Black & White - Kansas City Homes & Style

Discover a striking monochromatic home with pops of wood tones, blue shades, and cozy details.

Story by Michelle Mastro | Photography by Laurie Kilgore

A black and white color palette is timeless and classic. Like the Ying and Yang concept from Chinese philosophy — also in black and white — the colors feel opposite but somehow interconnected, like two competing characteristics now existing in harmony. When homeowners Katie and Scott Hardouin were designing the interiors of their new home in South Overland Park built by Fieldstone Homes, they knew they wanted interiors decked out in black and white shades, a classic color palette, but they weren’t sure of what else.

Enter Maureen Lindstrom, principal designer and owner of ML Designs. Lindstrom was recommended to the couple by the builders, as she had worked with them on several other new home builds. Not only could she design for new homes but she could easily adapt to whatever her clients wanted. In fact, that’s how she prefers it. “I always begin by meeting the homeowners and getting to know them. I feel that it is important for homes to reflect the homeowners and not my personal style. “Katie wasn’t big on a lot of color — she wanted lots of black and white shades peppered in with neutrals.”

Indeed, the couple wanted classic vibes and a clean modern look. The overall style leans transitional modern, but timeless too. “Most of what we did wasn’t out of the box,” says Lindstrom. After all, this was a family home filled with small children and frequent guests, so the space had to be livable, functional, and the décor unfussy but chic. For example, in the powder room, a high traffic area of the house, Lindstrom included a vinyl grass cloth wallpaper in a speckled blue and white shade. “With three little boys and all the splashing they can make in a sink, I opted for a hardy product that can be scrubbed down easily,” she says. “It adds pattern, color, and texture, a strong design detail to the space, but it’s functional and practical.”

There are other moments of bold color in the house. “We knew we wanted to do some blue upstairs in the boys’ room,” says Lindstrom. “So, I talked to Katie about using the color in the mudroom as some pop of color in the house — it makes the space feel more unique and special, a bit upgraded. They used Sherwin Williams paint in “pool house blue” to offer a soothing neutral that paired well with all the statement-making black and white spaces.

But even the black and white needed some splashes of high drama. In the kitchen, Katie wanted mostly white and came up with the idea for a wood range, fume hood, and gold hardware to create contrast against the white cabinetry and walls. Lindstrom wanted the couple to pick some statement black cabinetry too, providing juxtaposition with the crisp white. Black cabinets feature in the pantry back kitchen and in the basement bar area downstairs. All this adds some much-needed contrast to help the white stand out even more. “I think there should always be something in the home that provides a wow moment,” says Lindstrom.

Case in point, the staircase carpet renders a grand entryway complete with the brilliant design detail of added texture to offset the mostly white spaces. It was Lindstrom’s trademark mix of smooth and rough textures. “I like to blend different textures, especially when not using a lot of color. Texture can differentiate different spaces when not using a lot of unalike hues,” she says. “I was surprised Katie was okay with it because it’s such a statement piece.”

However, Katie proved the ying to Lindstrom’s yang. The collaboration between designer and homeowner was harmonious and built on mutual faith. “She was really good at trusting me. She really trusted the process,” Lindstrom recalls. “I absolutely loved working with their family. Some people really stress out during the build process — but not them.” Katie likewise enjoyed working with Lindstrom. “If I ever build a house again, she’ll be the first person I call. Many designers push ideas onto you—she’s not like that at all. We got lucky when the builder recommended Maureen.”

If there were any challenges in designing the house’s interiors, it came in the form of injecting a feeling of warmth. “Their style was more modern, but we wanted it to feel warm as well,” says Lindstrom. “Modern can feel cool and less inviting, so we snuck in a bit of warm tones.” Hence, wood details are scattered throughout the house. Quartersawn white oak appear in the range hood, kitchen island, basement floating shelves, living room floating shelves, and on the mantel.

Aside from the wood, Lindstrom was sure to add other cozy details. “The fact that we wanted to keep everything light and bright, but the ceiling in the main room was so high. How could we make that feel cozy?” Lindstrom asked herself. The answer was extremely oversized lighting and black cabinets to add contrast there. Next, she popped in accessories and décor.

“I always say a house isn’t really a home until it’s accessorized,” she laughs. In the end, the house with a black and white palette became a timeless and classic abode, brimming with charming details from subdued touches to statement-making features.