Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Builder Moves From Party House to Kid-Friendly Home
A Texas pro designs and builds a one-story home with a safe room and an unconventional layout just right for her family
The floor plan is unconventional and, like life at Lake Hawkins, set up for casual living. Friends, family and neighbors know to enter through this door off the carport, above. Or, more likely, they’ll ride over through the woods on a golf cart and meet up outside on the adjacent porch. This portion of the long porch that extends the length of the house contains the outdoor kitchen.
A Porch Built for Parties
While the couple has moved out of the official party house, they still enjoying having people over — the house is all about indoor-outdoor living and entertaining. “We still love to get together, but now we’re watching the kids play on the play set in the yard, and we don’t stay up as late now that we’re older,” Wright says. On this back porch there’s a TV, a high-top fire pit table, a comfy outdoor lounge and some serious ceiling fans to keep a breeze going on hot Texas days. And parents can watch their kids play on the swing set in the yard from here.
The large sliding doors lead into the dining area. The green door leads into the kitchen.
While the couple has moved out of the official party house, they still enjoying having people over — the house is all about indoor-outdoor living and entertaining. “We still love to get together, but now we’re watching the kids play on the play set in the yard, and we don’t stay up as late now that we’re older,” Wright says. On this back porch there’s a TV, a high-top fire pit table, a comfy outdoor lounge and some serious ceiling fans to keep a breeze going on hot Texas days. And parents can watch their kids play on the swing set in the yard from here.
The large sliding doors lead into the dining area. The green door leads into the kitchen.
The door from the carport opens to a landing zone with cabinets and cubbies for keys, mail, bags, shoes and outerwear. The adjacent laundry room leads to the master bathroom; the main opening leads into the kitchen.
Hickory Wood Cabinetry and Polished Concrete Floors
In the past, Wright’s designs were marked by rustic reclaimed wood, but once Henley started walking, she was getting splinters from the cabinetry. The wood in this house is a smoother hickory stained with a Sherwin-Williams weathered teak stain. “This stain let both the warm brown and cooler gray tones pull through,” Wright says.
The floors in the house are polished concrete with an aggregate that gives it a pebble-y terrazzo look. Wright added a densifier to the concrete to make it stronger. “The concrete is strong and hard. It won’t scratch, it’s not slippery and it’s low-maintenance,” Wright says. This makes it kid and dog-friendly. Wright says the availability of stones for aggregate depends on where you live and what’s available at the time. Hers came out more brown than she’d anticipated, so she added a gray dye to it.
In the kitchen, the floors have some added details. “I wanted to do something different and experiment with the floors,” Wright says. So she had them scored with a drill.
“Nothing in this house is square or centered, yet nothing looks ‘off,’” she says. In fact, when you look at the plans below, you’ll see that the main living area of the house is set off at an angle, but in the photos and in person, you can’t tell. “Everyone gets so hung up on what you’re supposed to do all the time, but I like being funky,” Wright says.
In the past, Wright’s designs were marked by rustic reclaimed wood, but once Henley started walking, she was getting splinters from the cabinetry. The wood in this house is a smoother hickory stained with a Sherwin-Williams weathered teak stain. “This stain let both the warm brown and cooler gray tones pull through,” Wright says.
The floors in the house are polished concrete with an aggregate that gives it a pebble-y terrazzo look. Wright added a densifier to the concrete to make it stronger. “The concrete is strong and hard. It won’t scratch, it’s not slippery and it’s low-maintenance,” Wright says. This makes it kid and dog-friendly. Wright says the availability of stones for aggregate depends on where you live and what’s available at the time. Hers came out more brown than she’d anticipated, so she added a gray dye to it.
In the kitchen, the floors have some added details. “I wanted to do something different and experiment with the floors,” Wright says. So she had them scored with a drill.
“Nothing in this house is square or centered, yet nothing looks ‘off,’” she says. In fact, when you look at the plans below, you’ll see that the main living area of the house is set off at an angle, but in the photos and in person, you can’t tell. “Everyone gets so hung up on what you’re supposed to do all the time, but I like being funky,” Wright says.
Room for Multiple Cooks in the Kitchen
“I used to stack everything within a work triangle. The thing is, everyone in my family is a cook, so when I stacked everything together we all wound up stacked on top of each other,” Wright says. “This time I spread it out so that five or six of us can work at the same time without bumping into each other all the time. It works for us.”
The microwave drawer is all the way at one end of the kitchen (left) and the fridge is at the other (right), with the range and lots of counter space for all those cooks in between. The cabinets are full of pull-outs and slats for storage.
