Interior designer Shannon Eddings says her favorite room in the newly renovated Carr Mansion is the parlor. She looked for contemporary furniture that would contrast the front room’s grand historic molding. Inspired by the ocean, Eddings used a blue color palette throughout the B&B. “I wanted to create a space where people could chat and linger over drinks,” she says. Photography by Maggie Kloss
The Carr Mansion, in Galveston, was built in 1866 by General Lewis W. Carr and, over the years, has been in the care of such illustrious Texans as former governor Richard Coke. The grand Greek Revival–style home, about a mile from the beach, is one of the island’s few surviving buildings from its era, even surviving the great storm of 1900 that destroyed two-thirds of the city. Despite its resilient history, the once grand digs lost some of their luster over the years. On July 7, after a top-to-bottom renovation led by Austin-based interior designer Shannon Eddings, the estate officially reopens as an eight-room bed-and-breakfast. Eddings masterfully married historic and new with contemporary light fixtures, brass accents, vintage nautical paintings, refurbished clawfoot tubs, and an inviting seaside-themed bar where guests will able to enjoy a gourmet happy hour. Take the first tour through the whimsical, glamorous rooms of the estate, which is bringing a whole new elevated style to the island while staying true to its roots. For reservations, visit carrmansion.com.
Completely redesigning the interiors of the 8,000-square-foot home was a dream project for Austin-based interior designer Shannon Eddings, a Dallas native who studied fine art and history at the University of Texas. Her design process began with gathering inspiration, tearing pages from magazines, going deep into the Instagram archives of her favorite Paris-based interior designers, and researching the history of Galveston and its grand past. "The Carr Mansion brought everything I have always been interested in into one big project," she says.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
In the entryway, one of the first things guests will see is a credenza that features a pair of modern brass lamps, a mirror that’s original to the house, and framed postcards of Galveston from the early 1900s. History books about the town are found throughout the bed-and-breakfast.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
One of the darker rooms in the Carr, “The Merchant,” is a showcase for Eddings’s design philosophy for the project—bringing together old and new in beautiful ways. “The saturated green color is a tribute to the era in which this house was built,” she says. "I always want to come up with unique and unexpected color combinations that somehow work together." Many of the pieces in this spacious corner room were finds from Round Top.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
Over the nine months that Eddings worked on designing the Carr Mansion, she shopped for vintage nautical paintings for the gallery wall in the hallway upstairs everywhere she traveled, picking up pieces in Houston, Dallas, Santa Fe, Colorado, and Round Top.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
Each suite in the Carr Mansion is named for one of the many people who lived there at one time in the home’s more-than-150-year history. “The Preacher” is named after the pastor and wife who lived upstairs and hosted church services downstairs in the fifties. Eddings found the vintage ship flag above the bed from Galveston shop Nautical Antiques.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
The bar needed the least amount of remodeling since Eddings loved the elaborate woodwork against the original plaster walls.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
Eddings shopped locally anytime she could. This nautical painting was a find from Galveston’s Somewhere in Time Antiques.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
All of the clawfoot bathtubs in the bedrooms were original to the house and were restored and repainted in the design process.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
“The Grocer,” named for Herman Marwitz, a well-known merchant in the area who gave the Carr Mansion to his daughter and son-in-law in the late 1800s, features a vintage painting found from the Austin Antique Mall and the “perfect yellow sofa” that Eddings also found in Austin.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
A close-up view of a corner in the parlor, where a blue and dark mustard color scheme sets just the right tone for the layered designs that are found in throughout the house.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
The suite off of the second-floor balcony is named “The Newlywed,” after John and Ida Gross (the daughter of Herman Marwitz, who was given the mansion by her father). The Grosses added onto the original house in 1889 and again in 1898. The blue chair was a find from Room Service Vintage in Austin.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
In one of the many inviting vignettes and reading nooks found throughout the B&B, the settee and round velvet pillows are a nod to Eddings’s love of European design.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
Next to one of the Carr's many original fireplaces is a pair of antique chairs found in Houston’s Guild Shop, a regular pit stop for Eddings on her many trips between Austin and Galveston during the redesign.
Photography by Maggie Kloss
The ballroom is home to a vintage grand piano and is the place where gourmet breakfasts will be served for guests each morning. The Carr also plans to serve as a venue for intimate weddings and other small events.
