TheDesignFile: See this historic beauty and others on home tour

I love getting to see inside beautiful homes and so I had a great time yesterday at Jessica and Matt Albaugh’s house in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood of Indianapolis. This place is a stunner and the couple’s renovations and decor are truly inspiring.

That’s why it’s no surprise that the Albaugh home is part of this weekend’s Meridian-Kessler Home & Garden Tour, one of the great events for house lovers in the city. After all, the neighborhood is full of mansions, mini-mansions and historic treasures and so any chance to see inside one of them is welcome!

The tour is from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and costs $12 if you buy a ticket today or $15 at the door of any of the homes. Go here for more info.

The good folks at the tour put me in touch with Jessica so I could give you this glimpse of her beautiful four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home. In all, there are seven homes and one community garden on the tour.

I’m so glad I got to photograph this one. I love Jessica’s style – which means you’re going to have lots of photos to go through.

In fact, there was so much to see that I’m only going to tease the kids’ rooms . I love the bedrooms for Ellen, 3, and Kate, 1, and so I’m going to save most of those photos for a future post.

I’m going to start our tour with one of my favorite rooms – the dining room. There was just something about the big windows, simple decor and stunning, original chandelier that had me snapping lots of photos.

I loved the juxtaposition of the more traditional dining room table and chairs with the lively drapes and the modern table settings. The placemats in particular were a perfect but unexpected touch.

When I visited yesterday, Jessica was still busy putting the final touches on the house. Of course, she wants the house to look great, but it was important to her that the rooms still felt like her family – not like a model home.

So throughout the space, she has dozens of family photos as well as art and other pieces handed down through her family. The black and white landscape below is one such piece.

This is not Jessica’s first experience with the home tour. She’s volunteered at the event since she and Matt moved to Indianapolis five years ago from the trendy Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago, where they owned a condo. She’s served as the event’s chair and recruited others to participate.

“All I had left to give was my home,” Jessica said. Fortunately for us, she agreed to do so.

The main living room is simple but striking with a pretty fireplace and a handful of original sconces.

Like much of the house, it’s decorated in grays, browns and taupes – with punches of color from art and accessories.

Large windows with floor-to-ceiling drapes are on three walls, including a set of French doors that lead onto a small balcony.

The kitchen is also on the main floor and it’s one of the few places where Jessica has done little decorating.

The room had been renovated by a previous owner and it’s functional, although it lacks the painted cabinets Jessica favors. She’s also considering a glass tile backsplash, although she said that’s a project for another time.

MK10 kitchen 3

The house has a gorgeous, curving staircase with amazing woodwork and original iron railings that bolt right to the floor.

I love how open the stairs are – particularly with the large window on the landing – and I love the tall niches, perfect for Jessica’s vases.

Upstairs is a nice-sized master bedroom with two closets – including one the Albaughs stole from the office/guest room by cutting a door into what had been the back of the space. Now the closet can be opened from either side.

The master continues Jessica’s brown and gray color scheme, although here she adds just a dash of lavender with a mirror and the luxurious bedding. The trunk had been used by an ancestor and passed through the family.

Jessica and Matt gutted and renovated the master bathroom and it’s made me completely rethink any plans I had for my own. She had less concern about keeping this bathroom in the same period of the home – because it’s really used only by the couple. She sought instead to achieve a timeless look. I certainly think she got it!

Jessica works as a wholesale representative for Kohler and used the company’s fixtures and tile from its subsidiary Ann Sacks for the room. She said she picked nickel because it never goes out of style.

The girls’ rooms are nearby and as I mentioned above, I’m only giving you a taste of these spaces. I want to save all the details for another post (although it really is killing me to do it).

Three-year-old Ellen got built-in cabinetry, a window seat and a pretty pink color scheme.

One-year-old Kate gets lavender and this nice bright white cabinet that Jessica had in her own room as a girl. Jessica made the window treatments in both rooms.

Between the rooms is another bathroom – and another one that Matt & Jessica renovated. This one has a much more 1920s feel but with modern amenities, like a handheld shower fixture and some pretty inset tile work.

My favorite part of the bath, though, was the funky shower curtain from Anthropologie. So fun.

There’s also a guest room/office upstairs. Jessica was washing the bedding while I was there, but it was still very sweet and is full of more family photos, including the historic photo below of Matt’s grandfather (the little boy) and his grandfather. What a treasure.

Now we’ll head to the basement, which is truly one of the special areas of this house. It was unfinished with cinderblock walls and exposed duct work when Matt & Jessica bought the house. After a huge renovation, it’s got a family room, play room, bar and a space that can be turned into an office if the one upstairs is ever needed for a bedroom.

Jessica said the basement decor is a much better reflection the style she’s into now, which she describes as transitional.

She has a sleek, modern sofa with an antique trunk and toy car, contemporary chairs and a painted old table. The adjacent bar area has a custom banquette made in part to cover an empty spot in the hardwood floor where a fireplace was removed.

The sleek glass table and modern chairs look fantastic on the old hardwood, which was added decades ago by a previous owner. A Candice Olson fixture – with her trademark sparkle – hangs above the table.

Behind the table is a new wet bar with a wine fridge and some amazing glass tile that is striated. It’s another Ann Sacks product and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Very modern.

The basement playroom is a little wonderland and the girls seem to love it. It’s chock full of everything a little girl could want.

The painting, below right, was created by the girls. Jessica bought rolled canvas and put it outside on the deck, giving the girls free reign to paint. Then a friend stretched it over a frame. Jessica said she wanted something large enough that it could be divided someday so each girl could take half.

A ballet bar hangs in front of a large mirror salvaged from one of the bathroom demolitions.

Finally, there’s another bathroom downstairs (I’m so jealous) and this one is a bright shade of yellow that is perfect for a basement room without windows. Candice Olson lights flank the mirror and more old family photos decorate the walls.

I’m leaving you with one last photo of this beautiful house – although the focus here is on Greta, the family’s six-year-old chocolate lab, hanging out in the dining room.