Stylist and designer Paige Morse is a collector in mind. “I began collecting as a child, my very first collection being antique tea sets,” she says. Like Elnora Comstock in A Girl of the Limberlost, who spends her days amassing feathers, moths and twigs, nowadays Morse utilizes natural ephemera located on her property to decorate her property. Not that she quits there. Her collections range from vintage globes and artifacts to plants and fabrics.
Morse’s talent lies not only in collecting diverse decor but within my own innovative displays. These are housed in her 1916 bungalow, which she bought in 2008. At that time it had been in a state of severe disrepair. “Everything needed updating,” she says. “I remodeled the kitchen, added a bath, stripped the painted floors and hired out for brand new plumbing and electrical.” The house is still a work in progress, but Morse hasn’t regretted her decision to purchase a century-old home. And despite work to be done, the classic design of the bungalow is the best backdrop for her striking vignettes. “I predict it curating my house,” says Morse.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Paige Morse, dog Maize and kitty Miles
Size: 1,450 square feet; 3 bedrooms, two baths
Location: Bishop Arts District, Dallas
Sarah Greenman
Morse’s living area is a traditional living room, full of lots of seating and a good deal of conversation starters. A broad coffee table shows a constantly shifting array of props, books and pottery. “I’m always looking for inexpensive ways to reimagine my space,” Morse says.
The couch, a household hand-me down, is draped in a $14 drop fabric from Home Depot along with a woven blanket. She says, “If I can not eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich onto it, then it is too nice for me personally.”
Coffee table: Square Parquet-Top, Wisteria
Sarah Greenman
Morse’s extensive collection of vintage globes is exhibited throughout the house, including in the living area. The globe pictured here belonged to her great-grandmother. Vintage accent chairs, which may easily be rearranged to provide additional seating when guests arrive, and 2 pieces of stacked luggage complete the vignette.
Paint: Timberwolf, Benjamin Moore
Sarah Greenman
Morse is also enthusiastic about woven textiles and bold patterns. “I like to keep the permanent fixtures, like walls and floors, neutral so I can change up the floating fixtures, like furniture and accent decoration,” she says. Her eye for mixing colors and patterns is obvious from the coverings on the sofa and loveseat.
Black and white settee: Wisteria
Sarah Greenman
Sarah Greenman
Elsewhere in the space, a generously sized yellowish silk wedding fabric is used as backdrop for a console styled using driftwood, clay sculptures and bird feathers. Morse believes that a home needs to be not only comfortable but also inspiring to its inhabitants. “I’m an editor by character, and I love being surrounded by beautiful things,” she says.
Console: Wisteria
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In the midst of the colour, patterns and materials (note the porcelain stool tucked beneath the coffee table), burlap curtain panels suspended by rings over the sofas and a matching sisal area rug add a calming neutral tone. Morse describes this room as the stone box of her property.
Sarah Greenman
Two twin beds occupy the guest space. “I call it the bunk space,” says Morse, who regularly homes family and friends for holiday celebrations. This welcoming space also highlights her signature combination of colour and an innovative use of furniture pieces. Kantha cloths are thrown over the base of every mattress, and woven ottomans serve as seating or additional table space.
Paint: Designer White, Benjamin Moore
Sarah Greenman
The framed poster over this mattress is something Morse picked up for $2 while traveling in Granada, Spain. Its colors are a perfect fit for the remainder of the space.
Morse was obsessed with layout because she had been in elementary school and says, “I’d draw a map of my bedroom, then cut paper out paper to scale and plan the distance”
Sarah Greenman
A spectacular suzani acts as a headboard for a guest mattress covered in bright throw pillows. Natural light, an ample bookcase and cozy reading nooks finish the quarters.
Suzani: Again & Again; shelving: Ikea
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A vintage aqua box functions as both a side table and a cool accent in a brightly colored area. A Japanese welcoming cat figurine, called a Maneki-neko, perches on the table as a sign for visitors to make themselves comfortable.
