Houzz Tours
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Houzz Tour: Modern Industrial Meets Antique in an Ingenious Home
A tricky plot and a big oak tree made building this property a feat of clever design and patience, but the result was worth the wait
Kelly Gonzalez is a contractor, an interior designer and a mother of four who likes to solve problems and make sure everyone is happy. But when she set out to build her own home, she faced a few obstacles. These included a narrow plot of land on a steep slope, a live oak tree in the middle of the property, a stream with no promise of upcoming embankment, building regulations on home size, and the needs of home-schooled kids and a work-from-home husband. Oh, and she was pregnant.
The good news is, she and the team at her company, Silverthorn Contracting and Design, pulled it off. And there was only one thing from her brief that she didn’t manage to fit in: an indoor slide. ‘Once the walls were up,’ she says, ‘the parts just didn’t fit.’ She didn’t despair, though. The slide fitted nicely in the garden, and the allotted space inside fitted an extra-large pantry – problem solved, and everyone’s happy.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here Kelly and Carlos Gonzalez; their children, Sofia (10), Lila (7), Jude (4) and Moses (2); Abbi the dog, and chickens Miracle and Ruby
Location Austin, Texas
Year built 2012
The good news is, she and the team at her company, Silverthorn Contracting and Design, pulled it off. And there was only one thing from her brief that she didn’t manage to fit in: an indoor slide. ‘Once the walls were up,’ she says, ‘the parts just didn’t fit.’ She didn’t despair, though. The slide fitted nicely in the garden, and the allotted space inside fitted an extra-large pantry – problem solved, and everyone’s happy.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here Kelly and Carlos Gonzalez; their children, Sofia (10), Lila (7), Jude (4) and Moses (2); Abbi the dog, and chickens Miracle and Ruby
Location Austin, Texas
Year built 2012
The house progresses down a sloped lot, increasing in size as it goes. It’s squeezed around the oak tree in the middle, and a deck wraps around the tree, making it the centrepiece of the design. A side garden provides space for play, and a pathway of loose rocks works to guide rainwater to the stream. The home also sits on piers sunk 40 feet into the ground, something Coel engineered to prevent the home from moving due to gradual erosion or flooding.
Landscaping: Somos
Landscaping: Somos
Custom steel windows were built on-site and stretch from floor to ceiling. Gonzalez’s husband lives by the saying, ‘The more light, the better,’ but since moving in, they’ve added curtains. ‘Without them it’s really bright,’ Gonzalez says. Coel designed the windows to serve as vertical structural supports in addition to forming the window frames.
From the bottom of the garden, it’s easy to get perspective on the home’s slope. The grassy area gives the children space to play, and you can see the outlet of the slide behind the left edge of the play structure. From this angle, you also get a sense of the size of the oak tree, which wraps around and rises above the house.
The site plan outlines the difficulties of designing the house. The large green circle represents the canopy of the oak tree and shows what an obstacle it was to work around. Coel made room for the tree and also managed to get city approval for moving the house closer to the street and farther from the stream. Most of the year the stream is only a foot deep, and it’s possible to pass through the water to the other side of the plot. For safety, Gonzalez erected a fence on the house side of the garden.
It took nine months for the planning to get approved, which was a hidden blessing. Gonzalez and her husband spent the time finding things for the house, such as salvaged doors, appliances, a freestanding tub and a piece of driftwood from the bottom of the Colorado River.
At the intersection of the hallway and two flights of stairs, the main flooring elements meet. The home’s entrance sits on a concrete slab, then there are steps down to a cantilevered foundation with wood floors finished with a grey stain. The stairs are pine, stained a dark ebony.
A cloakroom is nestled under the stairs, and to the left is the study. The doors, both salvaged, were part of Gonzalez’s findings while waiting for the planning permission. Coel designed the openings to fit the doors; having the doors on-site made the customisation easy.
Doors: Pieces of the Past
Doors: Pieces of the Past
The study sits at the front of the house, away from home-school activities. Gonzalez’s husband works from home, and here it’s quiet enough for his conference calls. The large artwork is a piece by Midwest artist Dolan Geiman, and, with the otherwise blank walls of the home, it works as a dominant design element.
Photograph and artwork: Dolan Geiman
Photograph and artwork: Dolan Geiman
In the kitchen, white is right. The countertop is Carrara marble; the cabinets are white and a light grey; and a white chandelier hangs over the island. The splashback and cooker hood are greenboard painted with an eggshell finish, and Gonzalez attests that any splashes can quickly and easily be wiped off. The shelves are reclaimed wood from a former spaghetti warehouse in Austin. The brackets are repurposed from the custom-built steel windows.
