“When you work with a remodel, depending on how far you want to take the work, you are either careful and consider the existing structure or you treat it as a blank canvas,” he says. They worked with the shape of the building to make it “appear less imposing from the street” as well as clean up the elevations to make them more pedestrian in scale by rebuilding the front porch and carport. The exterior, a blackened sugi ban-esque wood, brings warmth and resiliency, and has an “alligator-like texture to it,” says the architect. Photo 3 of 25 in Before & After: She Renovated Her Austin Home With an Unusually Specific Aesthetic

Before & After: She Renovated Her Austin Home With an Unusually Specific Aesthetic

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Arredondo lightly reworked the home’s shape to make it "appear less imposing from the street." In part, this meant rebuilding the carport and front porch. The exterior is now clad in yakisugi, which has an "alligator-like texture to it," says the architect, and makes it naturally weatherproof.