Conrad Karliss and his wife, Charlotte, know all too well that timing is everything in real estate. Their search for a home in Austin had stalled and they were growing discouraged when they spotted an ugly duckling on a quiet street in the North Loop neighborhood.

Charlotte was unimpressed, but Conrad, an architect, saw enormous potential in the 1940s structure. Rather than expanding up or out, the couple opted to work within the home’s 1,369 square feet and focus on improving its circulation by relocating the entrance and building a new front deck that runs the width of the house. Here, the couple share how they created a contemporary home for their family, which grew during construction to include their daughter, Bianca.

Beyond First Impressions

Charlotte: When we first saw the house, I thought, “This is bad.” But Conrad said, “You move this door, you add a window here, and you put in French doors to the back patio.” He kept saying, “You’re not buying the house now, you’re buying the potential after x, y, and z are done.” That changed my perception around how to make a smart buying decision.

Conrad: We’d looked at a good number of homes all over Austin, and this one had been sitting on the market for a while. But the bones were there. It was a matter of figuring out the circulation and connecting the interior spaces to the landscape.

Charlotte: The original flow of the house was off—you had to cross the living room to get to the kitchen. Conrad modernized the home by taking down the portico over the front door and moving the door. Then he flipped the window that was at the center of the house with a new front door that now lets in double the light.

Conrad: The gas meter was in the exact front center of the house, so relocating that to the side of the house was one of the large moves we had to get through with the city. We didn’t add square footage, but the idea was that the big deck in front would be a gathering space as well as an extension of the house.

It’s All About the Details

Conrad: I spent a lot of time working through details like the deck overhang and lighting it underneath so it appears to float. My experience is in designing and building hotels, and back- or under-lighting is something that’s common in hotel bars. Here, we mounted an inexpensive LED tape light up in the corner so there's a nice glow at night.

Charlotte: Another cool thing is that, throughout the house, you catch glimpses of the great landscaping that Conrad did.

Conrad: I thought about the landscape from the beginning, and a lot of the inspiration for the front yard came from Marfa. I wanted an authentic Texas feel with drought-tolerant plants and cacti. We got the two large sandstone slabs from a friend with a quarry in the Hill Country. We use one as the front step and the other is like a sculpture in the yard.

A Change in Course

Charlotte: The original bathrooms had been replaced with cheap materials by a previous owner, so we gutted both of them. We got two fairly inexpensive vanities from Home Depot and had custom concrete countertops made for them with integrated sinks. The imperfections in the concrete reduce the sterility of the spaces, which makes them feel warmer and more approachable.

Speaking of the bathrooms, Bianca ended up influencing the design of the house before she was even born.

Conrad: The guest bathroom had been fully roughed in, and we were ready to start installing the shower tile, when I showed Char’s mom the design. She asked, “Where’s your tub?” And I said, “What are you talking about?” And she said, “You’re going to need a tub to give a baby a bath.” I’d designed both bathrooms to have these really cool, curbless showers, not really thinking that a baby couldn’t use a shower. So we bought a great inset tub and wrapped the wall and the floor in this amazing tile from Clé. And we give Bianca a bath there every night.

It’s funny now, but at the time, money was tight and it was an additional change.

Home at Last

Conrad: Construction took less than a year. It helped that Char and I were on the same page, and that I was able to put together the drawings and work with the city to get everything approved. And we had a great contractor, Jose Lemus, and a great landscaper, Saul Martinez.

There’s a lot of pressure to execute when you’re designing for yourself, but I think the house shows that with a good layout and a good use of space, you don’t need a huge house. There are a few really nice moves, but overall it’s pretty simple. It’s a real family home.

More Construction Diary Stories:

They’d Never Designed an A-Frame Before—But They Aced the Build

Jaime Hayon’s 1920s Valencia Apartment Is a Master Class in Color

A Brooklyn Couple Revive an ’80s Time Capsule in the Catskills

Project Credits:

Architecture, Interior, and Landscape Design: Conrad Karliss, Karliss Homes / @karlisshomes

Builder: Jose Lemus, Lemus Construction

Also Appears In

Construction Diary: An Architect Sees the Potential in a Little Texas Home for His Growing Family