This West Lake Hills House Has Year-Round Outdoor Appeal – Austin Monthly

The list of skills a custom homebuilder needs to be successful is extraordinarily long. The ability to effectively collaborate with architects and property owners is certainly a big one, but so too is an encyclopedic knowledge of building materials, construction techniques, and the intricacies of zoning and permitting.

But one quality that is easy to overlook is empathy with clients. Greg Reynolds, the owner of Reynolds Custom Homes, is convinced that hes better at what he does because he goes through the process of designing and building the home his family lives in every few years. I think it makes you a better builder because you have gone through the process and understand there are limitless choices of materials and fixtures and tiles, he says. There are so many options that it can be overwhelming.

Reynolds most recent experience designing and building a home is in West Lake Hills, where lots are both difficult to find and generally on sloping terrain. So, Reynolds and his family were particularly happy to find a 1-acre flat lot to build on. To help with the design, Reynolds turned to James LaRue of LaRue Architects and Julie Evans of JEI Design, the team he has worked with on two previous homes hes lived in. We have a familiarity and understand each other, he says. Its a good collaborative effort.

As is the case with all of his clients, LaRue started the process by taking Reynolds on a walk of the site, part of a four-lot subdivision, in order to develop an overall concept for the design. The lot is distinguished by the presence of oak and cedar trees, which city regulations said needed to be preserved.

To accomplish that, LaRue and Reynolds agreed to put the design emphasis on facilitating outdoor living. The result is a two-story home built largely around a pool and cabana. Its unusual to say youre going to focus a house on the cabana, so it has to be a beautiful part of the home, LaRue says. In this case, it provides the home a visual focus and a gathering space to draw people outside of the house.

Given the importance of the pool and cabana, its no surprise that LaRue and Reynolds agreed that both had to be special. The cabana has a slatted wood screen in the back to give it a spa-like experience, while ensuring that a cooling breeze and natural light can circulate easily while also providing privacy. The lines between inside and outside space are also blurred within the cabana, with a limestone fireplace, television, and a dining area located just a few feet from the pool.

Ensuring a connection between those splashing in the water on a hot day and those seated inside the shaded cabana was also a design objective. The solution: setting the cabana three steps below the surface of the pool. When Im in the pool and youre in the cabana, we are more eye-level, LaRue says. If you set it level with the pool, then I lose connection to people in that space.

The aspiration to turn the pool and cabana into the homes focal point has very much become a reality for the Reynolds family. Its our favorite spot, and we orient around it year-round, the builder says. Even in the winter, we put a wood-burning fire out there and watch football. Its a destination.

By no means is the outdoor space the sum total of this five-bedroom, two-story home. But in thinking about how to design indoor spaces, Reynolds and LaRue still had the outdoors in mind. One thing we try to do is get a lot of natural light in the house, so theres a ton of glass in the house, Reynolds says.

Indeed, the faade and the back of the home are largely made up of glass. This was achievable without transforming the home into a hothouse because it has a north-south orientation. Even the decision to detach the cabana from the main home was largely driven by natural light considerations. When you dont have a deep porch on the house, it allows for more natural light on the house, Reynolds says.

Maximizing family connections was also part of the thinking in designing the breakfast room and kitchen. Instead of creating a traditional alcove with a table as a breakfast spot, LaRue wanted to make the area part of a larger family living space. That way the kids can play a game or watch TV, and it gets you in a nice table setting so that youre not always eating at the kitchen island, he says.

Its a reality of life as a homebuilder that even the houses you design and construct to live in wont be yours for all that long. In other words, you always have to have an eye on features that will attract future buyers. Which is why Reynolds was insistent on creating a spacious master bathroom and closet. We used to see big master bedrooms, he says. Not anymore. We put the space in the bathrooms and closets.

The result here is what LaRue calls the worlds coolest powder room, which is enhanced by Julie Evans choice of black and white, zebra-like wallpaper.

Another nod to the possible needs of a future owner is the versatility of the house, which is suitable either for a family or a retired couple. For example, the upstairs of the house has three full bedroom suites. We built it for a family, but you could live in it as an empty nester, where you live on one story and have the other for friends and family when they come in town, Reynolds says.

Typically, the builder says his family will stay in a home for two to three years before moving on. While moving so frequently certainly has its challenges, he says its also a good reminder about why he got into the business in the first place. This is fun for me, he says. Its cool to take a raw piece of dirt and build something amazing on it. That is the best part of the building business; you get satisfaction at the end.

But when it comes to actually moving away from this particular home, Reynolds may have some explaining to do to his youngest son, who has thoroughly embraced the outdoor living that the pool affords. He has lived in plenty of houses, Reynolds says. He has told us he would be happy to stay here.

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This West Lake Hills House Has Year-Round Outdoor Appeal - Austin Monthly