New Year, New Plan

Over 32 years, we've developed a reputation for delivering a high level of two things that aren't normally associated with design and construction: "Bang for the Buck" and "Fun".

It was a blast while it lasted, but with the arrival of the Pandemic and Austin's astonishing explosion of growth, it's just not possible anymore to build affordably with minimal stress. We're going to take a step back from our normal routine in 2022 and find more fun elsewhere.

We'll still be working part time, but only for clients we've already broken in, and just one project at a time. If you know us and can wait for it, give us a shout and we can talk about working on your project.

Here's to a bright and healthy new year for all of us,

Chris and Gina

Quickies- August 2019

Gina and I did five "Quickie" consultations in August, in neighborhoods all over Austin. Every one of the clients thought they needed to build additions to their homes, but they either didn't have $400k+ to spend, or their lot was too tight, or an addition would have been awkward or too stressful to take on.

In every single case, we showed them ways to get more out of the space they already have.

We're so grateful to be at a point in our careers where we can spend a lot of our time focused on clients that a more "normal" design practice would ignore. Most of our work these days is put into NOT making houses bigger. We're saving people tons of money and helping them to avoid so much stress that they don't need to add to their busy lives.

The 2 hour sessions don't allow us much time to make attractive sketches, but these gnarly little scribbles we crank out at their kitchen tables are enough to get the process moving in the right direction. Here are a few samples from our August Quickies.

Celebrating 30 Years!!

Time flies when you're having fun, right?? These last 3 decades sure have!

I started this little firm in 1989, at the height of the late-80s economic bust in Austin. Since then, we've had the privilege to work with hundreds of great clients, from tiny residential remodels to whole communities for some of Austin's best developers and office spaces for Fortune 100 companies. Through it all, we've had the same approach: putting the clients' needs first and delivering more "bang for the buck" (beautiful and satisfying spaces that don't break the bank) than anyone around. From the start, we've been keen to take on projects that scare off most architects: projects with limited budgets, limited space, or other challenging constraints.

There are still lots of houses with problems to solve in Austin and we're just as excited as ever to take 'em on.

Check out our Facebook page for more in-depth memories of the early days.

Chestnut Commons visit

I stopped by Chestnut Commons this week on my way back from a meeting. We designed these houses for one of our favorite clients- Momark Development back in 2007. Years later, the little Urban Cottage neighborhood looks great, with trees shading the sidewalks. These houses were all very compact, but we filled them with daylight and well designed layouts to maximize their livability.

Cherrywood house tour!

I had the opportunity to visit our clients in Cherrywood this morning. We completed their home in 2014, but I hadn't ever seen it with their incredible art and decor. They turned our simple vision of a house into an amazing home!!

From the front- family room and kitchen

Looking back toward entry. The laundry room is wrapped in shiplap that came from the house that originally stood on the site.

Dining spot

Street view

Kitchen island- fabricated from found items by our clients' son.

Screened porch

Visit us on Facebook

Check us out on Facebook to see more up-to-date images and projects. Be sure to "like" us while you're there!!

Another Quickie, another garage bites the dust!

We did a Quickie Consultation with Oscar and Jenna in Wooten on Saturday. Like many of our clients, they bought a small-ish home in a great Central Austin neighborhood and they'd like to have a bit more space for their family.

Fortunately, their house has a large one-car garage that was built within the envelope of their existing roof and foundation. It's ready-made for re-purposing- in this case for a new bedroom, bath and laundry room that creates a great new suite for the house at a minimal cost and minimal trauma during construction.

Some of our Quickies are simple enough to enable us to do some "quick and dirty" sketching. In this case, we cranked out a very quick floor plan (below) that shows how the garage space (lower right) can be leveraged to make the whole house work better. We'll be available to work with the homeowners as they go forward to refine this plan and create permit plans, or they can work with a building designer to generate plans.

Our clients are always shocked to see how big their garages are in comparison to the rooms in their existing house. It's amazing to show them how much better their home can be with the garage dedicated to FAMILY space, rather than lawnmowers, bikes, and old cans of paint.

I snapped this photo yesterday at a "Quickie" client's home; it pretty much sums up what we're all about. It's really fun to help people to live BIG in their smaller central Austin homes!! This client was sure she needed put an addition on the house, but we showed her a bunch of ways to make her 1,150 s.f. cottage work much better without spending a fortune or living in a Construction Zone for more than a year. Too cool!

In the mood for a Quickie?

With construction costs and schedules going wild in Austin, we're not going to take on many full-service remodeling projects in 2016, but that leaves time for us to do more of our famous "Quickie" consultations.

What's a Quickie?  A two hour consultation with Chris and Gina at your place.  We can have a Quickie in your kitchen, your bath, your yard or on your porch!  They're easy to arrange, casual, and come with no commitment; it's like the 60's all over again! 

You're a great candidate for a Quickie if:

• You can't decide whether to "love it or leave it".
• You're thinking about buying an old house and wonder what your getting into.
• You need more space but just don't have the money to make that happen.
• You want a new kitchen, but don't want the dust, downtime, or expense.
• You're just dying to know how cool your house could be...

