These Empty Nesters Built a Dream Home with Their Grandkids in Mind

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Denise Morrison is the prototypical Orange County grandmother, spending peaceful days gardening at her Floral Park ranch house. Sure, she looks every bit the part, with her youthful energy and ready smile. And yes, she has well-tended garden beds at the home she shares with Robert, her husband of nearly four decades who owns a commercial landscaping company. The couple has created a mighty inviting place for their adult sons, their daughters-in-law, and their three grandchildren to visit.

Thomas J. Story

But Morrison is also a design powerhouse with a firm based in Costa Mesa. She employs 15 people, including her son Andrew as COO and his wife Rachel as a senior designer, and runs a thriving furniture manufacturing business—House of Morrison—in Santa Ana. Her team works on impressive, high-end residential projects across the country from Philadelphia to Corona del Mar and many points in between.

Thomas J. Story

“Delta and me, we’re very well-acquainted,” she laughs. “I travel about 15 days a month. We’re working on up to 50 projects at any given time. Don’t feel sorry for me! I’m headed to Napa tomorrow. It’s not so bad.”

Thomas J. Story

Morrison launched her career in a very organic, if a little unexpected, way. As a young mother in Newport Beach, she had a knack for decorating breezy, comfortable spaces with a sun-bleached “coastal” palette. The Southern California native studied fine art in college, and she’d always loved design. By the time her kids were teens, she decided to try her hand at it professionally. That was 22 years ago.

Thomas J. Story

Thomas J. Story

“People saw my own homes that I designed and loved them, so I went and did a short school program in interior design, and I had five clients before I even got out of school,” she says. “It took some time to build my portfolio. I always tell people, you have to say yes to everything in the beginning and keep saying yes until you can be more discriminating.”

Thomas J. Story

Thomas J. Story

By 2020, the Morrisons were empty nesters living in a Newport Beach cottage near the water, but as their family was expanding, so was their vision of their future. They bought property in Idaho and started designing a multi-generational modern home, and they started searching for a more grandchild-friendly ranch house with room to grow back home in O.C. The house was nice enough, but the private backyard and the charming street were the real selling points. “It’s in a historic neighborhood with so much charm, and there are great mature plants everywhere,” she says.

Thomas J. Story

Morrison got to work, adding aged stone to the façade to give it character, shrinking the oversize pool and adding a hot tub, creating outdoor “rooms” for easy entertaining, and reimagining the “dilapidated” guest house into a self-contained apartment with a kitchenette and full-size bath.

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“We wanted to design a living space that could also translate to a little party area, where you could put a ballgame on TV on a Saturday, all in 750 square feet,” she says. 

Thomas J. Story

Inside, Morrison opened up the kitchen by reorienting the appliances and installing a long kitchen island with counter stools. She started fresh with all-new furniture, including a custom House of Morrison sectional sofa in a neutral Kravet stripe. But the guest bedroom, with a pair of full-size, custom canopy beds, is what took the “coastal grandmother” game to an expert, and very practical, level.

Thomas J. Story

“I needed a grandkid room, and I had to work around that window,” she says. “The canopy makes it special. The room will grow with them, and those beds are just perfect for little people.”

Thomas J. Story

Morrison wrote about the remodeling project on her website, saying that Robert had thought the house was “move-in ready” when they bought it. But that’s just not how this grandma rolls. 

“After 38 years of marriage, you’d think he’d better understand,” she says