Mohon Interiors Incorporates Austin Homeowners’ Impressive Art Collection with Classical Design for Modern Living
This husband and wife design team leans into owners’ penchant for art to create an ideal retreat
Mohon Interiors, the Austin-based interior design firm run by husband and wife duo Autumn and Marcus Mohon, is no stranger to elaborate and intricate projects. When they were approached to take a traditional, open-concept, all-white spec house in Austin and revitalize it into a true home that encapsulated its owners, they were up to the challenge.
“The home needed soul. It needed distinction,” says Marcus. Hence, the Mohons dubbed the project, “Good to Great.”
Mohon Interiors, founded in 2001, is a primarily residential, neo-romantic and transitional firm.
“We’re the new romantics,” explains Marcus. “Style is softening, especially in Austin. We want our projects to be incredibly striking and stylish, but also embody classical design for modern living. We incorporate a lot of classical influences for contemporary living.”
Marcus says that their firm is seeing a style revolution where designers are mixing things much more freely than before, where they can bend the rules.
“I like to think of our firm as an artist’s studio,” he adds. “We’re painting a picture that you can live in. Sometimes, that picture has more shadows. Sometimes, it has more light. Sometimes, it has more composition, and sometimes, we break the rules on purpose.”
When it came to this project, the Mohons embraced their clients’ very active outdoor lifestyles. The bright and welcoming home reflects the indoor/outdoor lifestyle of Austin with floor-to-ceiling windows, a small courtyard and a veranda for outdoor dining. Marcus likens the original floorplan to a basketball court without any definition or delineation of spaces, which was one of the first things the team added upon entering the space using towers, colored paint and sheers.
“We needed to create a sense of arrival,” explains Marcus. “The space needed a place for your eyes to rest as you went on this visual journey and discovered what was next as you entered the home.”
Marcus also noted the firm’s emphasis on mixing and matching the old and the new. From vintage pieces to new ones and pieces he personally designed himself — such as the coffee table and sofas — this project is truly one-of-a-kind.
It’s not just the furniture that’s bespoke. Choosing neutrals over an abundance of color, the duo created the perfect backdrop for their clients’ impressive art collection, which they helped curate with the help of Houston-based art advisor Lea Weingarten. Working hand-in-hand with the Mohons, Weingarten built a museum-level collection that reflected the clients’ passions and interests for the home. For example, the living room itself is a tribute to Central American art.
“Lea has her finger on the pulse of emerging artists all around the world,” says Marcus. “She helped us curate a collection to reflect our clients’ personalities and connections. The family has a lot of presence, soul and energy, and we wanted the house to reflect this.”
From top to bottom, Good to Great was transformed into a work of living art.