Call us. We can pop in to do an affordable 2 hour consultation that will be surprisingly productive and fun!!

Another cool Rosedale kitchen Before and After

The before and after shots tell the whole story of the kitchen transformation.  Contractor/craftsman Dan Summerlin did an amazing job with the Ikea cabinets and finishes.

Before- from the dining room

After- with a fantastic light fixture created by our client's dad!

Before- not so pretty, not so functional

After- bright, open, and waaaaaay more usable.  Yep, they're really Ikea cabinets!

This incredible light fixture was salvaged from the dining room.  The shiplap ceiling had been hidden behind drywall for 70+ years.

Talk about a turnaround...

Here's a cool project we're working on in Barton Hills.  The existing house has an attached garage in the back with a massive concrete turnaround area that eats up all of the best parts of the amazing lot.  It's pretty awful:

Ewwwwwww!

Our clients wanted a new kitchen and an upstairs master bedroom, and as we started sketching that out, we proposed a radical change for them: Could we take away your garage so you could have a back yard?  They love their garage, but gave it up in an instant when they saw how amazing it would be to create a place for people, not cars, in the back.

They'll have a new bedroom up in the treetops.

And here's a really early look at the new master bath...

The former two-car garage will become a family room with a big utility room in the back.

While the kitchen gets enlarged and updated (with a touch of the mid-sixties vibe of the original house)

The stairwell will fill the family room with light and features an "away" spot for reading or cat-napping.

And a screened porch provides a great transition from the kitchen/dining to the "new" back yard.

All of this came from re-thinking the way that cars interact with this home.  Today, the vehicles are the most important things on the property, but soon people will be what it's all about.

New house in Cherrywood

We're designing a new home in Cherrywood right now for an empty-nest couple looking for a home they can live in affordably for the long haul.  At roughly 1,300 s.f., it's pretty compact, but it's designed to live large with open spaces and two great porches.  Both the main house and the 450 s.f. rental unit in the back yard are being designed for accessibility, which will allow our clients and their tenants flexibility over the years.

The front porch adds lots of living/social space to the house and helps it to blend right into the neighborhood.

Here's another kitchen that fits our philosophy of "fitting like a mitten"- it's loose and flexible to accommodate decades of use and change, whether it's for two people or 20 guests.  The screened porch on the back adds more flexibility for dining, sitting, and partying.

From the aerial view, you can see the 450 s.f. rental cottage at the back of the lot.  It's designed for accessibility, just like the main house.  Having an income property will add a lot of options for our clients over the years.

Looking onto the back yard, there's a screened porch with a soaring roofline to give the house a great look at the sky and trees and to catch more breeze.

It's screened porch season!!!

Okay, so it's ALWAYS screened porch season in Austin.

Over the years, we've done a zillion of them, ranging from "fish camp" to "Martha Stewart" (or 78704 to 78703, if you prefer).  This one in Allandale is painted, but it's still casual and light.

(photos courtesy of Risher+Martin Fine Homes)

Breezy and bright, and not a skeeter in sight...

We did lots of work inside the house to create a bigger family room and a new office/guest suite too.

We helped with landscape design and solved some drainage issues with the lot, too.

Note: Garages don't have to be eyesores!

Rosedale guest suite/craft room/playroom

We had a great time remodeling and selling our project at 7007 Priscilla, and we're looking hard for the next house to re-do, but we're still doing our usual thing, too.  Here's a backyard project we'll start construction on in the next few weeks.  It's a freestanding building that will serve as a guest suite for visiting relatives, a craft room, bathroom for the hot tub, and party room, while adding some much-needed storage to the small-ish main house.

7007 Priscilla is now for sale!

Our project at 7007 Priscilla Drive in Austin is now on the market for sale.  We're still working on the last details, but this panoramic photo of the living/dining/kitchen areas shows you how bright and spacious this house is.  You can find more info about the house on Zillow.

We just finished doing the frosted glass on the front door.  Thank you Jonathan from Sunsational Solutions!

 

At the front door, looking through dining room toward kitchen.  The back yard is huge!

Brand new island kitchen with lounge.  The new hardwood floors go throughout the house.

Looking out from the kitchen to the huge back yard.

Here's the front of the house, nearing completion...

Nearing completion at 7007 Priscilla

 We're dangerously close to finishing up at 7007 Priscilla Drive in Austin.  These terrible photos from my phone were taken today as we wrapped up the tile work in bathrooms and kitchen.  From here, we'll finish up lighting and set out plumbing fixtures, then put down the wood floors.  We'll have the house on the market in the next few days as we finish up.         

View from the front door.  Compare it to the rendering in the previous post.  We're getting close!!

Cabinets are nearly complete, and the oak countertops are in.  The glass tile backsplash was completed today.  We need to add some cabinet doors, install the appliances and cabinet hardware, then install the kickboards and wood flooring and it'll be ready for some new owners!

Stay tuned for more photos as we wrap this one up.  We've had so much fun doing this one, we're already looking for our next project!