Warm & inviting, this Austin Santa Barbara style home combines treasures from around the world to create this award-winning home.
Never intended to feel like a brand new home, this client’s impeccable taste and love of travel brought this Santa Barbara style Austin home to fruition. “She had the vision from day one,” says Shan Jenkins. “It was our charge to simply bring her vision to life,” he states.
Project Overview
About the clients: The retired couple living here consider it their retreat, as well as their family meeting place since their children and grandchildren live in Austin.
Location: Barton Creek Lakeside, just 35 minutes outside of Austin, TX
Size of the Home: 4,900+ square feet
From the moment you enter the courtyard, you see these beautiful doors, but are they really antique? No. These were custom built to appear to be antique by the builder (Jenkins Custom Homes).
Once inside the courtyard, there’s a sense of balance between the old and new, dark and light.
In the Great Room, there are old reclaimed wood beams next to new cabinetry, all of it behind doors purchased in China. The doors were modified to remove some of the distinctive “Chinese” decor and antique-looking hardware was added.
Even the wood floors were re-claimed but sitting adjacent was brand new door trim, stained to match.
Probably the most unique treasure were these doors, which were also purchased abroad, with their hand-made woven pattern.Knowing the door sizes in advance and building the door openings to fit the unusually-sized doors was critical to success.
Tip: The key to making old work with new is finding a common color or texture like matching the stains and then using the same door hardware throughout the home.
So often, decor from around the world can be difficult to incorporate into the same home because it is typically so different from one region to another. From China to Mexico to Europe, instead of looking mis-matched, in this beautiful home it works to bring harmony and balance. Want to see more? Check out the Santa Barbara Home portfolio, complete with all the photos and video of this home.
