- Welcome back to Houzz TV live,
I'm Rick Spence, and with me today
is Sarah Hadden with CG&S Design,
out of beautiful Austin, Texas.
And she's gonna be sharing one of her client homes.
This is a beautiful modern farmhouse.
So many great things here
and a really awesome ADU.
Lot to get to.
So thanks for joining us, Sarah.
I know CG&S has so many followers,
so many likes, a really a force on Houzz.
So it's great to have you.
- Thanks for having me.
- So let's talk about these clients,
family, they have kids.
What were some of the objectives for this remodel?
- [Sarah] Yeah, so they do, they have two kids,
late middle school, early high school age.
The rooms were very traditionally separated off.
The dining room is separate, the kitchen was separate,
the living room didn't really have connections
to the rest of the home.
They really just wanted to open it up
and have connection between someone that's in the kitchen
and someone that's in the dining room
and in the living room,
and take advantage of the views of the property.
They are not native Austinites.
They moved here from Missouri.
They wanted the opportunity to host family.
So that's where the guest house came into play,
come and stay for an extended period of time
and have their own space.
- [Rick] Yeah, the property is just amazing.
What a great time to be able to rebuild
because the whole family can really take advantage
of the home, right?
I mean, it's so great.
So let's hop into the kitchen
and sort of the dining area, the living space.
Why don't we start in the kitchen
with some of the big choices?
So let's talk about balancing that, you know,
design with kid-friendly.
- Yeah, they also have dogs, they have two German shepherds.
And so part of the whole material palette
was to make it kid friendly, make it dog friendly,
make it family friendly.
They really wanted hardwood floors throughout.
And we ended up doing a concrete porcelain tile,
very specifically picked grout that would sort of disappear.
We picked the actual color of the tile,
so that dog hair, dog scratches, all that stuff.
It was sort of impenetrable to that.
Easy to clean.
- [Rick] I'm fascinated by the floor
because I'm not sure I've seen a floor
that looks that good,
that emulates wood in such a way, like not,
I wouldn't have guessed tile.
I wouldn't have guessed the tile.
- [Sarah] Also with it being directly adjacent to the pool.
If people are coming in and out, you know,
getting in and out of the pool, they wanted to be able
to just sort of mop it up really quickly.
- [Rick] Let's go into some of the bigger choices
in the kitchen as well.
- [Sarah] Sure, so the counter top wise,
they did want something that was low maintenance.
They wanted something that emulated
the sort of natural marble countertops,
but they didn't want to use natural marble
because of the fact that it stains pretty easily.
And so we did a quartz product,
emulates the Carrara marble
- [Rick] Pretty chunky island, right?
How large are those drawers and storage in there?
Are they oversized as well?
- Well, they are, they're not too oversized but they,
that is where they have majority of their functional items
in the kitchen on the side of the island
that faces the range.
That's where all of the pots and pans are,
it's where all their day to day dishes are
and everything as well.
And so they really just want an easy access.
The sink is actually in the original location of the sink.
And it also backs up to the outdoor kitchen.
You know, you can stand at the sink,
do your dishes, whatever,
but also have a view outside to see what's going on.
You know, the pool deck,
keep an eye on the kids if they're swimming,
and then also give, you know,
nice light and access out to the pool deck as well.
- [Rick] Really nice,
the lighting's very minimal.
I've seen different kitchens.
Some people are going kind of crazy oversized.
You went very minimal, very simple.
Tell me about the lighting in the space.
- [Sarah] They weren't interested
in big statement pieces over the island.
We do have a decorative fixture
that's over the dining table.
In the kitchen itself,
they really just wanted functional lighting.
They wanted to be able to see what they were doing
if they were, in their kid, cooking or entertaining.
And we didn't really want to detract from the view,
especially if you're standing in the kitchen,
looking towards the breakfast room.
You also have the panoramic view out the back of the house
of the Greenbelt behind.
- [Rick] Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense,
you don't want to get in the way of that
and you really have art.
The windows are sort of like your art in the space as well.
Right? You're just looking,
(laughing) looking at a beautiful vista
pretty much at all times,
or maybe your kids in the pool or whatever,
but it's just like,
you could just sit there
and just kind of look out the window and it's fantastic.
Let's talk a little bit about the dining
and the beautiful table there.
You can have Thanksgiving around that table.
- That was one of their goals too,
to be able to see not only their family of four,
but friends and family that would come to stay with them
for an extended period of time, all around the same table.
- [Rick] What a beautiful spot, to sit there.
And, you know, you can look out the windows
and in terms of window coverings,
is there an automatic shade or something that can come down?
Or how does that work or is it necessary in that space?
- It's not really necessary.
Their property is very private.
They have enough trees behind the house that they don't,
you know, it's not sort of baking.
- [Rick] Right, briefly while we're on the topic
of sun and some other things,
this home has a metal roof, right?
And that was part of the remodel,
I imagine? - Yes.
- So with rain and all that stuff that happens in Austin,
how do you deal with the sound?
And that, is it insulated in a different way,
So it kind of can mitigate the sound?
