{"id":396624,"date":"2026-08-03T18:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396624\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T18:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:06:21","slug":"inside-an-austin-home-with-beautiful-built-in-furniture-and-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396624\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside an Austin Home with Beautiful Built-In Furniture and Storage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"modern<\/p>\n

You can count on two hands all the pieces of furniture in this Austin, Texas, home\u2026there\u2019s that little of it. Instead, most things\u2014the primary bed, the Yves Klein blue sofa, the entryway credenza\u2014are built-in. Even the tiled planter in the entryway is one with the house. The homeowner, a lawyer who had bought the 1,600 square foot home 10 years ago, wasn\u2019t all that interested in picking out couches or cocktail tables. \u201cAs we went along in the project, she\u2019d be like, \u2018I have this \u201970s table from my parents.\u2019 And then she\u2019d come back, \u2018Never mind, I want a built-in table,\u2019\u201d recalls Katharine Bayer<\/a>, the architect on the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"modernThe screen on the front exterior, built out of large clay bricks, adds a layer of privacy and a discreet spot for packages.\u00a0| Vintage Walter Lamb chair<\/a>; Custom front door and hardware via La Embajada<\/a>; Custom mosaic porch designed by Sara Oswalt for Purveyor Design<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"tiledThe stained concrete floors were done in a warm, brown hue that \u201cfeels leathery and pretty,\u201d notes Bayer.\u00a0| Custom mesquite beams designed by Sara Oswalt. | Pendant, Taiwan Lantern<\/a>; Tile, Design and Direct<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The renovation called for a detail-oriented team. After Bayer got to work on the layout (she moved the entertaining areas from the front of the house to the back; carved out a foyer; added a 20-foot sliding glass door to open up the living room to the backyard), she looped in interior designer Sara Oswalt of Purveyor Design<\/a>. Oswalt had visions of Frida Kahlo\u2019s Casa Azul, exciting stones, and floating headboards. \u201cAustin has a lot of homes that have been taken over by builders, and everybody was feeling very anti that,\u201d says the designer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"brownIn the guest bathroom, Oswalt chose traditional cuts for the Rosso Vero stone, opting for a circular opening for the sink and a double curve on the lip of the counter.\u00a0| Sconce, Human Home<\/a>; Towel Bar, Fog Linen<\/a>, Faucet, Newport Brass.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"mintThe new utility room offers plenty of storage, a work space, and (not pictured) a convenient place for the client, an avid cyclist, to hang up their bicycle.\u00a0| Paint color, Mint Chocolate Chip by Benjamin Moore<\/a>; Ceiling light, West Elm<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

To bring it all together, Bayer tapped Matriarchy Build<\/a>, a platform featuring a curated directory of female construction professionals, to hire a general contractor using its \u201cFind a Builder<\/a>\u201d service. Michelle Flores, cofounder of Remodel Boutique<\/a>, was game for all the bespoke elements Bayer and Oswalt had in mind. And it\u2019s a good thing she\u2019s the figure-it-out type of pro. While some requests sounded simple, like using reclaimed tiles to create a mosaic on the front porch, they required extra thought (or in this example, shaving-down of tiles) to bring to life. \u201cNone of these things were rocket science, but it was construction science,\u201d says Flores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"blueThe kitchen island is made from a bold stone called Ceppo Noir. The surrounding counters are Belgian limestone, which features chunks of sea fossils. \u201cI can\u2019t always convince people to use that!\u201d says the designer.\u00a0| Vintage coffee table via Bonne Choice<\/a>; Vintage chairs via\u00a0La Embajada<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"blueOswalt peppered finds from Mexico throughout the house, including the portrait in the kitchen that sits next to an old manual tortilla maker. La Embajada<\/a> is one of her go-to shops in Austin for pieces made by Mexican artisans.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The ceiling beams in the entry were another feat. The intricate pattern is based on a fence Oswalt had spotted on a trip to Mexico City. After hand-drawing the motif and modeling it in SketchUp, she passed the baton to the construction team. Hiring a woodworker to carve every niche would be too costly, so instead they cleverly assembled pieces of pine wood to make it look like one solid beam. \u201cIt\u2019s like a big puzzle,\u201d notes Bayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"blueBecause the client and her partner are both on the taller side, Bayer raised the range and countertop in the kitchen a hair (approximately 40 inches) so they don\u2019t have to constantly crouch down to get into drawers.\u00a0| Blue cabinet color, Honorable Blue by Sherwin-Williams<\/a>; Yellow cabinet color, Autumn Gold by Benjamin Moore<\/a>; Backsplash tile, Clay Imports<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Many things in the house, in fact, are not as they appear. The mesquite wood panels in the living room that look like a fireplace screen? They hide the TV. The equipment for the steam shower in the primary bathroom? It\u2019s tucked inside a window bench in the adjacent bedroom. <\/p>\n

\"redAny ordinary glue would seep through the fabric panels on the headboard. Looking for a solution, Flores turned to TikTok and learned that liquid starch (gallons of it) was the best adhesive.\u00a0| Custom headboard designed by Sara Oswalt for Purveyor Design<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But when mess-ups happened during construction, there was no overlooking them. The Yves Klein blue ceiling in the primary bedroom had to be repainted multiple times because the finicky, patented finish easily absorbs dust and fingerprints and shows signs of overlapping brushstrokes. \u201cIt was one of those really cool decisions that pushed us,\u201d shares Oswalt. Luckily, everyone was in fix-it-mode. \u201cI loved that Michelle would come and say, \u2018How can we do this better?\u2019 We could all give each other constructive criticism as we worked along like a team,\u201d adds the designer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"cobaltFabric on sofa, Zimmer + Rhode;<\/a> Side Table, Muhly Studio<\/a>; Vintage Mario Lopez Torres lamp via La Embajad<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The designer introduced a similar Perennials shade on the built-in sofa, which is tucked in a corner of the living room where the homeowner loves to curl up and work. The small ledge around the back of the seating is the perfect depth for a glass of water, but for hiding blankets and board games, there\u2019s meaningful storage in the form of drawers underneath. The pros clad the bulkhead in tile to help separate the nook from the rest of the living area. <\/p>\n

\"wood<\/p>\n

\"blueShower tile, Clay Imports<\/a>; Sconces, Toscot Chapeau<\/a>; Tub, Randolph Morris<\/a>. <\/p>\n

By leaning into custom millwork and smart layouts, there\u2019s not much the team couldn\u2019t offer their client in the end. Even though the primary bathroom is only 5-and-a-half feet wide, they squeezed in overhead storage, a wall-hung Toto toilet discreetly tucked behind the vanity, a steam shower, a soaking tub, access to an outdoor shower, and a serious amount of natural light. \u201cIt feels like a hotel to me, in that way. It\u2019s very luxurious,\u201d says Oswalt.<\/p>\n

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Sign Up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,55005],"class_list":["post-396624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-core-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}