Location: Austin, TX

Type: Renovation / Addition & Interiors

Status: Completed 2023

Photography: Andrea Calo

Often the best projects come not from size or complexity but from an open and honest collaboration between Owner and Architect. Case in point, a modest 2/1 home in East Austin gets a refresh while doubling in size. The clean addition off the rear of the existing carport contains a new kitchen, dining room, laundry, and the primary bedroom suite with a bathroom for tub soaking. While the original bathroom gets a glow up in the form of a new skylight; bringing the towering Live Oak overhead into the spa-like bathroom. Oh, and the entire house is bathed in the juiciest colors! Imagined as an open, airy and calm space, and focused on bringing in light and strengthening connections to the outdoors, this renovation took a colorful twist along its design journey.

This small home lives unapologetically big! From the street, the Barbie-core carport and sweet pink porch columns offer a cheerful glimpse into the immersive color story that lies within. Each space has its own color palette, and all of those seemingly unconnected colors work together to create a single overarching color story expressive of the owners’ upbringings, heritage, and life experiences. Earthy terracottas balance against verdant greens and cool blues infused with nods of electric pinks, acidic yellows and tangerine sweetness - all evoking a rich and vibrant equatorial experience that feels like a vacation.

Vaulted ceilings in the new addition add drama and let this home live much bigger than its still modest size. Typical of the older homes in Texas, there were subpar windows and no insulation in the walls; this reno took the original home down to the studs to be built up in keeping with modern codes and standards with energy efficiency and home wellness front of mind. Now a sunlight-filled 3/2, this beauty shines both inside and out, and it sits firmly on a tempered crawlspace.