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Austin Home Designed by Shannon Eddings Blends Styles to Perfection

“We hunted for the perfect way to blend style, color and scale,” the designer says

For interior designer Shannon Eddings, the aim of every project is to integrate elements both old and new, vintage and contemporary, sentimental and sophisticated. Working with architect Sarah McIntyre to renovate the home of Jessica Honegger, co-CEO and founder of Noonday Collection, Eddings also combined local and global inspiration to make each room feel both personal and polished.

The entryway sets the tone for the entire home, inviting guests into a balanced mix of color and style.

McIntyre and Eddings each sought to maximize a flow from room to room: Where McIntyre vaulted the ceilings and created an open floor plan, Eddings selected finishes and focused on balancing the family’s inherited antiques and collected travel curios with modern pieces throughout the house. With Honegger’s husband, Joe, working as general contractor, the project became a rare collaboration among homeowner, architect, designer and contractor.

“It was a very personal project,” says Eddings, who is a close friend of both McIntyre and the Honeggers. “We all wanted to honor the age of the house, and Sarah does a good job of that when she re-creates spaces. She gets every square foot out of a home, and my job was just letting that shine.”

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The joys and pain points behind each design decision are one and the same for Eddings: The key is finding just the right piece in every space—modern lamps to offset an antique painting in the dining room, for example, or a neutral palette to highlight colorful accessories.

Honegger’s husband created the living room’s custom coffee table and firewood holder.

“In everything we did, we hunted for the perfect way to blend style, color and scale. Jessica loves color, so we sought to embrace that and keep it balanced. Color composition matters if you want to create a unified feel throughout the home, so each vignette has to factor in what else is at play.”

The first sign of this subtle interchange greets guests upon arrival, where coral and aquamarine hues in the entryway’s Moroccan rug correlate to a sky-blue Georgia O’Keeffe print and orange inlaid ceramic tiles on a Currey & Company lamp. With collectibles from Honegger’s travels resting on an antique credenza sourced from Round Top, the vignette also showcases how Eddings seeks to incorporate independent artisans in her work.

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“We really like to support local and global independent artisans where possible,” she says. “The word ‘global’ really has a big meaning in Jessica’s house, since she partners with women artisans all over the world through Noonday Collection.”

Eddings regularly sources vintage finds from Round Top for her clients: “Shopping vintage is a good way to minimize your footprint on the world, and plays into that element of supporting artisans.

Eddings traced that global eclectic theme through the project, using meaningful objects from Honegger’s Texan childhood and world-traveling career as a starting point for each room. In the dining area, a table and painting that belonged to Honegger’s grandmother provide the base for Eddings to pair more modern elements such as velvet olive chairs from West Elm. Rattan chairs at the head of the table correspond to an antique European credenza, while sculptural marble lamps complete the mix of materials, shapes and styles.

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The dining room’s light is a custom Brian Chilton Design creation, as is the copper fixture in the kitchen. The latter once hung as lanterns in Honegger’s childhood home and provided the springboard for the kitchen redesign: Hovering over a waterfall quartzite countertop with white oak cabinets, the light complements the kitchen’s natural warmth and organic touches.

Eddings finished the kitchen backsplash in zellij tile, which repeats in the master bathroom for continuity.

“Lights should be the room’s eye candy,” says Eddings. “You want to notice them without letting them compete with everything else for attention. In every room, I want people to linger without being overwhelmed.”

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That goal presented a bigger challenge in the living room, where Eddings sought to effectively showcase Honegger’s years of travel while still allowing the eye to rest. Here, the home’s bright neutrals provide a blank canvas for vibrant local artwork and global accessories, and Eddings once again plays with an impressive mix of color and material: White oak, leather, cane and pink and blue velvets all find cohesion within the painting by Austin artist Tyler Guinn above the white brick fireplace.

A Matisse-inspired mural takes center stage in the breezeway addition, which provides a glimpse into the master bedroom oasis beyond.

“I like to be unique with color rather than predictable. I like to pair things in unexpected ways,” Eddings says, noting the departure from the neutral palette in the breezeway addition between the lounge and master bedroom. “We intentionally went crazy in there and wanted that moment to be totally awesome.”

The main objective for the new breezeway (which McIntyre reconfigured from an old sitting room and multiple closets) was to fuse beauty and function for Honegger’s new office space. Especially in light of COVID-19, the room had to be inviting—equal parts cozy and invigorating. Here, Eddings scatters more local treasures (vintage mustard chairs from Maufrais on South Congress, for example) among international travel trinkets and an antique secretary, but an abstract pendant draws the eye upward to the room’s major highlight, a Matisse-inspired mural.

“In everything we did, we hunted for the perfect way to blend style, color and scale,” says Eddings.

Through the breezeway, the master suite returns to neutral tones, beckoning as a calm, peaceful oasis. Articulating sconces with rattan shades border a leather Citizenry headboard, centered by an original textile print from Justina Blakeney. The bathroom’s zellij tile and quartzite countertops repeat elements from the kitchen to bring the whole project full circle, a final nod to Eddings’ subtle blend of new and old, local and global, collected and clean.

“You want to see a space and be drawn in,” says Eddings. “No one thing should dominate, but something should definitely make you want to stay.