Austin, TX
A 104-Year-Old Woman Sold Them Their Austin Bungalow. Now, It’s Ready for Another Century.
Holly Beth Potter and her husband Matt, 35, an entrepreneur, admired the historic Rosewood neighborhood of Austin, Texas, for years until they finally purchased a 1930s-era Victorian-style bungalow that was owned by a 104-year-old woman.
“She lived in the house for more than 70 years, and her ‘kids’—who are in their 80s—sold it to us instead of a developer because we told them we loved the character of the house and wanted to restore it,” said Holly Beth Potter, 33, a former EMT who’s now an interior designer. When the Potters purchased the house in 2019, they hoped to have children and now they have three—ages four, three and seven months.
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“We knew the house needed work, especially since not all of the plumbing was functional,” Potter said. Once they brought in Side Angle Side Architects, however, it was clear they faced a full-blown renovation. “After the project started, they discovered rotting wood, broken windows and a dysfunctional roof structure, plus when we pulled off the skirting under the house it revealed that we needed a new foundation and new framing.”
The Potters pulled back from that renovation to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the property, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house they lived in while the main house was rebuilt. Now the ADU serves as a guest house for friends and family.
“They basically had to take apart the main house piece by piece and put it back together, but they saved as much as they could of the wood and trim and reused it,” Potter said. “It probably would have been easier to tear it down, but we wanted to preserve the character as much as we could. They reconfigured the original house on the same footprint, moving the kitchen between the living room and dining room on one side of the hallway, with the primary bedroom and a second bedroom on the other side.”
The dining room has the original shiplap from the old house and original wood pocket doors. The new kitchen and living room are open to each other, with a hemlock wood ceiling overhead. The architects took some space from the central hallway to create a mudroom, closet and pantry.
An addition, which doubled the living space from 1,800 square feet to about 3,600 square feet, includes an office, a family room with a loft and the children’s bedrooms.
“Our goal with the addition was to deliberately design it in a different architectural style,” Potter said. “Sometimes people ask me if this is one house or two.”
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The Potters declined to comment on how much the renovation and addition cost. Construction took about 21 months.
The collaboration between Potter and Side Angle Side Architects on the house was so successful that her company, HB Studio, is now part of Side Angle Side.
Potter and the Side Angle Side team offered more insight into the renovation process:
I would describe the aesthetic as… “timeless,” Potter said. “I chose furniture that felt contemporary, while also leaning into tones and patterns that were warm and romantic to create an overall feeling of timelessness.”
My advice to others… “is to let the old house tell you what to do,” said Annie-Laurie Grabiel, co-founder of Side Angle Side Architects. “In this case, it was important to let the original home be the star of the show. We figured out that the best way to add onto the house without compromising its integrity was to essentially build a separate building next to it and connect the two as minimally as we could. The new addition almost stands alone and connects to the old house with a lower roof that just tucks under the existing roof eave.”
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My favorite post-renovation feature is… “the way we embraced indoor-outdoor living,” Potter said. “We preserved this big tree in the backyard and built the courtyard and pool area around it. We can open all the doors and windows around it, so you feel like you’re outside even when you’re indoors.”
The biggest challenge… “was working with the existing house,” said Arthur Furman, a co-founder of Side Angle Side Architects. “The clients loved the character of the old home, and we were determined to keep it as a central aspect of the new design. However, the wood framing was compromised from water damage and rot. In the end the house had to be reframed, but we matched the original footprint and proportions. We salvaged and reinstalled as much of the interior woodwork as we could, including the wood floors, interior doors, window trim and base boards.”
The most dramatic change was… “the new kitchen,” Grabiel said. “The original kitchen was small and dark and didn’t have a strong connection to the outdoors. We relocated [it] to the heart of the interior and opened it up with access and views to the back porch and pool deck.”
The biggest surprise was… “that some of the best elements weren’t part of our pre-construction plans,” Furman said. “When the roof was being reframed, we looked up at the treetops through the rafters and we thought how nice it would be to open up a skylight and experience the natural light right when you enter the home. Also, we had always planned the kids’ loft area, but then one day the clients had the idea to add the netting to extend the loft space and create more connectivity between above and below.”
Favorite materials we discovered during the process… “include the natural materials for the walls, floors and bathrooms,” Potter said. “In the living room we installed a hemlock wood ceiling and a plaster fireplace wall, and we used quartzite counters in the kitchen and bathrooms.”