Flanigan and lead designer Kristin Fitzgerald noted the architects’ structural attempts to counteract hot Texas summers with screened breezeways and natural shade. For their part, the designers further embedded the landscape into the getaway with a modern-organic aesthetic, punctuated by rustic nods to the small town’s antique and leathered culture, offering a peaceful family gathering space away from their busy life in Houston.
“They were looking for something that felt welcoming and casual, but also really unique and thoughtful. I think what drew them to this type of architecture is just the thoughtfulness it takes to accomplish a more modern aesthetic,” says Flanigan. “They really appreciated authentic, beautiful materials coming together in a really simplified way.”
The designers embraced the wood designs inherited from the architects, using them to communicate with the exterior. The wide, floor-to-ceiling windows make the outside landscape a necessary feature of every room, but more subtle details create a new, rich interior world. The main great room, for instance, offers a forest of tones along the wood ceiling, beams, walls, and floor. “By staying within this range of colors, we were able to marry it all together and make it feel layered,” says Flanigan.
Throughout the home, the designers leaned into these natural tones for the furniture, complementing neutrals with a variety of wood stains and finishes. The colors they did bring in played against the red windows or related back to the landscape with shades of rust, green, and blue.
“We kept the finishes of this home very consistent throughout the house,” says Flanigan. “And that ties back to how we created this indoor-outdoor experience, because so much of the house feels consistent and feels like it’s this thread that’s coming in from the outside.”
To make the house feel like a home, they sourced vintage pieces that contrast the structure’s inherent minimalism. For example, in the primary bedroom, they offset the simplicity of the cypress wall and extended headboard with a textured antique dresser, while in the powder room, they built a metal vanity base around an antique red limestone sink. “A lot of the antiques go back to kind of their Swedish heritage—that was important to them. They didn’t just want any antique that you can find anywhere,” notes Fitzgerald.
Then the designers added texture and softness—upholstered chairs around wood tables and bars, weathered wood stools and benches in bedrooms and bathrooms, hemp runners stitched into full-sized rugs—and incorporated some pieces from the homeowners’ art collection, bringing in warmth and character that only personal touches can provide.
“To me, the beauty is in layering, because we want a home to feel like it’s been collected over a lifetime and not just put together for show. That’s one of the reasons why we really embrace special pieces that belong to clients and pieces that tell the story of the family that’s living there,” says Flanigan. “They were such interesting clients, and we wanted their life story to play a role in bringing this home to life.”