A large island (4 feet by 8 feet) provides plenty of space for work and socializing. The Nuage quartzite countertop has a strong presence. The “slab” is actually 2 centimeters thick, but its mitered edges give it the illusion that it’s 3 1/2 inches thick.
Light fixture: Hubbardton Forge
“I used to stack everything within a work triangle. The thing is, everyone in my family is a cook, so when I stacked everything together we all wound up stacked on top of each other,” Wright says. “This time I spread it out so that five or six of us can work at the same time without bumping into each other all the time. It works for us.”
The microwave drawer is all the way at one end of the kitchen (left) and the fridge is at the other (right), with the range and lots of counter space for all those cooks in between. The cabinets are full of pull-outs and slats for storage.
A large island (4 feet by 8 feet) provides plenty of space for work and socializing. The Nuage quartzite countertop has a strong presence. The “slab” is actually 2 centimeters thick, but its mitered edges give it the illusion that it’s 3 1/2 inches thick.
Light fixture: Hubbardton Forge
The working side of the island contains a large sink, dishwasher, icemaker and trash-recycling pull-out.
Wright and her husband built and operate a local restaurant in town, Red Rooster Icehouse. They incorporated some restaurant style into their home kitchen via the swinging metal restaurant door that leads to the pantry. The move was also kid-friendly; they wanted a double-swing door, but a solid core door that matched the rest of the doors in the house would have been too heavy and a hazard to daughter Henley.
To the right of the pantry is a wet bar-coffee bar that leads to the master suite. It has a small refrigerator, and it’s where Wright keeps the oddball glasses like mugs and margarita and martini glasses. When Wright and Baker have overnight guests, they can sneak into the bar in their pajamas to grab a coffee first thing in the morning, then get dressed and ready before making an appearance.
Wright and her husband built and operate a local restaurant in town, Red Rooster Icehouse. They incorporated some restaurant style into their home kitchen via the swinging metal restaurant door that leads to the pantry. The move was also kid-friendly; they wanted a double-swing door, but a solid core door that matched the rest of the doors in the house would have been too heavy and a hazard to daughter Henley.
To the right of the pantry is a wet bar-coffee bar that leads to the master suite. It has a small refrigerator, and it’s where Wright keeps the oddball glasses like mugs and margarita and martini glasses. When Wright and Baker have overnight guests, they can sneak into the bar in their pajamas to grab a coffee first thing in the morning, then get dressed and ready before making an appearance.
“My husband and I have been living with wide-open floor plans for awhile, so we wanted some separation in this house,” Wright says. The large two-sided fireplace separates the kitchen from the living room. It is also high-performing and heats up the public spaces during the winter. “We all wind up gathering in the kitchen, so it was important for us to be able to enjoy it from there,” she says. The surround is granite with black brick on the sides.
The dining area is located between the kitchen and the living room and enjoys views across the porch and out to the woods.
While one side of the family room opens to the porch, the other side opens to a deck. The deck was one of those ideas that sprang out of budget considerations. “I originally had a row of large casement windows here, but when it turned out sliders would be cheaper, I thought, ‘Why not put those in and put a deck out here?’” Wright says.
A Mix of Building Materials and Rooflines
Here’s a look at that deck. “Because we’re out in the country, this side is private and you cannot see the road from here.”
The facade is an assemblage of materials and rooflines, each one delineating different parts of the house. Brick marks the bedrooms on either end and galvalume siding covers the main public space, center, while the larger concrete blocks flanking it clad the flex room, left, and safe room, right. There’s more galvalume outside the office, right. The master bedroom also opens out onto this deck through the sliding doors on the right side.
Here’s a look at that deck. “Because we’re out in the country, this side is private and you cannot see the road from here.”
The facade is an assemblage of materials and rooflines, each one delineating different parts of the house. Brick marks the bedrooms on either end and galvalume siding covers the main public space, center, while the larger concrete blocks flanking it clad the flex room, left, and safe room, right. There’s more galvalume outside the office, right. The master bedroom also opens out onto this deck through the sliding doors on the right side.
While the porch overhang shades the lower doors and windows, transoms near the top of the ceiling let in natural light above it.
Comfort and Refuge in a Tornado Shelter
You may have noticed a large metal box off to the side of the fireplace. It is part of a safe room, built off-site and seen here being rolled toward the house. This couple had tangled with tornadoes before, and in their last home wound up huddled in a bathroom for most of the night during a tornado warning. While the installers were surprised that Wright wanted to leave the safe room entry revealed as part of the main space’s design rather than having it framed in, now that you’re getting to know her, you’re probably not. She liked the character it added to the room, and tornadoes are just a part of living in northeast Texas.
