Travis Heights is one of Austin’s most charming neighborhoods. “Travis Heights has lots of historic landmark properties, giant live oak trees, epic views of the river and downtown, and is one of our favorite neighborhoods to work in,” explains designer Shannon Eddings. Her firm, Shannon Eddings Interiors, was tapped to update this classic 1930s Craftsman-style home. Shannon worked directly with Carolyn Van Meter of Carolyn Van Meter Architecture, and soon, the home was brought back to life—and then some.
The clients were a young couple with a four-year-old son. “They wanted a beautiful but functional kitchen, a cozy family room for watching sports, and space to spread out a bit,” Shannon explains. “Since the home is older, we wanted to honor its bones and history, but update the interior to feel more contemporary. It is moody and nostalgic with pops of color and pattern layered in for the young family inhabiting it.”
Of course, the age of the home factored into more than aesthetics. “The single-story bungalow had to meet the design standards and be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Office,” Carolyn Van Meter shares. “Broadly speaking, as the architect, I had to retain the defining characteristics of the style while creating an addition that would not permanently impact its essential form.”
The house was taken down to the studs. “When demo began, we found original shiplap on the walls and ceiling and immediately went on a campaign to save some of it,” Shannon recalls. “We chose to keep it on the ceiling, and it’s such an essential part of the overall aesthetic of the home, balancing the old and new perfectly.” The darker color of the wood sets a moody tone, which perfectly aligned with the homeowner’s vision for a cozy, comforting space. “She said yes to some colors that we usually have a hard time selling to clients, like the moody mocha color in the kitchen [Woodacres by Benjamin Moore] and the bold yellow [Hay by Farrow & Ball] in her son’s room.”
The entryway features the original shiplap and wallpaper. The formal living room, dining room, and kitchen are all in one space. The cabinets are painted Cola by Farrow & Ball, creating a unified color story with the bar, which features glazed Pratt and Lambert tile. In the family room, which serves as a playroom and a space to host guests, a wall-to-wall built-in cabinet houses books, toys, and the television. To stay within budget, they installed window coverings in a punchy Lisa Fine fabric alongside a more budget-friendly striped drape by Pindler.
Carolyn admits that one of her favorite spaces in the reimagined home is the stairwell and second-floor landing. “Up top, the windows wrap the room, making it feel as though you’re in a treehouse, and the dappled light carries all the way down to the space below,” she says.
The project took about a year and a half from start to finish. “The client is really pleased that we added so much unique character and glad that we ‘went for it’ with the bold patterns and colors,” Shannon says with a smile.
Take a tour in the slideshow.