How does that work? - Yeah so,
there's several different ways you can do a metal roof.
We do have attic space between the bedrooms,
and on the second level and the roof,
so that a little bit of sound attenuation there as well,
but you can install sound attenuation material
between a metal roof and the sheeting of the roof,
but you'll never get rid of it entirely.
So if you're gonna do a metal roof on a house,
you're always going to have more of the sound of rain
when it is raining than you would on a typical, you know,
asphalt shingle home.
Metal roofs tend to stand up better
to the elements here,
just aesthetically for this project in particular,
I think it was the right choice.
- [Rick] Yeah, while we're on the exterior,
tell me about the stone.
That's a stone you commonly see in Texas,
from Texas quarries.
- Yes. Yes.
It's Texas limestone. - [Rick] Yes.
And that was actually original
to the house when we started the renovation.
So we were able to luckily match it
for the guest house and the pool deck
and everything as well.
So it's, the space looks very cohesive,
but it was original stuff.
- [Rick] So let's go into the living area a little bit,
and tell me about the flow here
and some of the choices in this living space
adjacent to the kitchen and the dining.
- This living area was intended for,
you know, a conversation area.
It was not important to them to have a TV there.
They wanted it to be sort of just an area
that was connected to the dining room and the kitchen.
So when they're entertaining,
you can have the seating group there.
People could still see what's going on in the kitchen
and the dining room.
And again, just taking advantage of the beautiful view.
- [Rick] All right, so let's step outside.
This is a big part of this property
and embracing this beautiful space.
Wow, you know, so was any of this here?
Was any of this here, the stone, this pool,
like what was this before? - No.
- Was this just a blank slate?
- [Sarah] It was a undeveloped hillside and they, you know,
with their dogs and their kids and everything,
they really wanted some horizontal surface too,
for the kids to play in for the dogs to run around in.
And so part of what we did with the landscaping as well
was terrace down
so that they did have some additional lawn space
on the back of the house,
because previously you walked out the back doors
and there was, you know, maybe a five foot deep wood deck,
and then it just sort of dropped down to the creek.
- [Rick] So let's talk about this beautiful outdoor space,
great pool.
You've got the horizontal greenbelt,
so you can play on that.
You've got views.
Tell me about some of the materials
and choices here and give me a feel for this.
- [Sarah] Yeah, so we really wanted to make it look
like a very cohesive space.
So we used a similar limestone on the pool deck,
as well as on the guest house.
We have some natural Cedar beams
to sort of tie everything together.
The main point of being out there
is really to enjoy the view
and the, you know, the beautiful green belts.
And so everything we did sort of focuses your attention out,
and it just creates a nice warm environment for people
to spend time out there.
- [Rick] If that's not enough now,
there's an amazing, beautiful ADU here
that is just a really beautiful space as well.
They might have guests spend the night,
it's a one bedroom with a living space and then it,
and then it's sort of connected.
You can walk directly out to the pool.
So it's essentially,
"Hey, here's your vacation home, visit with us or not.
We're in the other house."
You know, it's so nice to have that separation for guests.
This is what about a thousand square feet or so
of living space?
- Yeah, I think it's just under a thousand square feet.
Downstairs in the guest house,
there is the bedroom and a full bath down there as well.
And when family aren't visiting,
they actually use it as a space for the kids to hang out.
So that living area that has the wet bar
and the fabric center and everything, and then with the TV,
that's also sort of their gaming area.
The kids can sit there and play video games
and jump in the pool.
And then, you know,
it's a space for them to have a little bit of privacy,
but also the,
the parents can keep an eye from the main house
and make sure that they're not getting into trouble.
- [Rick] Yeah, that's one of the nicest kid spaces
I've ever seen in my life.
(Rick and Sarah laugh)
- But it's also very, I mean,
I feel very strongly that you shouldn't have
a part of the your home
that's only used periodically, right?
So to have that double function of having a guest space,
but also have it be a kid zone, is really important.
- I hope the kids don't just watch TV in there,
or play games in there,
I hope they actually appreciate how beautiful that space is.
They might not, but eventually they will.
The, tell me a little bit about the ceiling height in there.
It's pretty sizable and you have some nice beams in there
and that kind of thing.
- [Sarah] Being able to bring
as much natural light into the space
as possible, was important.
And also to make the guest house feel
like it has been there the entire time,
sort of matching the architecture of the main house,
the sloped roofs and high ridges was important.
- Tell me what it feels like when you design a space
for a family that you know is really gonna get used.
Right? - Yeah. I mean, that's,
that's probably one of the most beneficial things
of being a designer and architect,
especially in the residential world,
is to end up with something that you know,
is going to be in their family for a long time,
that they can make use of,
that really tailors are home to their personalities
and to their likes and dislikes.
I'm very lucky to be able to do projects.
- [Rick] Absolutely, well, this has been a real treat.
I hope we get to do this again,
and thank you for taking the time
to show us this project and congrats.
- Thank you so much,
it was fun.
All right, we'll be in touch.
See you.
- Bye-bye.