Shelves: Clifton Craft Work
Shelves: Clifton Craft Work
The oak takes all the focus on the deck. Gonzalez hired an arborist to help with preserving the tree, and Coel designed the house to both accommodate the needs of the tree and highlight it. Downstairs, the deck and three walls of glass face the trunk, and upstairs a gallery of windows looks out at the branches. The decking and part of the home’s foundation are cantilevered, allowing the home to sit above the tree and leaving the roots undisturbed. For the decking material, Gonzalez chose garapa wood, which performs like ipe but is significantly cheaper. The untreated wood has faded to coordinate with the finish of the interior flooring.
See 10 marvellous ways to do decking.
Decking: garapa wood
See 10 marvellous ways to do decking.
Decking: garapa wood
The steel doors open as traditional hinged doors (for quick access in and out), but they also fold together to create open access to the outdoor areas. Gonzalez wanted to be able to move the dining room table outside if she wanted to, and the custom-built accordion doors fulfil this request.
Doors: Durango Doors
Doors: Durango Doors
Throughout the home, Gonzalez used reclaimed items. The chandelier is a rewired fixture, and the exposed ceiling beams, which are structural, are salvaged wood. Gonzalez, a self-proclaimed water lover, also installed a reverse-osmosis water filter in the kitchen sink (in addition to a whole-house water filter that reduces chlorine, microbial pathogens and other contaminants). ‘We hardly ever buy bottled water,’ she says.
‘We wanted [the house] to be modern,’ Gonzalez says, ‘but to have a vintage, industrial feel as well.’ This aesthetic is best seen in the living room, where antique chairs mingle with exposed steel windows, and the herringbone floor meets the plaster finish of the fireplace.
The classic Rumford Fireplace pushes heat into the room and easily warms the living room and kitchen. The steel above the opening is structural, but instead of placing a veneer on top, Gonzalez left it exposed, which increases the industrial feel of the space. She also wanted a mantel with presence, but that didn’t leave room for objects placed on top. This piece of salvaged wood from the bottom of the Colorado River worked.
The basement came as an afterthought, mentioned by Gonzalez’s husband. Luckily, it was an easy addition. After digging out an 8ft section of backfill, the team built a concrete retaining wall and a set of stairs to the first floor. The raw, exposed room works well for movie nights and as a quiet space that’s separate from the first floor.
‘I’m an only child,’ Gonzalez says, ‘and I’m embracing this big-family thing.’ For now, three of the kids sleep in one oversized bedroom (the youngest is still in a cot) and Gonzalez says the late-night talks are one of their favourite things. When framing the room, Gonzalez planned on the suspended sleeping space, and she had the framers build additional support in the wall. She also added sturdy rope that connects to a ceiling truss and a ladder that also provides structural support. ‘I’ve swung from the rope and jumped on the bed,’ Gonzalez says, ‘because you know they will.’
In an effort to save wood, Gonzalez installed custom-milled tongue and groove pine beams for both the subfloor and the finish floor (instead of having a plywood subfloor). She stained the boards a dark ebony to create contrast with the stark white walls. Clerestory windows allow natural light to enter the space; Gonzalez says that during daylight hours, the kids rarely need to turn on a light.
‘The second storey of a home usually gets neglected,’ Gonzalez says, ‘so I wanted to do something interesting.’ The hallway worked as one of those engaging spaces. Instead of leaving a narrow hallway whose sole use was for passage between rooms, Coel and Gonzalez widened the path to create a reading nook. They also repeated the salvaged-wood beams from downstairs and installed shelving from the excess window steel. On the other side of the windows, the upper branches of the oak tree sway, adding a calming visual. The seating area, to Gonzalez’s pleasant surprise, has become one of her favourite places in the house.
Check out these magnificent monochrome schemes
Shelves: Clifton Craft Work
Check out these magnificent monochrome schemes
Shelves: Clifton Craft Work
The master bedroom has sweeping views of the stream and foliage beyond; the slanted windows progress from 9ft to 12½ft. The bed, made from an old industrial steel grate, is the focus of the room. As for her lack of décor, Gonzalez says, ‘I don’t need to fill my walls. I feel very comfortable with white walls.’
Both the freestanding tub and the vanity unit – a converted Belgian workbench – were finds that Gonzalez discovered during the long permission process. The tub she discovered as a showroom model; she waited until it was being sold at a discount at the end of the season.
Vanity unit: Carol Hicks Bolton
Vanity unit: Carol Hicks Bolton
The master shower features three different shower heads. Her husband uses one, the rain shower is shared, and the handheld, Gonzalez says, is used for bathing the kids and the dog. The handheld is a fixture Gonzalez has come to appreciate in motherhood.
Gonzalez says her family uses every square inch of the house. After a full day of work and play at home, sleep is well deserved.
Photography by Michael Hsu