.”
Lauren’s dream came true when she discovered The Expert, which allowed her to meet virtually with DISC Interiors’ founders Krista Schrock and David John Dick themselves. During their three consultations, the design duo offered just the specific advice Lauren needed to achieve her goal, from tips on wood cuts to cost-saving plumbing ideas. Their insights elevated everything.
After. Photography by Lisa Petrole.
Specifying Wood Cuts
Lauren knew she wanted custom white oak millwork throughout the home, but she was unaware she needed to specify the cut until DISC Interiors brought it to her attention. “Wood is such a delicate situation—it can go very wrong,” she says. They recommended a rift-sawn cut (translation: no knots included). “It's very clean, streamlined, and soft. That was such a game changer.”
In the library, Lauren combined more built-in wood accents in the form of bookcases with reclaimed Israeli limestone floors, a dramatic Venetian plaster two-way fireplace, and iron doors that mimic the ones in the DISC Interiors book. “I took a picture and gave it to my iron door maker,” she says. “He recreated them to look exactly like one of their projects.”
Using Marble in New Ways
The white oak accents continue in the kitchen in the form of cabinets, which are topped with whisper-white honed quartzite on the island and striking Calacatta Viola marble along the perimeter—a combination that Lauren pulled from another DISC Interiors project. “I wanted it to look very similar to this gorgeous kitchen that they did,” she says.
After. Photography by Lisa Petrole.
Lauren repeated the oak and marble pairing for the wall-to-wall vanity in the primary bathroom, which Krista and David helped bring together with one crucial tip: frame the walk-in shower. “It would have never crossed my mind,” Lauren admits. “I was thinking about using tile and they said ‘Let's just make it sing with marble border.’ It's brilliant.”
Plumbing Euro-Style
DISC Interiors also solved Lauren’s bathtub dilemma. When she couldn’t figure out what to do with the faucet, they suggested installing the plumbing straight off the drywall, as it’s done in Europe. “I was really struggling with the materiality,” she recalls. “I thought I would need to buy a whole other slab of marble or a hundred more square feet of tile, so that was such a great tip.” That advice alone paid for the three consultations in saved material costs.
After. Photography by Lisa Petrole.
Choosing a Versatile Paint Color
Lauren was especially grateful for Krista and David’s spot-on paint recommendation, Sherwin-Williams Aesthetic White. “That saved me six months of debating over a wall color,” she shares. “When you look at their projects, some rooms look like they have a shade of green, brown, or taupe,” she says. But they assured her: “It's all Aesthetic White—it changes with the natural light.” Lauren painted the whole house in the versatile shade and just let the windows work their magic on each room.
Such insider tips make all the difference, which is why Lauren plans to use The Expert again when she (sadly) sells this home and buys a new one closer to her children’s school. “I will never do another house without calling The Expert,” she confirms. “It was so helpful. Just having the ability to call a designer and say, ‘Hey, give me the rundown of the things I need to do’ was a lifesaver. It was so cool.”
After. Photography by Lisa Petrole.