Second Act

Overview

Location: Austin
Type: Residential
Year: 2022
Sq. Footage: 12,000

Most residential interiors involve a careful balance of needs and wants within a strict architectural footprint. For this ambitious remodel in Austin, Texas, it was a rare example of indulging a client completely with a space created for, above all else, joy. Here, the neighboring 7,000 square-foot house was joined to a main residence as a kind of expansion and connected by a 15-foot skybridge. The 1960s neoclassical home would be used as the ideal spillover space anyone could use: to host friends, to have a place to work from home, or just to have the extra space to decompress. In short, it was designed to be the ultimate guest house. For this special task, considering it was purchased from the original owners without any major recent renovation, the house’s entire interior architecture needed to be redone along with a newly skinned exterior.

The newly created, double-height entry foyer is designed to be guest-friendly, and also reflects plenty of light with two mirrors. One, framed in walnut by Casey Johnson, hangs above a cast-aluminum bench by Brecht Wright Gander, opposite a Patrick Schols cabinet with a lamp by Jos Devriendt. The following pages showcase reflective artwork by artist Peter Bonde that faces the staircase.

Two indoor-outdoor rooms deliberately kept apart. The porch was painted a defiant sienna yellow so no one would mistake it for the solarium beside it. Pocket doors fold it open to the garden, and on a party night it turns into an open-air cabana; recessed panel molding sets a rhythm across the ceiling and frames the fans. A vintage Turkish rug and Casey Johnson's custom walnut bar cart cut against the polish. Next door, the solarium dissolves into glass on every side, less a room than a truce with the outdoors, where two rare Desede chairs by Gerd Lang keep company with midcentury Danish tile-top tables.

The sultry, first-floor lounge—saturated in color—was designed as a counterpoint to the Magnolia Room on the other side of the house. A mirror slides back via remote control to reveal a television, and the bar’s design echoes the paneling found in the entry foyer. A vintage Ilum Wikkelso loveseat faces a bespoke stone coffee table by Sung Jang for Volume Gallery. Artwork by Erin Trefry complements the soothing dark green by Farrow & Ball, which is elevated by the use of high-gloss paint. Upstairs, a salon off the primary bedroom carries the first hints of the Calacatta that goes on to define the bath and wrap the freestanding cast-iron Saxy tub.