"He Said, 'This is The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen'" — How This Designer Turned a Plain New Build Into a Pink And Blue Wonderland

Living room with pink textured walls nad ceiling, green and white stone fireplace, white sofa, green armchairs and purple velvet armchairs.

It wasn't love at first sight for interior designer Travis London. In fact, he quite hated the look of the construction plans for the home his boyfriend, Bruce Patrick, found in Miami. Travis, you see, favors historic townhouses, while the proposed home was a boxy modern build. Nevertheless, Bruce insisted it had potential; plus, he promised, Travis could do whatever he wanted with it.

One leap of faith later, the house was theirs. The couple summered in Europe during construction, where Bruce officially proposed. As newly minted fiancés, they travelled from Milan to Carrara, sourcing furniture and materials for their future home, and later staged an all-white wedding against its unfinished ‘white box' shell. What then followed — maximalist, colorful, emphatically expressive — is a modern home shaped by unconditional love.

"We both instantly saw it and were like, 'Oh my God, this is it,'" says Travis of the riotous marble the couple sourced while travelling in Carrara, shortly after getting engaged. The marble now forms the steps in their double-height entrance, backdropped by the site-specific mural. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

Those feelings first revealed themselves through the choice of pink paint. Early on, Travis worried whether his favorite color was too much, but Bruce encouraged him to trust himself, and pink proved triumphant in the double-height entryway, where Venetian plaster sweeps across the walls and ceilings and carries through into the living room and kitchen.

Inspired by a trip to Lake Como, Travis leaned into "bright and happy" colors across the outdoor furniture. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

A sunlounger with a chunky base like this is the star of an outdoor scheme — just top it off with a striped cushion to recreate this look.

Pink pivots to blue — a hue Bruce favors — down a whimsical hallway with a wood-veneer wallcovering and mirrored ceiling designed to make it feel like you're Alice chasing the White Rabbit down to Wonderland.

Travis asked Djivan Schapira to create a table that looked more like a spaceship. "I love working with artists because you inspire each other, you get to dream together — and maybe where you start isn’t where you end," says Travis. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

The entrance is just the beginning. Travis didn't play it safe in this house, yet the home's greatest luxury, he says, has little to do with Carrara marble or collectible furniture: "It's having a safe place to fully be seen and fully be yourself."

"It honestly just leads to the garage," says Travis of the small corridor off the entrance, which he refused to leave plain. A whimsical light fixture beckons at the end, while the mirrored ceiling and wood-veneer wallcovering create what Travis calls an "Alice in Wonderland moment". (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

This scheme has us thinking about textured sideboards — and this papercord option from Castlery fits the bill.

Confident expression is contagious and Travis pushed the boundaries of others, too. Inspired by a painting he saw at Sotheby's, he asked artist Katrien Van Der Schueren to create an artwork for the entrance's upper walls.

She mainly worked in neutrals before — the result, titled New Beginnings, a nod to Travis and Bruce's relationship, was her first foray into color.

After being invited to Paris by Chanel, Travis sourced tweed fabric directly from the same mill used by the maison for the stools, as well as the dining chairs. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

As a former celebrity chef, the kitchen is Travis London's most personal space. He didn't want it to look like a kitchen, so he set the burners beneath stone (thanks to a product he found in Italy), making them invisible.

The worktops and splashbacks are in pink onyx, naturally, and to reduce the visual weight of floor-to-ceiling storage, he commissioned ebonised glass fronts for the upper cabinets — with their checkerboard pattern, they read more like a decorative border. Other colorful references pop up throughout the home.

"Animals are my happy place," says Travis of the hand-painted mural, which features tigers and parrots, as well as butterflies — in memory of Andrew, a previous poodle. The custom bed is low enough for the three teacup poodles to easily jump on and off. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

The jungle-inspired wall mural in Travis and Bruce's bedroom adds a magical touch — try this one from Bobbi Beck.

Like in any relationship, there were disagreements as the project unfolded. During their trip to Carrara, Travis ventured out on his own and purchased a block of red travertine for the main bath. Bruce was not pleased — red was his least favourite color. "Bruce said, 'I just want you to know I will always hate this bathroom,'" recalls Travis.

The biggest risk — let’s call it a leap of faith — was the red travertine Travis chose for this space, a material Bruce was sure wouldn’t work. Used to shape a custom tub and cover the walls, the maximalist moment won him over. (Image credit: Kris Tamburello)

But when the travertine was installed, carved into a sculptural tub and lining the walls, there was a change of heart. "I should have recorded it," beams Travis. "Bruce said, 'This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'"

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Soho Home Orion Outdoor Sunlounger, Off White Castlery Ashen Papercord Sideboard Bobbi Beck Green rainforest wallpaper mural