Northern California Coast Inspired Bedroom, Austin Style

Even more so than my own kitchen reveal, today’s project could be my favorite to date. Both of us originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, we have been extremely home sick for our families. Exactly one year ago, my parents started house shopping for a second home in Austin, Texas. Quinn and I had prayed for this day for years, but never thought it would come to fruition. When my parents decided to split their time between Marin and Austin, it was one of the happiest days of our lives.

Things moved forward very quickly and Austin’s hot real estate market meant we needed to do some creative planning. Let’s just say, when they bought this house, we called it “The Faux Castle” for its psoriasis type patches of fake rock. Located just south of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake and a few blocks from Downtown Austin, my parents’ new Austin home underwent quite the transformation. It’s in the cutest neighborhood in Austin with so much personality, ample walkability, and a killer roof top deck.

Today, we’re going to start with the most simple transformation – the master bedroom. This space was originally pretty dark, with only the sliding glass door to let natural light in. The bedroom was open to the master bathroom’s vanity, while the shower and water closet had no windows at all. There was one small closet to the left of the vanity and the whole thing was pretty dismal.

Being my parents’ 9th remodel, they had a very clear idea of what they needed to make happen. They added two operable windows on the west facing exterior wall, a transom window over the glass slider door, plus an additional window in the shower room. They bumped out the wall to the upstairs family room (which used to be dead air space, but more on that later) to add a spacious second closet. They were able to salvage the beautiful solid wood doors from other parts of the home, paint everything Simply White by Benjamin Moore and ran beautiful white oak floors throughout.

Because they were out of state for most of the remodel, I got to play project manager and check in on the renovations once a week. We had used the same contractors on our kitchen (they’ll also be doing our bathroom renovations this summer!) and I was able to learn so much through the process. Let’s just say I have a deeper understanding and admiration for our interior design clients at IDCO Studio.

As the project wrapped up and they came back to Austin in January, I was able to help with the furnishings and styling of the space. Graciously, they let us host our Design Campers for a day of photoshoots, so I stayed behind one day at lunch to get their home photographed by Madeline Harper. You can skip ahead and see the kitchen renovation here.

We kept things neutral and textural in the bedroom. The oak bed has an upholstered linen headboard, so we contrasted that with indigo linen shams, silk throw pillows and a recycled cashmere throw. This leather woven bench came over from my house and makes the perfect spot to put on shoes in the morning or drop your bag at the end of the day. The chunky braided rug brought in cooler hues without darkening the space.

My mom’s plan for the whole house was to feel more modern than their Marin house (see their kitchen tour here) while still incorporating her love for antiques and well loved items. She brought in tons of vintage artwork, both from my Grandmother and thrifted, for a cool, collected look. Without further delay, below is the full photo tour of my parents’ South Austin master bedroom – very much inspired by the Northern California coast.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST INSPIRED BEDROOM SOURCES