Parakeets Lemonade and Skylar sing as sunlight streams into their cage through abundant windows. The open floor plan now fills the living room and kitchen with bright energy, just as the busy Houston (pronounced “House”-ton) family had long envisioned. Chris and Laura dreamed of expanding and renovating their home, but between watching halftime band performances to cheer on their daughters (two on clarinet and two on color guard) and working at their respective architecture and design businesses, there never seemed to be enough time to make it happen.
The limited space restricted movement, dimmed light, and diminished efficiency. They finally committed when their daughter, Sloane, hoped to host her graduation party from Westside High School, which meant more than a hundred friends and family squeezed into a tight enclosed area. Normally, the six of them could barely all fit in the living room, with at least one of them relegated to a bean bag chair. The dream of a remodel with plenty of places for entertainment fell within reach after they opened Tributary Design and Construction in 2017. Laura confessed she started the residential consulting firm to remodel her kitchen with the extra money.
“Okay, as soon as you get 10 kitchens done, then you can remodel our kitchen,” Chris, her husband of 28 years, had told her…