Restoration-minded interior design.

Interior design by Shelby Youtsas: space planning, materials and styling, from bare studs to the last strike plate.

Shelby Youtsas Interiors Skip to the work

Shelby Youtsas

A scalloped terrazzo niche framed in brass, set into dark marble, in the main bath of The Teche

The Teche · main bath, brass on dark marble

I fall for the house first, then protect what makes it itself.

The old wood. The window that catches the afternoon light. The cabinetry someone built to last. I'm an interior designer and licensed Realtor in Lafayette, Louisiana. My work starts with noticing what makes a place itself, protecting it, and then layering in what it needs to feel personal and easy to live in again.

Interior design portfolioRestoration · Space planning · Materials & finishes · StylingPrepared for Umé Studio, November 2026

Selected work

01The TecheRestoration · Lafayette, LABuilt · 2025–26
02Spanish Revival RanchKitchen replan, baths, livingConcept · 2026
03Material planSpanish Revival RanchConcept · 2026
04Console wallStyling, three directionsProposal

01 · A completed restorationLafayette, Louisiana · 2025–26

The Teche

A tired mid-century house, restored rather than erased.

The Teche was my first Lafayette restoration: about 1,650 square feet of good bones under years of wear, with original wood paneling, solid cabinetry and a big front window. I didn't add a single square foot. I gave every room a purpose, protected the character that made the house itself, and chose finishes meant to age alongside it.

What I did: Everything from the first sketch to the last strike plate: layout, finishes and fixtures, hands-on renovation, styling and staging.
The feeling: Modern cottage. Warm whites and soft taupes, sage and blue for calm, deep tones for a little drama, and brass throughout.
Size: About 1,650 sq ft · no additions

Room by room, before and after.

Pick a room, then switch between before and after. Click any image to see it full size.

The Teche kitchen before: dated wood cabinets, laminate floor and a black refrigerator

The Teche kitchen after: refinished taupe cabinets, a stained-wood island, brass pendants and a checkerboard floor

Keep the cabinets. Move the sink. Let the island be the new piece.

Kept

The original solid-wood cabinets. They were built to last, so they were refinished in a quiet taupe instead of torn out.

Moved

The sink, from beside the window to centered beneath it, so dishes come with a view. A farmhouse basin and vintage-inspired brass finish it.

Added

A stained-wood island, a 36-inch gas range, glass-and-brass pendants, and a checkerboard floor that runs into the dining room.

The Teche primary bedroom with blue trim

The Teche hall, with blue ceiling, looking into the bath

The Teche opened to the studs during renovation

Dark, glossy, and a little dramatic.

The baths, from where they started to where they landed.

Three globe lights above a gilded mirror

A Teche bath before, with dated vanity lights

Main bath. Dark marble up the walls, brass shower fixtures, and beaded moulding painted to match. The niche alternates bold and fine terrazzo in a scalloped shape, framed in brass.

Primary bath. Hand-cut vertical stripe tile, a golden-veined marble floor, a freestanding fluted tub and a wall-mounted brass faucet.

A better layout. The second bath moved out of the laundry room and into the living footprint.

We didn't build a flip. We built something ready.

The last week was all small things: hinges, strike plates, caulk, not a strip of leftover tape. Staging was the indulgent part, with rugs, vintage glass and brass lamps with carefully chosen bulbs. When she closed in February, it felt less like a sale and more like a handoff to the people who would love her next.

Follow the whole story: The Flip Chronicles →

06.24.25Design Plans, Delusions, and My First Lafayette Flip
09.08.25How 10 Paint Colors and a Perfect Sink Defined This Flip
09.29.25Teche's Hot Girl Era: Paint Done, Floors Down, Fixtures Loading
10.27.25From a Flip to a Feeling: How 105 Teche Became Lafayette's Design Darling
11.09.25Intentional, Edited, and Almost Done: Teche's Not-Quite-Final Reveal
12.02.25From Renovation to Real Life: The Journey Continues
02.19.26Closing Day (Or, The Part Where We Let Her Go)

02 · Concept design · ProposedFinal concept plan, 23 October 2026

Spanish Revival Ranch

One kitchen, two working zones, and a house that keeps its soul.

The brief

Bring a Spanish Revival spirit through the kitchen, living areas, bedrooms and baths, without losing the architecture that makes the house what it is.

What had to stay

The sunroom's ceiling, windows and patterned floor. The family room's fireplace, vault and beams. And the footprint itself: no additions.

My part

The space plan, the design direction, materials and lighting, and every round of refinement with the client.

The expanded kitchen.

Four moves, all inside the existing walls. Choose one to see where it happens on the plan.

Schematic only · redrawn from the supplied floor plan · dimensions, structure and services require field verification

Open the everyday kitchen. Move the work behind an arch.

Compare the existing kitchen with the concept, or choose Spec it to see what each finish is.

Existing kitchen: dark wood cabinets, yellow counters and tile floor

Concept rendering: open kitchen with walnut cabinetry, an island with rush stools, copper pendants, a plaster hood and terracotta floor, seen from the family room fireplace

The kitchen, breakfast nook, wet bar and old pantry become one main kitchen of about 416 sq ft.
A roughly 9 × 4 ft island seats four and faces the family room.
The adjacent 9′6″ × 9′1″ room becomes a butler's pantry for storage, small appliances and secondary prep.
The range and plaster hood sit on the pantry's outer wall; the main sink stays at its window.

The open question.

How much of everyday life should be on display? The answer decides how much shelving stays open and how much hides behind walnut.

Pantry concept with open walnut shelving, a wine fridge and terracotta floor

Pantry concept with tall walnut doors closing off the storage

What stays sets the palette. What's new agrees with it.

