All in the Family: Designer Kelly Gale Amen creates an environment of easy luxury for his cousin Todd Tautfest

Montrose's newest nexus melds caffeinated beverages and homegrown art. Sited in the just-unveiled Art League Houston Studio School ( building by architect irving Phillips ), Inversion boasts interiors by Houston design wizard and internationally exhibited artist Kelly Gale Amen. When owners and partners Amy and Greg Johnson approached Amen 16 months ago, he immediately said yes, with one condition - that the new coffee stop provide a venue for "an authentic experience."

It all started with a dinner conversation in the Slussers’ garden in West University. Bill and Len Slusser had invited their friend and interior designer, Kelly Gale Amen, over for dinner in their backyard garden by the pool. Talk turned to what they might do with the kids’ bedrooms upstairs, since daughter Joanna and son Adam had grown up and flown the nest.

Charles Baldridge travels so much in his work as chief of staff of one of Houston’s fastest growing financial strategies firms, he prefers to live in low-maintenance condominium apartments. During the week, he lives in an apartment overlooking an oak and pine forest in Houston’s Memorial area; on weekends, they escape to their apartment overlooking Corpus Christi Bay. While Baldridge’s views may change from forest to sea—his choice of interior designer does not—Kelly Gale Amen of the KGA Compound in Houston.

New York City chic meets Japanese Zen. Technology meets simplicity. High art meets nature. Although contradictory in theory, these aesthetics were swirled together like paint on canvas throughout Charles Baldridge’s recently completed Ocean Drive condo by Kelly Amen, Houston-based interior and art furniture designer.

He’s 73 and a connoisseur of modern design and good Baccarat crystal. She’s 72 and a traditionalist who loves collecting fine antiques, old pottery, pewter and American primitive furnishings. They’ve been married a lifetime and have reared two fine sons. But they’d never mixed their collections in their home until recently. The couple called Kelly Gale Amen, met with him, liked his ideas, and the project began.

A year or so ago, Mary and Gerry Averitt took a good look at their nice suburban tract home outside Beltway 8 in West Houston and decided they were ready for were ready for something different…and magical. Amen visited the couple’s house and saw immediately how he could help them. “You don’t use the house,” he told them. They were not using the living room at all, their breakfast room was simply a place to pass through to get to the patio, and while their family room was spacious, no one lingered there. Amen’s classic prescription for clients who don’t use their space efficiently is “The Flip.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The plan was to open up the newly purchased 1960s rambler with a vaulted roof, cascading ceiling lines, gutted rooms, and a largely reconstructed floor plan. But when the estimate literally to raise the roof came back at almost half a million dollars, owners Joe and Jeanne Gillen decided it was time to reevaluate. Enter designer Kelly Gale Amen and his signature starting point for many of his designs: “The Flip.”

Kelly Gale Amen likes the purity of the elements in his designs, whether in metal or his fabric furniture. In his description of the KGA Daybed he says, "It's made from an antique Kelim, from striped velvet; it's got brocade, quilted suede, ticking, fringe, braiding, silk, velvet, hand painting. It's multifaceted but you look at it and you see it as one assembly. You don't see it as disjointed parts. So that's really the key of what this is about for me."

Rooms designed by Kelly Gale Amen are as fun and friendly as the man himself. Blessed with an abundance of joie de vivre, this Houston-based decorator and award-winning furniture designer sums up his credo this way: "I believe that the best elements of design are the beautiful mistakes. The process is always one of jumping in and going where the project leads you."

Have you ever dreamed of living in a five-star luxury hotel? That's what life is like for residents of Villa d'Este, a 27-story high-rise tower near the Galleria. A uniformed doorman welcomes you into a well-appointed lobby that exudes sumptuous elegance. Scenic Italian landscapes and beautifully carved marble busts occupy the art niches and rich hues of red, gold, and cream pattern the lush carpeting. A 24-hour concierge can see to the occupants' every desire, discreetly of course. But this isn't New York City.

You could say that Kelly Gale Amen, ASID, TAID, created his personal world from an "artsy big bang." Every room of his home explodes in artistic exaggeration, color contradiction and dramatic interpretation. Shocking colors, extraordinary textures and unusual layerings amalgamate to form a remarkably comfortable macrocosm that dissipates the normal boundaries between nature and shelter. Some people might comprehend his world, and most probably don't. Kelly himself is an enigma, a charming man of mystery whose dedication to the world of design is evident in his unsurpasses passion for the subject.

Color is king when it comes to creating memorable rooms. A sure hand with this magical force can imbue interiors with any wished-for mood, from dramatic to demure, romantic to rocking. Sure is one of the many talents of kelly Amen, a maestro at orchestrating color (as well as design's other tools) for ultimate pleasure and impact.

When the firm moved to the Lyric center last October, it was decided that the individuality of each associate could be reflected in its décor, and Helen Cassidy enlisted Amen to help with her office. David Holman was so impressed with the interior designer and his work that he asked for Amen's assistance with the lobby, the reception area, conference room and, eventually, the hallways and all the other offices.

Bright neon streams that intertwine and spiral, flowing into a river landscape on the hallway ceiling, capture a visitor's attention upon entering the home of Laura and Tony Pletcher. This original, electrifying feel runs throughout the home in both artwork and furnishings - the inspiration of award-winning Houston designer Kelly Gale Amen. Amen's unorthodox use of color, pattern and placement not only transformed the home eight years ago, Laura pletcher says, it opened the Pletchers up to new ways of seeing and living.

A southern author "grows up" in her house as designer kelly gale amen turns an all-white space into a vision of color, pattern and texture. a hand-painted ceiling ties it all together from the iridescent, flowing draperies to the romantic settee punctuated with kga dice pillows. the sacred study, which the author was afraid to change because it might lead to writer's block, is now her favorite space with its rich walls of red relieved by white lacy curtains.

Happiness is having a kitchen that really cooks. four tiny rooms are transformed by designer kelly gale amen into one beautiful and functional space with the very latest in appliances. a diamond-pattern floor, tile detailing and painted cabinets are just some of the touches that make this kitchen extraordinary. the addition of french doors at the front and rear allow the outdoors to come inside while a sitting area keeps the family together while the cook is creating.

The newest member of a dock side Boat & Breakfast at Annapolis Landing Marina, the Aquarelle is a graceful addition to Paradise Bay. It's hard to imagine her hauling coal or surviving the furies of Hurricane Andrew. Yet, this luxurious lady's memoirs reveal an interesting history, including television appearances on Miami Vice. She was purchased by husband and wife team Bill Massey and Marie Simmons of Dallas, Texas, as the culmination of a dream that Bill has pursued for many years. Her restoration fell under the creative wing of hometown friend and international interior designer Kelly Gale Amen of KGA, Inc., in Houston.

All alone on top of a mountain surrounded by glorious california scenery amen's feeling of confinement was heightened by the limited space in the trailer. it's like living in a capsule that moves, but the usual interiors make the space seem smaller instead of larger. what could be less restrictive than being under water, where space seems to flow with no end, where walls don't exist?

It might have been quite a conventional residence. The original plan for the northwest Atlanta home called for a concrete-paved interior courtyard and a twelve-foot-deep wooden deck across the back. But that was before Houston interior designer Kelly Gale Amen met with his clients to elaborate on the architectural scheme, and with their participation, transformed the house into a lush, mysterious environment with extraordinary vistas and architectural concepts.

In rooms where texture reigns, regard pattern in fabric, rugs, and wall treatments as an additional element of the sensual scheme. Combine subdued pattern-on-pattern fabrics with a mix of surfaces and earthy colors.