This Modern Mediterranean home sits on top of Lake Austin with commanding views of the downtown skyline. This particular property had topography and footprint challenges. The home is 3 stories in height with an exempt walkout basement “Gamedia” Room. This lower level provides access to the property’s backyard and a path to the boat house below. The house is uniquely designed for weekend guests with a large Guest Suite and Terrace looking out to the Lake and Skyline. The Great room is a large open space with a 2 story kitchen area which brings in extra day light during the day. There is a large wet bar and wine wall that serves the formal great room and dining area. The living room has large stackable sliding glass doors which open up to the outside Living and Al Fresco Dining area. The house consists of a private courtyard entry and the back of the house is in an L shape to screen of the neighbors for added privacy.
Interior Images Courtesy Austin Studio Architects
Exterior Images: Jamie Leasure/MA+DS
Set on five acres along Brushy Creek in the Texas Hill Country north of Austin, this contemporary home was designed for a couple looking to enjoy the next chapter of their lives as ‘empty nesters’. After remodeling their original 1,800 sf home and still finding it spatially inefficient, they sought a more intentional solution—one that not only reflects their design style but also supports their lifestyle.
Embracing a sustainable, climate-responsive approach, the new home is modest in size yet rich in connection to the land. A central garden courtyard links the new and existing homes, maximizing opportunities for indoor/outdoor living and framing views of the pool, curated landscaping, and Hill Country beyond.
The design also reflects the owners’ belief that a home should be a part of the land, not apart from it, by using broad overhangs and exterior shading devices to enhance comfort, reduce energy use, and create inviting natural daylighting inside—all while maintaining privacy and serenity. The result is a quiet, relaxing retreat that values quality of space over quantity and fosters a deeper connection to nature and family.
Images: CQ Media for Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture
The home is deeply embedded in its site, establishing a strong and deliberate relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces.
From the street, only the upper level is visible, allowing the house to recede into the terrain as one begins a downward procession toward the main living level. This sequence creates the opportunity for a courtyard-oriented home. Rather than a conventional front door, arrival is marked by a front gate that leads beneath a canopy and into a series of interconnected spaces. From this point, one may enter the great room, remain on the outdoor patio, move directly to the pool deck, or access the enclosed game room adjacent to the pool. These shared areas are visually connected, offering guests a clear understanding of the home’s spatial organization and its relationship to the landscape.
Private spaces maintain both physical and visual access to outdoor areas while preserving privacy where needed. The result is a house designed in close dialogue with its terrain, where the boundary between inside and outside is intentionally blurred, allowing daily life to unfold in direct connection with the land.
Images: Kristian Alvelo for Breck Studio
This eclectic home designed by Davey McEathron Architecture with interiors + construction by Cary Paul Studios is completely unique and custom. Step into a true architectural gem – this new construction home in the heart of Zilker blends mid-century modern charm with 70s and Memphis modern influenced interiors. Inside, you’ll find a sunken conversation pit, perfect for intimate gatherings, alongside a walnut-clad and terrazzo topped mid-century kitchen peninsula accented by mod floating shelves and warm brick details with a retro planter box.
Throughout the home, custom built-ins with an angular motif, boutique lighting, and hand-selected tile create a one-of-a-kind aesthetic. The primary suite is a true retreat, featuring sliding doors to the main-floor deck, and a built-in closet plus a spacious walk-in closet with stackable washer/dryer connections. The primary bath offers spa-like relaxation with a soaking tub, a walk-in shower, and a private toilet closet. The second level has two bedrooms with a jack + jill bath plus a spacious laundry room and a light filled landing with a custom storage cabinet and a reading nook. The large deck with downtown views is a show-stopper. Not to be outdone, the third floor has a covered private deck with city views, a lounge area with a custom wet bar + panel ready beverage fridge, a bedroom with a built-in bench and a bright modern bathroom.
The outdoor spaces are equally breathtaking, with unobstructed downtown cityline views from the expansive second-floor Ipe deck and a private third-floor suite deck.
