Family collections and thrifted finds bring meaning and style to a central Arkansas designer’s home

Jen and Ben Bienvenu were not looking to move from their downtown Little Rock residence when they found a stately property for sale in Cammack Village. The couple initially considered it too much square footage for their family of four; however, as the house sat on the market and the price continued to drop, they started to imagine the possibilities. “I love puzzles, whether that’s arranging a shelf or piecing together a floor plan, and I think this home wasn’t selling because people had a hard time seeing past that moment in time when it was last remodeled,” Jen says. “When you’re buying a house, you either get to renovate yourself or you pay for someone else’s renovation. My dad worked in construction, and Ben’s parents are an architect and interior designer. We’ve always been on the same page that if it’s got four walls, you can do anything,” she says.

The Bienvenus are typically drawn to the high ceilings and character of older homes, and this one—built in the 1950s, with a kitchen renovation and second story addition in the ’90s—is the newest they’ve lived in. So when Jacob White Construction Company came on to make updates, it was important to keep a sense of the home’s history. Starting in the main living spaces, they replaced pocket doors and walls with cased openings, which maintain separation of the rooms while improving the flow.

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