Years of attending interior design and architecture tours have taught me not to expect much in the way of landscape design. Making a beautifully designed home, for many, doesn’t extend beyond the front stoop, or maybe the money runs out before a landscape architect or designer gets hired to turn the yard into a welcoming extension of the house. Empty lawns and sparsely planted beds are the rule rather than the exception.

Shoal Creek Blvd: Rebekah Gainsley and Laura Roberts

Happily that wasn’t the case with most of the homes on Austin’s annual Tribeza Interiors Tour last Sunday. One home in particular, on Shoal Creek Boulevard, wowed me with a contemporary, walled shade garden. Creating privacy from the busy street, a 6-foot, graphite-colored stucco wall capped with limestone offers access via a see-through steel-slat gate and casual walkway of cut limestone. Arching hesperaloe leaves cast interesting shadows on the wall, and winter-reddened Virginia creeper adds a dash of color along the top.

Inside, a serene, lushly planted woodland garden provides shelter from the summer sun and a beautiful view for those inside the home.

Embraced by a low, L-shaped wall, a small patio of cut stone offers seating for two. The home’s dining room opens up to this inviting space.

In back, the living room opens onto a small wooden deck that steps down to an intimately scaled stone patio. Matching faux-wicker love seats face a steel fire pit. Just a few yards beyond, a sheer cliff overlooks heavily wooded Shoal Creek. Notice the wooden bollards and boulders lining the cliff edge, providing a feeling of security without obstructing views.

A zigzagging path of cut limestone set in gravel leads around back of the house.

Economical and water-permeable gravel extends to the right of the patio, leading to a second deck connected to the kitchen. Both decks — the small one off the living room and larger one by the kitchen — are edged with steel planters that give a feeling of security to the elevated spaces.

The kitchen deck is lined on three sides with bench seating — perfect for parties.

A tracery of fig ivy adorns a wall by the fire pit patio.

But of course this was an interiors tour, and there were many lovely spaces inside the Shoal Creek house, which was designed by the homeowner, Rebekah Gainsley, and Laura Roberts. In the dining room a floor-to-ceiling dropcloth painted with Monet-esque florals stands in for a traditional piece of art. The dreamy flowers are echoed on the sideboard in a tall bouquet set against a tarnished mirror.

A stump side table and leafy branch in a vase make it seem as if the dreamlike painting is coming to life.

The master bath, with midnight-blue Venetian plaster walls and a white soaking tub, overlooks the wooded garden.

I think I might live in my bathroom if it looked like this.

Hemphill Park: Killy Scheer

Other houses captured my heart with witty, botanical, or patterned wallpapers, like this paperback book wallpaper in the powder room of the Hemphill Park house designed by Killy Scheer. What a perfect paper for the reading room, eh? Notice that glossy, bright-orange door too.

My touring companion, Cat, got a kick out the wallpaper too.

Southill Circle: Sarah Wittenbraker

Being a color and pattern lover, my favorite interior design on the tour may have been the Tarrytown home of designer Sarah Wittenbraker. The dining room wallpaper looks, at first glance, like a Victorian trellis design.

A closer look reveals carnivorous plants! Pitcher plants and Venus fly traps, jaws agape, look ready to eat too. (Ms. Treat wallpaper by Grow House Grow)

A small music room/library showcases a shimmering agate wallpaper (Kashmir Kaleidoscope by York Wallcoverings), with a bold floral fabric on the piano seat. The sheet music on display? “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones and “Seven Nation Army” by Jack White. Yaaas.

I went gaga over this powder room. A fantastical design of flora and fauna runs riot on the wallpaper (Thistle by Kristjana S Williams), grounded by a graphic black-and-white floor tile and black trim. A psychedelic butterfly picture and romantic bouquet on the vanity are perfect finishing touches.