Some things in this house were never up for debate: the sunroom's patterned floor, the terracotta brick, the wood ceilings. They hold the warmth and the gold-and-ivory pattern of the place, so every new material had to get along with them. Choose a sample.

What stays · existingWhat's added · proposed

Sunroom floor tile with a gold and ivory pattern

Plaster hood over a range with a honed stone counter

Existing materials are shown from site references. Proposed materials are shown from concept renderings; swatches describe direction, not specified products.

Furniture-scale vanities. Warmer metal. Less visual weight.

Switch each bath between existing and concept.

Existing primary bath with built-in cabinetry and wallpaper

Primary bath concept with a freestanding tub, walnut vanity and patterned terracotta floor

A freestanding tub and open shower replace the built-in mass. A furniture-style walnut vanity, pale shower tile, patterned terracotta tones and unlacquered brass set the direction. Vanity depth and mirror alignment are checked against the room before specification.

Existing guest bath with a yellow counter and heavy wallpaper

Guest bath concept with a wood vanity, green stone and globe lights

The yellow counter and heavy wallpaper give way to a wood vanity, green stone and simpler mirrors. The original globe lights return in patinated brass, and an ivory curtain softens the harder materials.

Keep the architecture. Soften everything around it.

Family room and bedroom.

Family room concept: arched shelving, a corner fireplace, beams and terracotta floor

Family room. The beams, vault, fireplace and terracotta floor stay. Arched shelving and a quieter center cabinet lighten the built-in wall, and a larger, lower fixture gives the vaulted room a focal point.

Existing bedroom with blue carpet and a ceiling fan

Bedroom concept with a carved wood bed, warm floor and curtains

Bedroom. Warm floor tones and wood details tie it to the rest of the house. Curtains, bedding and a rug soften the carved bed, and a minimal wood fan stays out of the way.

03 · Styling · Console wallProposal stage

Find the feeling first.

I like to start with three quick directions on the same piece. Side by side, it's usually clear right away which one feels like home, and that's the one we develop with care. Choose a direction to compare it with the developed concept.

Developed concept: olive drapery frames the small window, wall plates beneath, a console edited to books, fruit and sculptural pieces

The direction

Option 3 was developed: olive drapery frames the small window, wall plates sit beneath it, and the console is edited to books, fruit and sculptural pieces.

Scope

One of three spaces in the proposal, alongside a mantel and the dining-room walls, each considered for scale, placement, material and light.

What the client receives

Concept visuals, a shoppable list, and placement and hanging guidance, with ordering and styling available.

Note

Proposal stage. AI-assisted styling concepts; final object sizes are confirmed during specification.

04 · How I workSix steps, one deliberate layer at a time

Every house tells you what it needs, if you listen first.

The Teche living room on the first walk-through

The Teche, first walk-through

What I believe

Intentional, edited, and made for real life

01
Keep what has a story.
Original wood, solid cabinetry, a window that frames the oak out front. I would rather restore something with history than replace it with something new and forgettable.
02
Design for real life.
A house should be life-ready, not precious. Layout comes first, so mornings are easy and every room has a reason to be used.
03
Let everything speak the same language.
Nothing has to match. Warm metals, tactile materials and a restrained palette repeat from room to room until the house feels like one thought.
04
Choose what grows more beautiful.
Unlacquered brass, real stone, honest wood. I love materials that soften and take on patina instead of wearing out.
05
Edit, then edit again.
One beautiful lamp over five fine ones. Scale and placement come first, and objects stay only when they earn their spot.
06
Leave room for the next story.
A home outlives any one chapter. I design so it can be handed on gracefully, ready for whoever loves it next.

“Nothing matches, but everything speaks the same language.”

From The Flip Chronicles, on The Teche

05 · AboutLafayette, Louisiana

Shelby Youtsas sitting on a sunny windowsill beside a fiddle-leaf fig

Hi, I'm Shelby.

I'm an interior designer and a licensed Realtor in Lafayette, Louisiana, so I get to see a house across its whole life: the people who loved it before, the people living in it now, and whoever comes next. That keeps me honest. Every choice should be beautiful, useful, and worth keeping.

I've taken a house from bare studs to finished with my own hands, so I'm comfortable on a job site mid-renovation, talking with framers and cabinet suppliers, and making decisions quickly when the schedule calls for it.

Designing, staging and guiding renovations since 2022
Restoring houses with my own hands, and writing about it on The Flip Chronicles
A background in product design: CAD, sampling and manufacturing at Stuller
A writer at heart, with a B.A. in English (Professional Writing)

Where this work meets the role

Interior Designer / Interior Architect, Umé Studio

The role asks for	Where to look
Interior concepts that follow the architecture	The Teche restored the paneling and kept the footprint; the Spanish Revival Ranch builds its palette from what stays.
FF&E: materials, lighting, millwork	The material plan, the kitchen spec callouts and the console wall styling.
Custom pieces and fabrication	New product taken through CAD, sampling and manufacturing as Fine Jewelry Product Manager at Stuller.
Design diagrams and plans	The expanded kitchen plan, four moves inside the existing walls.
Renders and collage	AI-assisted concept renderings I directed and refined with each client, labeled on every image.
Site visits and construction problem-solving	The Teche, carried from bare studs to the last strike plate, with framers, cabinet suppliers and trades.
Budget review	Every renovation modeled as a P&L before it starts.

Let's make something worth keeping

I'd love to hear about the house.

shelby@youtsas.com 337-849-3995 youtsas.com linkedin.com/in/youtsas The Flip Chronicles

A brass shower fixture on dark marble with a red high heel

Project notes

The Teche is completed, photographed work. The Spanish Revival and styling pages show proposed concepts; their visuals are AI-assisted renderings I directed and refined against each brief. Measured plans and specifications govern construction.