A Modern Mix in Austin

A Modern Mix in Austin

Name: Designer Allison Burke, with architect husband Ryan and hound dog Blue Jay

Location: French Place/Cherrywood; Austin, Texas

Size: 1600 square feet

Years lived in: 3.5 years; Owned

Allison Burke is a designer with 13 years of experience in high-end residential, small scale commercial and craft-driven interiors. It's not surprising the home she shares with her architect husband is a modern mix of white walls, pops of color and purposeful accessories. But it's her sensitive approach to designing interiors that's made their home truly warm, welcoming and livable.

Obviously Allison's years of working with clients and other top designers (like Orlando Diaz Azcuy, Marmol-Radziner and Associates, Nicole Hollis Interior Design, and Michael Hsu Office of Architecture) have given her a keen eye for furniture and design combinations, and you see that in every room of this house, where nothing is matchy-matchy but everything goes together.

Though the house is open and airy with a nice flow, it wasn't always that way. Allison and Ryan opened up the study to both the hallway and the dining room. They re-centered the doors to the bedrooms on the hallway and added a skylight. A door to the kitchen from the dining room was removed. The opening between the living room and hallway was widened. The kitchen is completely new, but blends beautifully with the house's charming existing features, most of all those gorgeous steel windows. All-new drywall and fresh coats of paint help all the interior features stand out.

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Refined Eclectic. I love mixing traditional, modern furnishings

Inspiration: Pierre Chareau, Carlo Scarpa, Alexander McQueen. South American textiles. Love to see the latest designs coming out of Australia and South Africa. Also really love working with local showrooms: Scott + Cooner, Remixologie, Mercury, Prize, Urbanspace and Nannie Inez are all such critical shops in our little Austin community. Also really inspired by the local Austin art community — SO much talent here.

Favorite Element: I love the skylight we built in our hallway and our original steel windows.

Biggest Challenge: Reconciling our aesthetics with our hound dog's fur/ love of soft surfaces.

What Friends Say: Great natural light.

Biggest Embarrassment: All the areas we haven't remodeled.

Proudest DIY: Being an interior designer married to an architect, we tackle many projects together: We built our fence together, Ryan built some cabinets in our kitchen, Ryan built our bedroom doors, Ryan built our front porch, I painted our kitchen, etc.

Biggest Indulgence: We will double down from time to time so that we can get a special piece of furniture or finish remodeling a portion of our house. My current favorite is our kitchen shelf, which is from an old train car in Chicago.

Best Advice: Have patience and don't be afraid to mix wood tones and styles. Whenever in doubt hire an interior designer :)

Dream Sources: Ralph Pucci showroom

Resources:

PAINT & COLORS

• Kitchen: Sherwin Williams Greenfield
• White walls: Sherwin Williams Shoji White

LIVING ROOM

• Painting: Pat Diaz and Sofia Gamba
• Sofa: Ligne Roset
• Coffee Table: Eames molded plywood
• Lounge and Recliner: Reupholstered vintage Westnofa
• Cabinet: IKEA custom modified
• Poufs: Anthropologie
• Carpet: FLOR

DINING ROOM

• Dining Chair: Cherner chair
• Dining table: Alex MacDonald Pegasus table
• Art: Deconstructed lawnmower by Todd McLellan
• Frog: Vintage from Uncommon Objects
• Textile: Guatemalan

KITCHEN

• Table: Vintage
• Barstools: Vintage
• Shelves: Urban Remains Chicago

GUEST BEDROOM

• Bed: DWR Min Bed
• Bar cabinet: Flair Home NYC
• Art: Self portrait, Blue Jay ;)

HALLWAY

MASTER BEDROOM

• Bed: Charles P. Rogers
• Nightstands: Barclay tables from Ray 20 NYC (unknown designer) ,
• Dresser: Paul McCobb
• Art: Paper cuttings from Mercury Studio
• Pillow: Anthropologie

STUDY

Thanks, Allison!

Original article and pictures take www.apartmenttherapy.com site