After a Five-Year Renovation, This Historic Austin Home Finally Feels Complete – Thanks to a Dose of Irish Charm
Cathryn Lindsey layered florals, antiques, and soft colors throughout this 6,000-square-foot home to make it feel warm and welcoming
The renovation may have been complete, but this historic Austin home still didn’t feel quite finished. After five years of painstaking work on the 1914 Classic Revival property – now registered as a City of Austin Historic Landmark – the architecture had been beautifully restored, but the interiors were still waiting for personality.
That’s where interior designer Cathryn Lindsey stepped in. 'The home was impeccably renovated, with beautiful millwork, stone, and lighting. But it still felt incomplete,' she explains.
Now, the house design balances grandeur with remarkable softness. Marble fireplaces, original stained glass windows, and millwork sit comfortably alongside skirted upholstery, playful wallpaper, and family heirlooms gathered over generations. It’s elegant without ever feeling precious, ‘every space in this home is meant to be used; nothing is just for show,' Cathryn says of this home designed for real life.
Exterior: The home’s blue-green exterior offers the first hint of the countryside palette woven throughout the interiors, balancing the grandeur of the 1914 architecture with a softer, more welcoming feel.
By the time Cathryn was brought into the project, the hard hats had long since gone. Tasked with furnishing and styling all 6,000 square feet, she was less concerned with dramatic structural changes and more interested in creating rooms that felt layered, inviting, and genuinely lived in.
'Some rooms had very little furniture, others had none at all. It functioned for daily life, but it didn’t fully support or enhance all of the thoughtful work my clients had already done,' she explains.
After years of construction – including a period where the home was, quite literally, lifted onto stilts while the basement was excavated – the family had reached the point of total renovation fatigue.
‘The task of actually filling the home in a way that felt both functional and as thoughtfully designed as the renovation itself felt overwhelming,’ Cathryn explains. With three young children and another baby on the way, the priority was creating spaces that could genuinely support everyday life.
Entry: The original stained glass windows became an important source of inspiration throughout the project, informing the home’s muted palette of soft greens, blush tones, and warm neutrals. Paired with antiques and florals, the entry the tone for the home’s collected feel.
Alongside pure practicality, the clients’ connection to Dublin became the project’s narrative.
Having previously lived in Ireland – and still spending summers there with their three children – they wanted the home to channel the feeling of a European countryside retreat, albeit one 'layered with a bit of Texas'.
Cathryn responded with a palette of soft blue-greens, dusty pinks, botanical prints, layered florals, and heirloom antiques that feel collected rather than decorated. 'The palette for this project was inspired by mornings in the countryside,' says Cathryn. 'It’s the kind of palette that feels like an exhale.'
'Texas comes through more subtly in the materials. In each room, if you look closely, there’s a bit of leather or hide. You’ll find artwork from the clients’ international travels alongside a hometown bluebonnet print. It’s a true balance of both places that feels very personal to them.'
Formal Living Room: Gathered around the original fireplace and a rustic coffee table from Made Goods is a reupholstered vintage settee, a pair of the Muirfield Sculptural Metal Accent Chairs by Jake Arnold from Crate & Barrel, and side tables from Hooker.
'When you walk in the front door, you’re immediately greeted by the formal living room to your right,' Cathryn walks us through.
The room has all the architectural grandeur you’d expect from a 1914 home – soaring ceilings, classic millwork, and a dramatic marble fireplace – but it manages to avoid feeling overly ceremonial. Instead, there’s a softness to the space that makes it feel surprisingly inviting.
'It was our intention to make everything feel elevated and slightly historic, with elements like velvet drapery, a box pleat sofa, and marble pedestals,' says Cathryn. 'At the same time, the unique shapes in the coffee table and the checkered chairs keep it feeling fresh and modern.'
'We wanted this space to make a statement, but you can also see straight through the family room into the kitchen, so those three spaces were especially important to tie together,' she explains.
Formal Living Room: The larger, more contemporary couch is the Portola Pleated Sofa by Lulu & Georgia, and sits on a rug from Loloi. Overhead, the Gramercy Chandelier from Visual Comfort helps zone the space, while pedestals from Four Hands sit in the corner.
Rather than matching each space exactly, Cathryn used her background in fashion to help her build continuity through repeated tones, silhouettes, and materials.
'Layering different motifs is what creates that collected, welcoming feeling,' says Cathryn. 'I’m always thinking about balance.'