Images: Hunter Tipps Rmblr Media for Cary Paul Studios
Nestled in the heart of Barton Hills, this home was designed to cultivate openness, light and connection to its natural surroundings. The design explores the relationship between interior and exterior, inviting natural light deep into the space while framing views of the surrounding landscape. The use of brick and large windows blurs the threshold between house and garden, allowing the the landscape to feel like a true extension of the house.
The house is defined by two distinct wings connected by a glass passageway. The north wing contains the main public spaces where a more expressive play of materials creates richness and texture. Every vantage point offers a visual connection to the outdoors, reinforcing the home’s dialogue with nature. The south wing is comprised of the more private programs, including the master suite and a second floor with additional bedrooms, offering moments of retreat and quiet. This simplified form contrasts with the material dynamism of the north wing, creating a deliberate balance between openness and repose.
Images: Casey woods Photography for Chris Cobb Architecture
Rammed Earth Construction by Rabb Construction
At the intersection of architecture and sculpture, this one-of-a-kind compound located in the heart of East Austin’s sought-after Holly neighborhood, is a masterclass in sculptural design, natural materials, and artisanal craftsmanship.
This ADU is defined by sweeping, curvilinear rammed earth walls, a unique and expressive use of an ancient building technique. These walls not only help temper the heat of the harsh Western Sun but also serve as textural and tactile elements that soften the facades with their organic curves. Crowning the structure is a barrel-vaulted roof clad in soft green metal, which curves downward to become walls—emphasizing the fluidity of the architecture and highlighting the homes’ sculptural forms.
Inside, the interiors are a warm and tactile blend of natural finishes: white oak cabinetry, terracotta, marble, and troweled limewash. The polished concrete floors have been honed to reveal a terrazzo-like finish, adding texture and durability underfoot. Throughout the property, custom steelwork and intricate detailing—such as hand-forged railings, thresholds and shelving — elevate the design to a truly artisanal level.
The overall aesthetic is a seamless fusion of desert modernism, Art Nouveau, and organic architecture, brought to life through local craftsmanship and visionary design.
Images: Jeremy Doddridge for Davey McEathron Architecture
Builder: Pure Modern Homes
The Cary residence is designed to constantly connect you to the outdoors, creating easy, everyday moments to enjoy the surrounding landscape. The detached pool house completes the perimeter of the courtyard, wrapping the water and setting the stage for relaxed entertaining outside. Just off the main living areas, an outdoor kitchen naturally carries the energy of the interior outside, blurring the line between indoor and out.
From one end of the primary suite, there’s direct access to the pool and on the other side, a private patio provides a quiet escape that feels tucked away from the rest of the home. Upstairs, a covered deck keeps that outdoor connection going, offering views over the pool and a comfortable spot to spend time outside, no matter the season. Throughout, the house makes outdoor living feel essential, shaping the character and experience of the home.
Images coming soon! In progress image courtesy Davey McEathron Architecture
Set in hills of Westlake, this home is composed as a series of volumes, set into the terrain at the high point of Camino Alto. The architecture balances both weight and lightness—masonry walls anchor the home to the site intersected by expansive glass infill connecting views through the home and opening the main living to vistas across the landscape.
The plan is organized around a clear gradient of public to private space. Living areas extend outward to terraces, outdoor dining, and pool area, creating a sequence of outdoor rooms that follow the topography and blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space. A detached accessory dwelling unit provides additional flex space.
Integrating precision fabrication, Camino Alto pairs the restrained materiality of wood, steel, glass, and masonry—with an approach focused on performance, livability, and connections to the landscape.
Images: Rame Hruska, Intexure Architects
Brandon and David came to Moontower with plans to add onto their modest ranch home, hoping to improve comfort and daylight without losing the neighborly ease of the existing home. That plan changed abruptly when updated flood maps eliminated the possibility of an addition and forced a pivot to new construction. What followed was a thoughtful reimagining of what a replacement home could be—one that respected the neighborhood while elevating daily living.
