Article: Texas surprise: designer Jan Shower mixes midcentury European with traditional styles in the Dallas home of Ann and Lou Strawn. .(Cover Story)

ANN AND LOU STRAWN'S HOME SITS ATOP A SMALL hill in an exclusive Dallas neighborhood. Surrounded by trees, the brick-faced, Edwardian-style house looks from the outside like a sheltered English cottage.

Step inside the small entryway, however, and your impression changes quickly. The 3,000-square-foot house's original hardwood floors are there, shiny and restored, as you might expect. But the mirrored French commode and the two colorful abstractions on the wall strike a very different note.

"I like that commode there because it says, 'We've got some surprises inside,'" says designer Jan Showers. "It gives you a real pop."

Showers was hired to ...

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