The "before" vibe of Jeff Holland's '80s-era townhouse near Knox-Henderson can be summed up in a single hue: mustard.

"Everything was painted mustard," says Gonzalo Bueno, one-half of Holland's extreme makeover team. "I mean everything – walls, ceilings, light fixtures." He grimaces. "It was very disturbing."

But a designer is nothing if not imaginative. After the initial shock at the paint scheme worthy of a corn dog, Bueno and creative partner Mauricio Lobeira, co-founders of Ten + 3 studio, recognized the townhouse's assets.

"There are walls of windows that look out into the trees," Bueno says over the whoosh of frothing cappuccinos at La Duni. "I loved the peaceful feeling of it right away."

The three-story townhouse – ground-level garage, second-floor living area and top-floor master suite – just needed re-imagining.

Good thing Bueno and Lobeira, based in Dallas and Monterrey, Mexico, are also architects. The duo has designed everything from angular homes and high-rises to a Jaguar dealership, so knocking down a few walls to open a room was incidental. Golden maple floors were stained espresso for added depth. Dated iron handrails were replaced with sleek tempered-glass half-walls supported by stainless steel posts.

"Our architectural training definitely gives us an advantage when it comes to working with light and scale," says Bueno, the duo's more talkative half. "We understand what you can really do with materials."

Throughout the home, touchy-feely textures abound: wool and cashmere drapes, low-slung sofas in white linen, a Le Corbusier cowhide lounger. The tactile pieces are countered with smooth and sleek finishes, from Carrera marble countertops to a floor-to-ceiling mirrored fireplace. ("It avoids the visual interruption that a solid wall would cause," Bueno says.) The crowning trio of red Zulu hats mounted right on the glass seems to float.

Gray-white walls (Sherwin-William's "Ivory Lace") unite the whole, and have an almost pearl-like shimmer that harmonizes with the silvery custom silk rug by Odegard.

Each element was carefully chosen to reflect Holland, a thirtysomething London-based financial wiz whom Bueno casts as the ultimate jet-setter.

Holland was also something of a dream client. "He's very in touch with what's happening in design and encouraged us to go for it," Bueno says. "We were lucky. Not many clients would say yes right away to a white lacquered chair with pony hide."

Some designers have rooms with conversation pieces; Bueno and Lobeira prefer outright ice-breakers.

Case in point: A pair of ghostly white porcelain arms, formerly used to display gloves and found at a London antique store, now reach toward heaven in the living room.

"Jeff sent me digital pictures of them, and I said 'I love them, please buy them immediately,'" Bueno recalls. "I didn't know where I would put them at the time, but they ended up beside the fireplace. I like to think they're trying to warm up there."

A pair of porcelain heads from a hat display, another Holland purchase, now adorn the kitchen counter.

Two giant steel propeller blades from a World War II fighter plane make a high-powered prop in the bedroom, giving the space an industrial edge.

In contrast, the same room is balanced by a heavily carved, gilded corner chair (its high back literally forming a 90-degree angle) salvaged from a French chateau. The piece's soft center is upholstered in the original orange-and-gold damask fabric. "Truthfully, I wanted it for my own collection," Bueno admits, "but I could never find a place for it, and Jeff loved the chair right away."

Versatility in this compact urban home was also key.

For Holland's occasional dinner parties (he generally keeps it to cocktail soirées), the top of the Cassina console unfolds to become a formal dining table. Breakfast is a more casual affair with coffee and the Financial Times atop a glass-and-steel table found at The Mews and floated between the kitchen and living room.

Lobeira says the home's design mojo lies in its subtlety: "It's so clean-lined that you think you can read the place all at once, but then you start to notice the detailing and realize how sophisticated the spaces are in form and function."

Right down to the wall of Knoll sheer metallic drapes downstairs. "I was obsessed with doing a ripple fold in the curtains, but didn't want to take them all the way up to the ceiling where you would see the rod," says Bueno. His solution? "I went to a plastics company in Dallas and had them make us box-like acrylic brackets." The curtain rod was then painted the same gray-white as the walls to help it disappear.

Upstairs, the designers went to the opposite extreme. The earthy-toned Bergamo drapes cocooning the master bedroom are heavier and cozier. "They're a blend of wool and cashmere that is amazing," Bueno says. "Those drapes are very sexy, and very expensive, but so worth it."

It's a design philosophy that, applied liberally, has brought this entire Uptown condo from the brink of mustard meltdown to a chic state of neutral.

Bueno characterizes their aesthetic simply as eclectic.

"We fall in love with new forms and pieces, but we always add in objects from the past to balance rooms with something classic."

And the pendulum on this project swings undeniably toward swank. Or, in Bueno's words: "Very cha-cha-cha."

E-mail cwynn@dallasnews.com