Double Time

The last time Blake Trabulsi and Allison Orr had a party at their house in Austin, Texas, it lasted until 5 a.m. Observes Trabulsi: "People are so comfortable here, they never want to leave." That could have something to do with the gentle mien and modest scale of the couple’s ten rooms—–half in a 1930s bungalow and half in a new addition by Rick Black Architect (the Austin partnership of husband-and-wife architects Rick and Cindy Black). As Trabulsi, a graphic designer, and Orr, a choreographer, explain it, they aimed to expand without making the original obsolete. Here’s their story.

Trabulsi: We’d been living here since 1999, and when our rent went up, we asked our landlord if we could buy it. It’s in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Austin—–just five minutes from downtown, on a quiet residential street with a variety of architectural styles.

Orr: We thought about moving. But we love our neighbors; we just couldn’t leave them. And the house had a sense of history to it, which is important to us. But we needed a bigger kitchen—–the old one was tiny—–and the master bathroom was pretty gross. And because I work at home I needed to be able to commute to a room where I could close the door behind me. The idea was to create a separation between home and office.

Trabulsi: We talked about a two-story addition. But it would have been way out of our budget, and it would have overwhelmed the existing house. We figured out early on that we didn’t want to build something so large that the old spaces wouldn’t be used.