You may have noticed a large metal box off to the side of the fireplace. It is part of a safe room, built off-site and seen here being rolled toward the house. This couple had tangled with tornadoes before, and in their last home wound up huddled in a bathroom for most of the night during a tornado warning. While the installers were surprised that Wright wanted to leave the safe room entry revealed as part of the main space’s design rather than having it framed in, now that you’re getting to know her, you’re probably not. She liked the character it added to the room, and tornadoes are just a part of living in northeast Texas.
“Two adults, a child and two dogs don’t want to have to huddle up in a closet all night during tornado warnings,” Wright says. So she had it made large enough to offer some comfort. The two chairs fold out into beds so they can sleep.
The structure is bolted to the slab. The boxy shapes on the door let air into the safe room. And the door bolts shut securely with three slide bolts, though the parents have set up a childproofing system because the safe room wound up becoming a favorite kid’s fort.
The structure is bolted to the slab. The boxy shapes on the door let air into the safe room. And the door bolts shut securely with three slide bolts, though the parents have set up a childproofing system because the safe room wound up becoming a favorite kid’s fort.
The walls in the house are covered in American Clay, a natural earth plaster product made in New Mexico that a client introduced Wright to about 10 years ago. The product is plastered onto the walls. “American Clay is great because it’s sustainable and mold-resistant and it gives the walls some depth. And it cleans up great. Henley smeared some Nutella on a wall the other day and I was able to sponge it right off,” she says.
The opening to the right leads to Henley’s domain.
The opening to the right leads to Henley’s domain.
Floor plan. Things are about to get a little tricky to follow, so let’s pause and look at the floor plan. The door on the bottom right side of this plan is the front door that opens to her home office. The shaded portion above it is the master closet, and beyond that is the master suite. The carport is above the shaded master closet and the carport entry area is also shaded. The large angled space in the center is the living, dining and kitchen area. The back porch runs along the top of this plan and the deck is off the bottom. The portion on the far left is Henley’s suite.
A Flexible Area for Daughter and Guests
From the family room you enter this flex space. Its main function is serving as Henley’s playroom, but it is versatile, as seen in the next photo.
From the family room you enter this flex space. Its main function is serving as Henley’s playroom, but it is versatile, as seen in the next photo.
A Murphy bed for guests and a treadmill for the grown-ups can be used and then folded up with ease to make room for the 2-year old’s play space.
Browse Murphy beds
Browse Murphy beds
“I wanted this room to grow up with Henley, and she is not into a lot of pink princess stuff,” Wright says. The accent wall is covered in a plaster treatment created with a trowel. It looks like wallpaper but has more depth.
The woman who provides all of Wright’s tile, Tami LaRose, is also a trained artist. She and Henley got together to collaborate on the special elephant painting you see on the right wall in the previous photo. “They painted with their fingers, smeared and dribbled paint onto the background, and then Tami painted the elephant on top of it,” Wright says.
Wright also designed the bathroom to grow up with her daughter. Henley’s bathroom gets some bright color via the bathmats; Wright plucked the hue from the lime green veins in the White Beauty granite countertops. The concrete block on the backsplash is also on the outside of the house. The mirror has a frosted lighted frame that gives the illusion of being backlit. “I love this mirror because we didn’t have to mess with mounting it out from the wall to backlight it,” Wright says. All of the cabinetry is hickory. The tub/shower combo includes a garden tub and the surrounding tile is in a wavy 3D pattern.
Tile: Floor Source; mirror: Build.com; see other lighted mirrors
Tile: Floor Source; mirror: Build.com; see other lighted mirrors
Office Separates Work Activity from Home Activity
This home office is an unconventional but functional idea Wright wanted to test out. The green door off the driveway, seen in the first photo, leads straight in here.
“Whether I get deliveries, clients stopping by for unexpected meetings or workers who are stopping by for paychecks, I wanted to keep that activity separate from the private part of our house,” she says. Now no one walks through their home to meet with her. In case you’re wondering, the photographer arrived before her desk did, so that’s why the space looks so empty here.
This home office is an unconventional but functional idea Wright wanted to test out. The green door off the driveway, seen in the first photo, leads straight in here.
“Whether I get deliveries, clients stopping by for unexpected meetings or workers who are stopping by for paychecks, I wanted to keep that activity separate from the private part of our house,” she says. Now no one walks through their home to meet with her. In case you’re wondering, the photographer arrived before her desk did, so that’s why the space looks so empty here.