A closeup of the wallpaper’s cavorting horned zebras

A pass-through butler’s pantry showcases a textural backsplash of broken mosaic tile by Ann Sacks. Combined with the dusty pink cabinetry, there’s something charmingly ’80s about this.

I’m swooning over this graphic black wallpaper (Deconstructed Stripe in Ivory on Black by Schumacher) and black and white trim along the stairs. A Fornasetti face with rainbow-hued flowers for hair adds color.

How many dated wet bars have you seen, with obligatory mirrored back wall? Not here. Wittenbraker updated hers with psychedelic mushroom wallpaper (Forager Black (M) by 17 Patterns), brass shelving, Moroccan tea glasses, old-fashioned silhouettes, and a fun, modern bust of George Washington.

Voila! A trippy spot to mix a drink.

Just off the kitchen, a series of Willie Nelson portraits caught my eye.

How fun is this? America’s most beloved outlaw, singer-songwriter Willie Nelson, is transformed in these paintings by Anne Genung (her website’s tagline: “Show me your Willie”) into Parisian Willie, Ziggy Stardust Willie, Cowboy Willie, and Native American Willie.

Brackenridge Street: Kim West

Eye-popping wallpaper featured in many of the homes on tour, and this was another favorite: a floral extravaganza (Hello Yarrow in Natural by Abigail Borg) in designer Kim West‘s powder room. West is a co-founder of Supply Showroom, which offers a treasure trove of bold wallpapers and fabrics.

Butler Cove: Lisa Parker

In the West Lake Hills home decorated by Lisa Parker, a bold palmetto leaf wallpaper on a pink background (Petticoat Palm by Grow House Grow) made a big impression.

Another look

I also enjoyed this tiled backsplash of layered circles in the kitchen.

Casa Cartel, Crooked Lane: Chris McCray and Jantzen Matzdorff

But the showstopper of the tour, for sheer wow power and over-the-top hacienda vibe, had to be Casa Cartel, remodeled by owner Jantzen Matzdorff in collaboration with Chris McCray. Built in the 1970s by restaurateur Abraham Kennedy of El Gallo, this South Austin villa is now a short-term rental with 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.

In the living room, a 20-foot-high, Mayan-themed mural painted by Curiot Tlalpazotl greets you, along with an enormous crystal chandelier and a coffee table made from a cross-section of a massive tree trunk. The scale of the place is astounding.

The mural design continues on a curved wall that wraps around a staircase (and check out the cool sombrero-style circular bench)…

…and continues up the stairs.

A coral-pink vestibule contains a writing desk and opens onto a swimming pool and swath of faux lawn.

At another entrance, a set of horns affixed to the wall makes a one-of-a-kind hat or coat rack.

The raw-edge dining table is one massive plank of wood. As Casa Cartel’s website explains: “A team of over 10 people moved the dining table into the house; an astounding single piece of wood measuring 13-1/2’ long x 5-1/2’ wide and 4” thick made from the hardwood Parota.” Stools covered in colorful serape fabric provide seating.

That’s a lot of seating.

The upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms are wonderfully kitschy with matador and religious art. This tiled bath with a carved mirror and turned-wood pendants caught my eye.

In one bathroom with an extravagant circular tub, a pair of golden wings hangs on the tiled wall, and I goaded my friend Cat into posing for a picture. Who could resist being an angel? (Just for a moment!)

That’s it for my tour photos. But I’ll wrap this up by sharing two fun botanical fabrics spotted recently at Supply Showroom and James Supply.

This adorable embroidered fabric, Desert Friends by Coral & Tusk, features desert flora and fauna, including prickly pear, saguaro cactus, armadillos, jackrabbits, and roadrunners. Supply Showroom carries a whole line of fabrics by Coral & Tusk, and I exclaimed over every one. I actually have a pillow in this fabric that I treasure, a gift from my sister.

And at James Showroom, I fell in love with this passionflower fabric, Caerulea by Lake August. Passionflowers that bloom in every season. Wouldn’t that spark joy in your home?

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.