Kitchen and bathroom remodel in Bee Caves, Texas. The kitchen was featured in Real Simple magazine’s “Space of the Week”. 

Nestled in the heart of Bee Caves just west of downtown Austin, this bright, airy home belongs to a mom of three teenagers and two dogs. The client came to us with the design goal of updating their home to be more spacious and family-friendly. Beyond these overarching design goals and a little input here and there, she gave the SSID team free rein over the project. 

Inspired by the client’s love of horses and fondness for the “rustic” style, we focused on elevating, refining, and updating the home’s current look. We kicked off the remodel by gutting the long, narrow, kitchen, which looked too much like a “bowling alley”, in the homeowner’s words. At her suggestion, we moved the kitchen walls two feet into the adjacent dining room. Once this was accomplished, even we were surprised at what a dramatic difference the two feet made in creating a more open space.

For the kitchen’s design, we combined black, white, and wood tones with an emphasis on textured, natural materials. We installed leathered granite countertops with a soft sheen and slightly bumpy texture. Over the stove, we arranged a shimmering white zellige terracotta backsplash. These hand-chiseled, olive-pit-fired natural clay tiles had added a hint of charming imperfection to the room — and ended up being our favorite part of the project. 

Adding to the kitchen’s imperfect charm were the irregularly shaped custom sconces on either side of the steel oven hood. Designed by local Austin ceramicist, Hallie Shafer (She Ceramics), these earth-colored custom sconces harmonized with the other natural, textured elements. 

The trickiest part of the kitchen makeover was getting the stain on the cabinets, which were crafted from a naturally yellow white oak wood. The team invested hours trying out different stains to ensure the cabinetry matched the cooler undertones in the backsplash, flooring, and countertops. 

Having worked with the client eight years ago, the team knew that she loved the open shelving of her previous kitchen. In the new space, we build open shelving into the side of the kitchen island to make the dishes easy to reach when  putting away dishes all while remaining visually unobtrusive. 

In the dining room — which doubles as the client’s study — we installed a hideaway standing desk. Integrated into the cabinetry, the retractable desk can be easily tucked away when not in use.