……BEFORE PHOTOS……PART I……
….AFTER PHOTOS…..PART I…..
When deciding what to study as my major in college, I either wanted to study fashion design or interior design. I was somewhat immature and was more interested in the social life of college than spending the long hours on interior design projects. Therefore, I changed my major, but it didn’t change my love for interior design, which years later would lead me to this Austin home remodel.
Over the last 15 years I have been blessed to create some very interesting interior design projects. Over the next several month, I will share some of my projects with you. They will not be in order of completion or will all of the photographs be of high professional quality.
This blog is about our Austin/Spicewood, TX home that we just recently sold. We purchased this 8 acre property on Bee Creek, a tributary into Lake Travis, in 2011 and started the renovation soon after. Looking back on it, we really didn’t need to remodel, especially since it was a part time home for us, but we did. We could have torn the whole place down and built from the ground up with a better floor plan for the same amount of money we spent on renovating an existing property. Have any of you ever done that? Don’t get me wrong, it turned out amazing, but I am just saying.
Part I of this blog are photos of the front exterior, entry, powder room, dining, living area, and kitchen. I will show more of the house in Part II in a later blog and give you more details of finishes, appliances and fixtures in a recap. So that being sad, you will need to follow the series.
The only thing we did to the exterior in the front was change wall sconces and front door and paint. We opened up the front door to a 4′ wide opening. I had the commercial grade steel and wavy glass door built that became a focal point at the entry. The whole idea here was to go to a more transitional contemporary from a traditional Hill Country look.
In the entry of the home, we removed stairs that came right down in the middle of the foyer. By removing them it opened up making the whole entry living area look larger. The powder room that was under the stairs had to go away, so we added a powder room at the landing where the new stairs were relocated behind the entry area wall. I wanted this powder room to be special since it would be the main bathroom for guest. I was fortunate to find the most beautiful turquoise sink that my builders wife, Laura Duncan, had discovered and put me on to. Believe it or no, it was the last sink like this one that this Arizona company made. Their machine broke and they just didn’t make enough money on this sink to make it worth while to fix. I ended up replacing this sink before we sold, so that I could put it in my Colorado home. I used Brizo sinks and a Toto toilette. We have done a lot of toilettes and Toto is the best!!!
The dining room was open to the living and entry area. We left it as is, but removed the door from the kitchen to dining and made the arched opening into a squared opening and then painted. We did the same opening from the living area to the kitchen to that the two openings would match We also put new stationary doors in that room replacing operating doors. They really didn’t serve a purpose, so better security with less operating doors.
The living area was very small, so I ripped out that beautiful Hill Country fireplace. I know….crazy…right? By doing so gave the room about 2 more feet of usable living area. I replaced that wood burning fireplace with a more contemporary linear propane fireplace. Instead of Hill Country rock, I chose a metallic porcelain tile that has the look of metal. I love the way it looks…very sleek and modern with elements of rustic.
The kitchen was totally ripped out. We took out 2 sets of double doors by the breakfast area and put in windows instead and took out the breakfast area totally so I could add more cabinets. We created an island in the center of kitchen for seating that works as a breakfast area, freeing up the space so we could move the sink under the new windows, so the dishwasher (that would be me) could see the beautiful back view of the pool, landscaping and Bee Creek. We replaced all of the appliances with a Thermador package that included a 48″ 6 burner, 2 oven propane range, side by side refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave. We also added 2 beverage drawers for bottle water, sodas, and even beer. They are great!! We also created a coffee bar for my coffee connoisseur husband, but my favorite thing in the kitchen, that I install in all my kitchens, is an instant hot/purified cold water dispenser at the sink beside the faucet. They are worth every penny and they are not cheap!!
Whew, this was just the entry, living area and kitchen, so not to wear you out, this remodel blog will continue……so stay tuned….
I hope you are enjoying something a little different from SheShe Show, other than fashion. I would love to know your thoughts.
Xo, SheShe