An office bookshelf built on heavy-duty hinges doubles as a secret door to the expansive master closet. From here, she can travel between her office and the master suite. So she can roll out of bed, throw on her clothes and step straight into her office when she needs to.
Minimalist Design in the Master Suite
“We didn’t need a big master bedroom because our closet is so large and has built-in dressers,” Wright says. “We only needed room for a bed, two nightstands [on order when the photos were taken] and a TV.”
“We didn’t need a big master bedroom because our closet is so large and has built-in dressers,” Wright says. “We only needed room for a bed, two nightstands [on order when the photos were taken] and a TV.”
In the master bathroom, Wright wanted a clean, earthy zen feeling. She continued the brick from the outside onto the vanity wall. Undercabinet lighting illuminates the area underneath the floating hickory vanity, and the mirrors have lights built into them.
Mirrors: Hagen’s Lighting
Mirrors: Hagen’s Lighting
Bathtub. The bathtub surround is concrete and the tile pattern is wavy. “We thought about capping off the tile with Schluter strips, but we liked the uneven look,” Wright says. “Like I said, we were not thinking about resale — we were just doing whatever we liked.”
Chandelier: Hagen’s Lighting; all tile: Floor Source
Chandelier: Hagen’s Lighting; all tile: Floor Source
Shower. Because the shower walls don’t meet the ceiling, Wright installed an undercabinet light to illuminate the space. The fixtures are matte black and the large hexagonal tile has concrete-like tones in it.
Henley, seen here helping out during construction, takes after her designer-builder mother.
While the family is still waiting on a few pieces like Wright’s desk and their nightstands, they have settled happily into their new home. Wright’s father lives across the street and the neighborhood is full of friends they’ve known since grade school. And the lake’s shore is just a block or so farther away than it was in their former house, so they can still enjoy their favorite activities on the water.
Takeaways
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While the family is still waiting on a few pieces like Wright’s desk and their nightstands, they have settled happily into their new home. Wright’s father lives across the street and the neighborhood is full of friends they’ve known since grade school. And the lake’s shore is just a block or so farther away than it was in their former house, so they can still enjoy their favorite activities on the water.
Takeaways
- If you’re building a house, design it for how you like to live.
- A restaurant door can bring some commercial restaurant style into a kitchen and functions well between a kitchen and pantry or dining room.
- Having a coffee station adjacent to your bedroom is a great way to jump-start your morning.
- A large fireplace can provide separation between spaces within an open floor plan.
- A Murphy bed is a good solution when you want a guest room space to serve you when you don’t have guests.
- If you work from home, think about ways to separate work life from home life through your design.
- Heavy-duty hinges can transform a bookshelf into a secret door.
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Builder Erin Wright of Wright-Built; her husband, Brandon Baker; their 2-year-old daughter, Henley; and their dogs, Barley and Waylon
Location: Hawkins, Texas
Size: 2,566 square feet (238 square meters); two bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms, plus a flex room
While building their dream party house on Lake Hawkins in Texas, builder Erin Wright and her husband, Brandon Baker, lived in the small boathouse down the hill from the site. “I guess we were cooped up in that boathouse a little too long, because now we have a 2-year-old daughter,” she says with a laugh.
When she designed the party house, she and her husband hadn’t been planning on having children so soon, so the floating staircase, the second-floor master and the rough-hewn, splinter-inducing reclaimed wood she used all over the house were not exactly family-friendly. The builder loves to use new ideas she has on her own homes to test them out herself, so building a new home a short skip away from the lake’s shore was another opportunity for her to experiment.
“My dog Barley struggles with stairs now. You never imagine you’ll design your house around your dog until you do,” Wright says. The one-story floor plan took care of the stair issues. She came up with a plan that separates working from home from their private life at home. The house also has a flex room that primarily serves as their daughter Henley’s playroom but also can be a guest room and workout room. And the house has a safe room to protect them from tornados.
“We decided to design the house around how our family functions rather than for resale,” says the builder, who, before she had a family, was used to building a new house, moving in and then starting up plans for the next one as soon as the paint was dry. “And I always like to do something different than what everyone else is doing.” This attitude steered her design decisions for this unconventional contemporary home.
Dual Entrances Keep Business and Family Life Separate
“This house doesn’t really have a front entry,” the builder says. The green door you see above opens to her home office and is for deliveries, clients and employees. Friends and family enter through a side door under the carport, pictured below.