The new house sits on a raised pier-and-beam foundation driven by floodplain requirements. The challenge was making that elevation feel natural in a neighborhood defined by low-slung, slab-on-grade homes. The solution was restraint: a simplified form, low rooflines, and careful proportions that allow the house to echo its context rather than contrast drastically from it. Inside, the clients wanted the home to feel as effortless as their favorite boutique hotels—bright, calm, and intentional— oriented to outdoor living a la a Palm Springs–inspired design. Budget priorities focused energy on what matters most: an entertainer’s kitchen, wood floors, tall floor-to-ceiling windows, and vaulted spaces. The result is a light-filled, modern home that feels easy, composed, and quietly confident—proof that constraints can sharpen clarity rather than limit possibility.
Images: Leah Muse Photography for Moontower
With a property size under 6,000 square feet, this home was an exercise in utilizing City code to provide a large luxury home that blends modern style and timeless design. We were able to add close to 1,300 square feet of extra conditioned space in a walkout basement that is filled with natural light and has easy access to the pool and yard. Being 2 blocks from one of only two public boat ramps on Lake Austin, we designed a 14ft tall carport that can house 2 cars or a boat, which the current owner certainly appreciates.
Images: James Ruiz Photography
Chateau Chloe isn’t a house you tour—it’s a world you uncover. Built as a love letter to New Orleans, it rejects Austin’s copy-paste minimalism in favor of layered story: mixed metals that don’t match but somehow harmonize, bold wallpaper moments, warm lighting that makes everything feel like golden hour, and archways that slow you down like you’ve stepped into another chapter.
Then comes the secret. What looks like a garage from the street becomes a speakeasy-style lounge inside—an after-hours hideaway designed for good food, vinyl-level music, and conversations that run past midnight. It’s the kind of space that makes you whisper, “How did she pull this off?”
The scale is just as unforgettable: a 1,200-square-foot primary suite and a closet so expansive it’s the largest room in the home. Every piece is intentional—custom creations, Round Top finds, estate treasures, Facebook Marketplace gems, and local Austin art.
Chateau Chloe was brought to life by a small army of artisans—brick, landscape, lighting, styling—each leaving a signature you can feel. Come see the surprise behind every doorway.
Images: MA+DS
Designed as a personal retreat inspired by Costa Rica, this light-filled home blurs the line between indoors and out with expansive glass, tropical landscaping, and an open kitchen-living-dining space made for gathering. A cocktail pool/hot tub create a private, resort-like feel, while hidden details like a speakeasy bookcase bedroom and a separate guest house behind a sliding fence add layers of surprise and flexibility.
Images: kevin (at) austinrocksproductions.com
From a thoughtful blend of modern design principles and traditional features, the William Holland Residence blurs the lines between eras with its transitional charm. The homeowners seek a dwelling that feels spacious and seamless rooms blending into the outdoors in an effortless flow. In addition to the modern approach to their homes layout, they envision a composition of volumes and materials that echoes eras of the past. The form takes shape around a 40” Sycamore, rooting the home in its context beginning with the footprint that pushes and pulls intentionally. These volumetric gestures are guided by the growing family’s love of gathering and intentional storage on busy days.
The residence is entered through a wallpapered foyer that opens dramatically to the soaring Living Room beneath a cross-vaulted ceiling. The homeowners love a gabled roof, and the gesture of doubling and rotating a gable 90 degrees maximized the natural light and high-ceiling experience while maintaining a human scale. This infused a character into the home that pushed beyond modern and traditional and feels one-of-a-kind. Triangular clerestory windows in every direction brought the surrounding greenery indoors without overwhelming the home’s period details and personal adornments. The home explores textures and patterns in each space, creating moody atmospheres and playful vitality. To walk through the William Holland Residence is to journey through a personal emulsion of old and new, responding to the lives the homeowners live.
