Interior designer's Tanglewood contemporary is a colorful splash

Courtnay and Mark Elias almost missed out on their dream house - twice.

The couple were just starting out on a house hunt seven years ago when Courtnay fell in love with an unusual contemporary home in Tanglewood. Designed by Albert Pecore in 1982, the starkly modern white exteriors set it apart from the traditional homes lining the rest of the block.

"We call it the 'Sesame Street' house," said Courtnay Elias, an interior designer and the owner of Creative Tonic design studio. "One of these things is not like the others."

The Eliases put in an offer, but twice found themselves on the losing end of a bidding war until the house's quirks turned off the winning bidders. For one thing, it has two sets of piers in the foundation due to an error during construction. For another, the original owner, an oil man, was worried about gas explosions, so the house has no gas connections at all. Neither dissuaded the Eliases, nor did the fact that the 4,800-square-foot house had only two real bedrooms while they have three sons.

Courtnay Elias names her mother as her greatest inspiration, and that includes growing up in a series of houses that were always under construction or renovation. Accordingly, when they moved into their home, she revamped the rooms upstairs, enclosing a balcony that faced the backyard pool and creating two new bedrooms out of the large playroom.

Downstairs Elias opened up a wall covering the wet bar near the entrance, creating one uninterrupted open living space. Years later, a burst pipe in the kitchen gave the designer an excuse to revamp the kitchen area, upgrading the large island with a striking gray and white striped "mink" marble.

"Things are constantly rearranged. I'm constantly moving, like a whirling dervish. I just have to be visually stimulated," said Elias.

Her latest update is on the bookcase in a corner of the formal living room that serves as a library and study nook. Beneath two of the home's many clerestory windows, the bookcase was originally painted green to mirror the views of the treetops above. Elias had recently discovered a new marine-grade paint, though, and thought the shelves were the perfect guinea pig project, eventually painting them a custom plum shade.

"For what my business is and what I do, I have to experiment here. I had never used these marine-grade finishes, so I taught my painters how to use them," said Elias. "What I love is how it almost looks wet. The darker it is the more it pops."

The bookshelves are just one of several pops of purple throughout the living room, chosen in part because it's Courtnay's favorite color and also to match the hues in a large painting over the sofa by New Orleans artist Amanda Talley. The royal hue is the perfect foil for the Eliases' collection of ornate gilt furniture and accessories, including more than one crown.

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Interior designer's Tanglewood contemporary is a colorful splash