I’m so glad Austin’s excellent Tribeza Interiors Tour is back after a 2-year pandemic hiatus. On Sunday’s tour day, I managed to see all 7 of the featured houses, plus squeeze in a picnic lunch courtesy of my touring partner, in the 5 hours allotted to the tour. Whew! Seriously, can’t they start this thing at 9 or 10 am? We need time for bathroom breaks, planners.

Anyway, let’s kick off Part 2 of my coverage (here’s Part 1) with one of my favorite homes on the tour, for don’t-care-what-anyone-else-thinks personality and beautiful finishes: a jewel-box goth home (somehow it works!) in the South Manchaca neighborhood.

Amity Worrel & Co: Richmond Avenue house

What can I say about this home, designed by Amity Worrel & Co.? It blew me away with personality (which leans toward the supernatural and eerie), color, and an extravagant use of chainstitch-design wallpaper from Austin’s own Fort Lonesome, like the foyer’s Moon Snake Rhinestone pattern. (Click to see Fort Lonesome’s stunning and Austin-tatious wallpaper line, which you can view locally at Supply Showroom.) A white orb sconce surrounded by fluttering moths hangs high on the wall, moon-like. An Egyptian bust and pair of glossy tusks greet you on a niche shelf.

Next, you enter an informal dining room just off the kitchen, with a watercolor-like table (Kooij‘s Meltingpot), rounded velvety chairs, and a long, upholstered banquette. The same Moon Snake Rhinestone wallpaper and matching fabric wraps the space in its moody hue and busy pattern. Low on the wall, bats and insects are framed like a taxidermy display.

A moon-like pendant hangs over the table, and teardrop sconces add more lunar energy.

The kitchen surprised me with spring-green cabinets (I’d expected black), white tile, and white barstools patterned with cerise flowers or leaves. Designer Amity Worrel (in black) greets tour-goers in the kitchen.

The barstool fabric repeats in the wallpaper on the living room’s lofted ceiling, pulling your eye upward. Mauve drapes and a purple rug echo the paper’s dark-pink pattern. A chandelier made (I think) of thin, flexible wood strips hangs overhead, almost like a pendant flower.

A gothic curio cabinet anchors one end of the room, flanked by green armchairs that look as if they might scuttle away on folded legs.

I love the sofa fabric and unusual color combo here — burnt orange and mauve.

Rather than end the blue wallpaper at the edge of the kitchen cabinets, the designers cut around its design and let it float under the botanical ceiling paper. Here, a wide hall with arched doorways invites you down a surprisingly long corridor through the rest of the house. I overheard the designer say this was a spec house when the owner bought it in 2021, and she immediately hired the design team to transform the blank canvas and white walls with wallpaper and personality galore.

The hallway wallpaper — Fort Lonesome‘s Dreamland in mauve — perfectly accents the arch.

Dreamland wallpaper detail

See how it looks like stitched threads? Fort Lonesome specializes in custom chainstitched designs on fabrics, clothing, pillows, etc. They also make prints of some of their designs and turn them into art posters and wallpaper.

A spiked round mirror in the hall reflects a portrait of Sylvia Plath.

Kurt Cobain hangs alongside her — tragic artist companions.

A powder bath takes a break from all the bold wallpaper. Instead, black paint and a black sink allow art and lighting to shine. A painting of Jesus hangs alongside a glowing, anatomical heart sconce — the Sacred Heart, cleverly evoked.

A goth gallery wall features Morticia Addams, Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe, a haunted house, and a hairless cat. I’d soon see a resident hairless cat giving me the stink-eye, one of several cats placidly wandering among strangers in their house.

Across the hall, a small study with black bookshelves pops when you look up to see acid-green snake wallpaper.

A sitting room that opens to the hall shows off colorful, abstract wallpaper.

The sitting room leads to an enclosed porch with pink-stained concrete floor with painted insects, spiders, and vines.

There’s the hairless cat, preparing to leap onto a purple glider with green botanical cushions.

Let’s take a quick look back the way we came. This broad hallway with custom leopard-print rug and bold wallpaper reminds me of a boutique hotel with a modern Victorian vibe.

A small black vanity in a moody sitting room leads to the primary bedroom (at left) and bath (at right).

A vintage head planter holds tulips on a diamond-paned windowsill.

The bathroom features Illuminati eye wallpaper and black trim.

Robe hook and watchful eyes

In the bedroom, black wallpaper with nude women holding hands in a circle (occult energy, methinks) combines with an inky black ceiling. A daybed by the window offers more lounging space.

Continuing down the long hall you come to a black bench and more intriguing art.

And then the media room appears, with a glossy, iridescent, hot-pink-and-purple ceiling above hunter-green walls. Ka-pow!

Furnishings include a green-and-black patterned sectional with coordinating window shades and a ouija-board marble coffee table.

At the end of the hall, two kids’ bedrooms bookend a play space with a bookshelf, rabbit art, and a play kitchen.

One of the kids’ rooms is hot pink with a tropical botanical wallpaper on the ceiling and black-and-white striped curtains.

The other features leopards frolicking on a black background.

Wolf pup portrait

The kids’ bathroom is richly colored with whimsical botanical-and-dinosaur wallpaper, purple cabinetry, and hot-pink tile in the shower.

The sink faucets are purple to match. Bright red hand towels add even more color.

Broken heart art and wallpaper detail

By the back door, at a drop zone for bags and shoes, the hairless cat was waiting for me, still as a statue, staring intently at me. Was it even real? For a moment I wasn’t sure.

Aaaah, kind of creepy! And funny!

One last peek into a wildly wallpapered laundry room, and it’s time to move on to the next house. What a wonderfully outré house this was, with no hint on its white-and-black exterior (aside from a stenciled goth design on the front walk) at what’s inside.

Kopfer Taylor Interiors: Norris Drive house

At the next house, located in the Zilker neighborhood and designed by Kopfer Taylor Interiors, I admired a pretty dining room with a glass-bird chandelier and colorful abstract painting.

A mudroom features gold wallpaper with tropical flora and fauna, framed by black cabinetry.

A peek into the backyard reveals a big cistern in a neighbor’s yard (we saw another in Part 1). Austin residents, wisely, are very into water collection. California gardening friends have told me there’s much less of this going on in their drought-stricken state, and I wonder why it hasn’t taken off there.

More fun wallpaper in a music niche with records and player, a few books…

…and prayer votives for rock-and-roll stars.

An origami bison head hangs in a stairwell.

And in a kid’s room, a rocket blasts into space on an accent wall.

Avery Cox Design: Clarksville house

The last house, in the Clarksville neighborhood, measures only 768 square feet. Decorated by Avery Cox Design for a “modern-day bachelor,” the tiny 1920s bungalow has tons of charm thanks to restored shiplap, windows, and hardwood floors and jewel-toned, clean-lined furnishings.

A velvety green banquet amazingly seats about 8 next to a moody, peacock-blue kitchen. (See the designer’s website for pics.)

Green subway tile and a marble shower make an elegant scene in the compact bathroom.

In the closet, built-in storage and a stacked washer/dryer left room for a cushioned window seat and window that allows natural light into the tight space.

The small house was absolutely jammed with tour-goers, and I quickly retreated to the charming, fenced front yard, where a display of succulents in Italian pottery made a pretty ending for the tour.

For a look back at Part 1 of my favorite scenes from the 2023 Tribeza Interiors Tour, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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