Sarah Greenman
In the master bedroom, large seascape art located at a local garage sale hangs over Morse’s brightly colored mattress. Coral, pink and orange bedsheets pop in the room’s otherwise neutral colour palette.
Sarah Greenman
The dining area is a feast for all the senses, highlighted by large insect prints presiding over the space. The dining table, that once belonged to Morse’s grandmother, was remodeled and painted black. “I really like with family heirlooms, but I’m not reluctant to offer them an upgrade,” says Morse.
Vintage chairs are paired with bag, thrift-shop cosmetic cases and a classic portable record player. Morse, a veteran hunter-gatherer, likes to shop in Mantiques from the Oak Cliff area of Dallas and Curiosities from the Lakewood area.
Paint: Timberwolf, Benjamin Moore
Sarah Greenman
The sideboard is coated with aging artifacts, vintage board games, postcards, stones and bones. All objects are displayed and painstakingly organized.
Morse says, “I’m in the ‘more is more’ school of thought. But you need to be careful so that it doesn’t feel junky.” She moans and admits her tendency toward obsessive behaviour: “If somebody moves something a centimeter, I know it immediately.”
Sarah Greenman
One of the many home improvement jobs Morse undertook when she purchased the house in 2008 was an overhaul of the kitchen. She also removed a wall to open up the kitchen and dining space and produced a pub.
Sarah Greenman
Her kitchen has been motivated by her grandmother and remains true to the property’s time with white subway tile and black trim. She relocated the cooker and stitched up a skirt for the empty distance. She also installed shelving in which the hood had been. A large sink with a whirlpool sink additionally pays homage to her grandma’s kitchen.
Sarah Greenman
Another significant renovation to the house was the guest bath. A walk in shower and vintage pedestal sink located on Craigslist occupy what was once a cupboard. Here, too, her style sense is observed in the elaborate black and white mosaic mirror that matches the tile below.
Paint: Swiss Coffee, Benjamin Moore
Sarah Greenman
Morse altered the mudroom walls with dramatic black chalkboard paint and added displays, both on the torso and dangling overhead. She says, “I really like creating little hanging art installations, and these vintage paper airplanes were too cool to pass up.” French doors lead out to the backyard.
Sarah Greenman
A wooden sculpture of the Hindu deity Ganesha sits atop a worn antique dresser along with paper flowers, vintage jars along with other interesting bric-a-brac. “I’m interested in objects and the story they tell when put with other objects,” she says.
Dresser: White Elephant Antiques in Dallas
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Morse fell in love with bungalow design, which usually features pocket doors, architectural information and unique hardwood floors. “Maintaining this old house has been a great deal of work, but I would not have it any other way,” she says.
Sarah Greenman
As enchanting as the interior is, among the significant selling points of the house was outdoors, in the form of a substantial front porch. “That is where most of my friends congregate when they come to visit,” Morse says. She’s made the porch even more inviting with sturdy wicker furniture, an overhead ceiling fan and a porch swing.
Sarah Greenman
Morse utilizes her banister railing as a showplace for vintage lanterns, ferns, stones, succulents and other treasures found in her lawn. “I’m constantly unearthing objects from prior owners: old toys, bones, coins, tools, hardware, keys — you name it,” she says. As opposed to throw them, she is apt to incorporate them in her decor.
Sarah Greenman
Miles the kitty enjoys stretching out to the beadboard porch under a wicker rocking chair. Morse has styled the corners of the porch with watering cans and fruit crates full of greenery.
Sarah Greenman
Even her front lawn is a collection. It’s motivated by French cottage garden design, yet Morse plants only Texas natives. She coined coined the expression “Texafrance” to describe this style of gardening. She says she is never more at home than when working in her backyard and looking for butterflies.
Sarah Greenman
Homeowner and layout entrepreneur Paige Morse with her dog, Maize. Her advice to other homeowners: “I do not think you need to go into a home and immediately decorate. Let your home speak to you to get a little before making any huge design choices.”
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