Old West Austin
The design of this home office remodel sought to create a personalized space that blended the client’s love of West Texas, time in the foreign service, and enduring connection to Austin, the home of their family-owned lumber company. They saw potential in their garage apartment to create an environment inspired by every cowboy’s wish: sit beneath a beautiful starry night, reminisce, and tell stories. They were more than ready to jump into the collaborative project, saying yes to most of our Austin interior design team’s ideas and even pushing them further.
The office walls were covered in knotty pine paneling, harking back to the family business and adding to the rustic charm of the ranch-inspired space. The library walls house a secret storage area that was painted a deep brown to keep the space from feeling overwhelmed with wood. For the kitchenette, we worked with our clients to select a stone slab for the countertop that felt organic and featured a lot of character and movement; creating the custom sink from the same stone further emphasized the craftsmanship throughout the space.
Early on, the client mentioned how much he loved the starry night sky above his ranch. We knew we had to bring the clear country sky to this Austin cowboy’s city home. We applied a dramatically scaled Phillip Jeffries night sky wallpaper on the ceiling with a metallic sheen to reflect the warm night glow. Building off the pattern, we leaned into a rich color palette that hinted at the ranch influence. The reading chair fabric took a classic approach, while the animal print Parsons desk chairs were more unexpected and contemporary.
For the alcove and bathroom, we applied vintage maps as wallpaper to reflect on the client’s past career and the meaningful places he was stationed. We touched on his love of Mexico and folk art with a painted tin vanity mirror sourced from Mexico City and a vanity pendant made in Oaxaca. Every selection had meaning and purpose, including the hat rack featuring the family’s ranch brand.