'In the formal living room, for example, we had a beautiful vintage settee reupholstered in a floral. The shape and fabric felt very soft and feminine, so we balanced that with checked accent chairs in an iron frame,' she explains.
Dining Room: The layered formal dining area is a real lesson in mixing wood tones and pieces from different eras. The custom upholstery was all sourced from Folio Fabrics, the sideboard at the other end of the space from Caracole, while the pine cabinet is a vintage find.
The dining room fully embraces layering. The room is certainly more dramatic than some of the softer adjoining spaces, but the palette keeps it grounded.
Wrapped in a rich botanical wallpaper that feels somewhere between an English garden and a vintage mural, the space leans into the romantic side of the project while still maintaining a touch of the restraint seen throughout the rest of the house.
'From the formal living room, you’re connected to both the sunroom and the formal dining room, which then look into the kitchen and conservatory,' Cathryn explains. 'Each space serves a unique purpose, but they all needed to flow seamlessly while still maintaining their own identity.'
Family Room: Cathryn chose to reupholster the cushions of this large sectional with a mix of solid navy and Schumacher's Verdure Tapestry Print. The butterscotch leather ottoman is from Four Hands, styled with a rug from Loloi and drapery from The Great Curtain Co.
The family room is where the atmosphere shifts into comfort mode.
At the center of the space is the statement sectional, upholstered in a tapestry-inspired floral that captures the home’s Irish influence. It’s undeniably bold, but because the palette remains muted, the effect feels calm rather than overwhelming.
'One of our favorite pieces was the sectional in the family room. It had already been purchased in a solid grey, but we wanted to reupholster it in a beautiful Schumacher tapestry fabric,' says Cathryn. Rather than fully recovering the piece, Cathryn proposed a more strategic solution.
'What started as a cost-saving decision – using a solid coordinating fabric on the base and the tapestry on the cushions – ended up becoming one of our favorite design moments,' she continues. 'It feels incredibly custom and actually allows the print to feel framed and stand out even more.'
Kitchen: Designed by Jean Stoffer, the kitchen pairs muted cabinetry with warm oak and unlacquered brass for a look that feels both classic and livable. Checkerboard stone floors and a linen cafe curtain reinforce the home’s relaxed European feel.
The kitchen and adjoining conservatory are where the atmosphere becomes noticeably lighter and brighter. Designed by Jean Stoffer Design, the kitchen strikes a careful balance between utility and warmth, pairing classic detailing with the kind of softness and subtle texture seen throughout the rest of the house.
Cabinetry painted in a muted green-grey quietly ties in the color scheme for the whole home, while a warm oak kitchen island and unlacquered brass finishes prevent the space from feeling overly contemporary.
The marble countertops and checkerboard stone floors nod to traditional European kitchens, but the room never veers too thematic; instead, it feels wonderfully grounded – somewhere a family genuinely cooks, gathers, and lingers throughout the day.
Conservatory: Just off the main kitchen, the conservatory dining nook is styled with lantern pendants, greenery, and a chunky wood dining table to blur the line between indoors and out.
Just beyond, the conservatory shifts the mood once again.
Wrapped in steel-framed windows and flooded with natural light, it feels almost like a modern interpretation of a traditional garden room.
Hanging lantern pendants and climbing greenery blur the boundary between indoors and out, while the large wood dining table anchors the space with a relaxed farmhouse feel.
Together, the two rooms are elegant without losing comfort. Even with their polished finishes and considered materials, the kitchen and conservatory remain deeply functional spaces at heart – warm, welcoming rooms designed as much for everyday rituals as special occasions.
Primary Bedroom: In the primary suite, Cathryn sourced a four-posted bed from Maiden Home to style with the heirloom chest. She then layered up the bed with linens from Parachute, Kelly Ventura, and Collectiv Co. On the nightstands, bedside table lamps from Soho Home add ambiance.
While the entertaining spaces downstairs lean into sociability and grandeur, the primary suite feels noticeably quieter and more intimate.
Much like the rest of the home, contrast is what gives this bedroom depth. The canopy bed introduces structure against the softness of the textiles and wallpaper, while the vintage chest at the foot of the bed adds patina and character. The piece, dating back to the 1700s, is one of several antiques layered throughout the house.
