Dempsey worked for an Austin architecture firm at the time, primarily designing Whole Foods grocery stores, but wanted to branch into residential design. She formed a partnership with the firm’s owner, John Beckham, bought the bottle-strewn double lot for $40,000 and applied for a construction loan through the city’s now-defunct Small Builder Program, which offered no-interest loans to developers who built homes for low- to moderate-income buyers. Dempsey also hooked up with Austin’s SMART Housing program, which waives city fees for builders who construct green low-income housing. Dempsey and Beckham each designed a house for the property, with Dempsey acting as general contractor for both.

The yearlong adventure of building the houses began in August 2004. At the outset, Dempsey wanted to be sure that residents didn’t feel like their neighborhood was being invaded, so she went door-to-door introducing herself and explaining the project. Still, locals viewed the construction as a curiosity. Some asked when the “offices” would be done; one person thought the Beckham-designed house, painted a bright yellow, was destined to be a drive-through restaurant.

The construction process also met a few obstacles. Materials disappeared, windows were broken, and occasionally, Dempsey would find someone sleeping or drinking booze in the houses. She remembers when a neighbor, clad in a bathrobe and slippers, went into the onsite portable toilet, carrying a newspaper. “It was stressful, and I lost a lot of weight—not in a good way.”

Green concepts define the house from the ground up. A concrete slab serves as the floor, while the exteriors are sustainable Hardiplank lap siding and 12-inch-thick insulated concrete blocks. The openings in the western walls are small to minimize the searing Austin heat, with most of the windows facing north and east, allowing indirect light in.

Dempsey wanted the house to offer varying views, so windows were placed at different heights. In the guest bedroom, which Regina uses for sewing, there is a “doggy window” by the floor, two waist-high windows, and one up toward the ceiling. A skylight punctuates the hallway, which leads off the main living space to the three bedrooms and two bathrooms, minimizing the need for lights, even on dark days. Sliding doors off the master bedroom and living space lead outside. At 1,230 square feet, the house is relatively small, but feels expansive.

The total construction cost, including the land, was about $110,000. For Regina and Andy the house forms a clean, unexpected backdrop for their quirky, Tex-Mex-influenced tastes. Glass shards from old bottles found on the site decorate the outdoor sills and fences, silver shoe forms hang from the patio roof, and a pair of steer horns is mounted above the stove. “My friends borrowed my van to go to Amarillo to eat 72-ounce steaks,” Andy explains. “They brought those back.”

Sitting in the living room, listening to a Django Reinhardt record on a 1970s turntable, the couple says they’ve become converts to Dempsey’s vision.

“I thought we’d end up in a 1930s bungalow, but now that we’re here I love it,” Andy says, clutching a beer can in a personalized koozie. “Most of our friends are in the service industry or they’re artists. They’re still renting. They couldn’t believe it when they saw this. I still can’t believe it.”

Dempsey was shooting for spare, almost industrial-looking lighting. She made the fixture above the kitchen sink from a porcelain socket, three to four feet of electrical cord, and a ceiling canopy. The elements, all available at big-box home stores, can be wired together at a lamp shop. Dempsey fashioned another light fixture with a floodlight kit by Sigma Electric using Silver Bowl incandescent bulbs.
www.1000bulbs.com
The kitchen shelving was made from three-by-three-by-one-quarter-inch aluminum angles, which Dempsey drilled at six-inch intervals and attached to the wall with anchors. The wood, two-by-ten lumber, was sanded and sealed with clear furniture wax and then attached to the angles with screws and finish washers. Andy copied the method in other areas throughout the house, like Regina’s sewing area where the shelves hold miles of ribbons. “I call last year the ‘Year of the Shelf,’” he says.
Westbrook Metals: (512) 453-6044 / www.homedepot.com
Sliding doors in the hallway conceal the laundry and storage areas, and also lead to Andy and Regina’s bedroom and bathroom/walk-in closet. Dempsey made the doors from one-and-a-half-by-one-and-a-half-inch welded steel angle frames and two-by-fours. She had holes drilled through the steel, then fastened the wood to the frame with drywall screws. Skateboard wheels roll the doors along tracks.
Westbrook Metals: (512) 453-6044 / www.homedepot.com

The desk in the guest bedroom was made from IKEA’s Pronomen beech countertop,cut to size, and mounted on aluminum angles attached to the walls.
www.ikea.com