'There are so many family heirlooms layered throughout the home,' says Cathryn. 'An antique milking stool hangs in the family room, there’s a large chest from the 1700s in the primary bedroom, an antique rocking chair in the boys’ room, and Grandma’s floor lamp in the nursery. It was such a fun process to catalog these pieces and thoughtfully incorporate them into the design.'
Primary Bath: The stained glass window inspired much of the room's palette, introducing soft greens and blush tones in the tile and unlacquered brass fittings.
The palette throughout the suite, which boasts a sleeping space, snug, and bathroom, was directly inspired by one of the home’s original stained glass windows, located in the adjoining en-suite bathroom.
'There are two original stained glass windows, one in the entry staircase and the other in the primary bathroom,' says Cathryn.
'We pulled color inspiration from both, especially in the primary bedroom and snug, incorporating shades of green, pink, and burgundy,' she adds.
Nursery: In here, Cathryn combined two wallpapers, the top from Borastapeter and the bottom from Schumacher to create the effect of paneling. The crib is from Namesake, the dresser, Pottery Barn, and the ottoman from Lulu & Georgia. A vintage floor lamp and art from Four Hands complete the look.
Of all the rooms in the house, the nursery was perhaps the most important.
'My clients were expecting their third baby just before Christmas, and as a mom myself, I know how much better it feels to have your home settled before a new arrival,' says Cathryn. 'We moved very quickly with the design and installed about half of the design, including wallpaper and painting, within 2 months of the design presentation, so the family could settle in and enjoy the holidays and their little one in a more finished home.'
'In the nursery, we paired tapestry curtains and floral wallpaper with a glider in an oversized houndstooth,' she says of the layered design. 'The top wallpaper is a very soft, tonal floral, but the bottom is actually a subtle funky stripe. You really only notice it up close. From a distance, it mimics beadboard wainscoting. I love that it feels very traditional at first glance, but has a bit of an edge when you look more closely.'
Boy's Room: In the boy's room, which feels decidedly stylish for a kid's space, a custom-sized 1950s cowboy wallpaper from Design Wall Covering wraps the room. The beds and nightstand are vintage, styled with linens from the Jeremiah Brent x Crate & Kids collab.
The boys’ bedroom takes a slightly more playful approach to the home’s aesthetic, though it never strays from the layered look established throughout the rest of the house.
Here, Cathryn leaned into pattern and personality more boldly. 'Pattern plays an important role,' she notes. She focused on timeless pieces and rich textures that feel elevated enough for adults while still playful enough for kids. It’s a room designed to evolve over time rather than be completely redecorated in a few years.
'In the boys’ room, the vintage cowboy toile wallpaper is grounded by a vibrant striped dresser, which helps bring everything forward in a way that feels fresh,' she explains of the scheme. 'The three bedrooms really lean into pattern, incorporate antique family heirlooms, and bring in new pieces in a way that feels deeply personal.'
Bunk Room: Designed for sleepovers, this room features a genius bespoke bunk bed and storage system. The single bed is the Jenny Lind Spindle Kids Twin Bed from Crate & Kids, all styled with bedding from Quince. The wallpaper is the Linnea wallcovering by Scalamandre.
Despite the richness of pattern and the sheer amount of layering throughout, the interiors retain an ease that makes them feel collected over time rather than decorated in one sweeping, slightly rushed install.
Much of that comes down to Cathryn’s ability to make highly considered decisions feel effortless. 'This really stems from my background working for luxury fashion designers and seeing how color and material are used across a collection,' she explains.
'Creating a cohesive palette throughout an entire home is incredibly important to me, especially in a space like this where one room flows directly into the next,' Cathryn adds.
Snug: Just off the primary bedroom, the snug room is the most idyllic escape for busy parents. The plaid-printed loungers are both from Rowe, sitting on a Marli Flatweave Wool Rug by Lulu & Georgia.
What ultimately makes this Austin home so memorable is that, despite its scale and architectural grandeur, nothing about it feels overly formal or untouchable. Every room invites you in.
Chairs are positioned for conversation rather than symmetry, textiles are chosen to soften rather than simply style, and even the most elegant spaces still feel entirely compatible with muddy shoes, children, dogs, and everyday family life.
'The goal was to bring function to each space so it could be enjoyed as originally intended, while also introducing a bit more playfulness and edge through the soft finishes,' Cathryn adds.
'The home has the most beautiful energy. There is so much love that’s been poured into it, and you can just feel it.'
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