The very best remodels comprise a couple of necessities: a transformative earlier than and after, no scarcity of setbacks turned design epiphanies, and in fact, a narrative. It’s a story born by way of an intensive inventive course of—one which’s formed organically by way of intention and a collaborative strategy. For Harper Smith, an completed style way of life photographer, and her husband, Midland guitarist Cameron Duddy, it was evident from the start of their Dripping Springs, Texas top-to-bottom rework: they wouldn’t be afraid to have a bit of enjoyable.

Alongside that, an entire dismissal of conference. (In any case, innovation solely occurs if you function exterior the strains.) The couple labored with designer Amy Pigliacampo to deliver their imaginative and prescient for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom challenge to life. And quite than conducting the primary assembly in-office or by way of Zoom, Amy packed up her truck and drove 17 hours solo to camp with Harper and Cameron of their Airstream. She displays on the journey, calling it “a crash course in all issues Harper.” The expertise helped Amy and Harper attain a shared design center floor—discovering frequent footing in every girl’s “undefinable inventive course of.”

Featured picture by Claire Schaper.

Tour Cameron Duddy and Harper Smith’s Dripping, Texas Dwelling

It’s proof that persistence and an unfettered embrace of creativity pays dividends. What’s extra, with a lot of their lives spent on the street, Harper and Cameron naturally sought a rustic haven for his or her passions and pursuits exterior of their skilled work. With that, the house is grounded by an evident worth of household. The couple has a younger son, Kitt Cassidy and an always-budding farm of canine, cats, pigs, chickens, donkeys, and extra. Ample area is devoted not solely to deal with the {couples}’ classic finds however to assist their love of gathering and connection.

The lengthy eating desk rapidly transforms right into a post-dinner card recreation and the stand-up piano is the place of many an impromptu live performance. You step inside, and it’s instantly evident: inventive individuals dwell right here. Considerate individuals dwell right here. Individuals who each need to make the world all of the extra stunning and vibrant—whereas additionally leaning into its simplicity. Let’s take a tour.

This challenge was conceived with distinctive beginnings—tenting together with your purchasers of their Airstream, permitting you to realize a deep understanding of what they wished from their residence. How did attending to know your purchasers on such a private degree positively affect your course of and the ultimate consequence?

I ask Amy this, deeply curious in regards to the extent to which this challenge differed from different remodels she’s labored on previously. She displays on her and Harper’s mutual historical past—a background that reaches again to the previous decade when each girls labored in style. They have been briefly launched, however as Amy notes “the universe clearly had plans for us, however we have been a bit of early.”

Quick ahead these ten-plus years to when Amy discovered herself street tripping to Spherical High, Texas the place they kicked off the challenge. “We mainly had a sleepover that evening and talked about all of the issues.” (She provides as an apart, a want to repeat this with each consumer.) From the expertise, it was clear that “in the end, we wished the identical issues out of the challenge.”

What in regards to the property resonated with you? Contemplating that all the pieces within the residence was redone, the place did you see the potential within the area?

With Midwestern roots, Harper isn’t any stranger to a life on the farm. Having grown up in Iowa, area to roam and discover her passions took precedence. “The wraparound porch was main,” she says. Nostalgia—that inescapable sense—sealed it. “The movement of the home jogged my memory of my childhood residence, with the fireside because the central pillar.”

And naturally, Harper loves a problem, notably within the type of a home challenge. “This residence had simply sufficient to like with simply sufficient to repair.” An ideal steadiness of give and take.

Have been there parts of the unique construct that you simply wished to maintain? How did you weave in components of the unique structure into the ultimate design?

Good bones give a designer loads to work with, providing the liberty to iterate whereas additionally offering a peek into a house’s previous. From creating such an intimate understanding of her purchasers’ wants, Amy knew that whereas the “nearly quintessential Texas farm home” structure was a bonus, Harper and Cameron wished to seek out their private imaginative and prescient throughout the last design. “The primary strains and form of the home stayed the identical,” notes Amy. “Along with main repairs and a main suite addition they have been ready to make use of supplies that felt contemporary however nonetheless traditional.”

What have been a few of the main modifications you targeted on within the redesign?

Amy shares that the first focus centered on the house’s exterior, noting that it was in determined want of a refresh and a technique to tie the addition into the unique residence. “Their builders, SRD, actually listened and collaborated. [They cleaned] up the strains, textures and drained supplies, unifying all the pieces with easy board and batten siding, a steel roof, and superb new home windows.”

But it surely took changing the home windows and including a brand new, customized entrance door that reworked the house “from drained to love new with out stripping away any of the character,” Amy observes. Conscious of this push-pull pressure inherent in any renovation—eager to honor the unique character whereas additionally giving the area a contemporary really feel—required a lot enter and leaning into completely different views. “In the long run, everybody received it and made it occur,” says the designer.

What’s your concept of “farm life”? How did that affect what you wished from the house? How does it manifest within the last challenge? 

As a metropolis lady myself, I ask Harper this with real curiosity. I need to perceive how a quiet life—one which’s deeply linked to the character and animals that encompass and assist it—informs not solely the design course of, however how one inhabits that area.

“If I might have put a ramp as much as each window to permit my animals to greet me every morning, I’d have,” she says, noting that “all rational individuals concerned within the challenge” shut the concept down. However with an unfaltering conviction and maybe a tone of wistfulness, she clarifies: “Farm life to me is just listening to the noises of your personal human and furry household. Each day chores devoted to caring for the animals, and the potential to boost and rescue extra.”

“We simply added a brand new buddy to the household (my Christmas current). Honey Bear, the Highlander cow. So I suppose the brief reply is that I can commerce within the finer presents in life for soiled, noisy, loopy farm pals.”

There’s a deep sense of character woven all through the house. From the pictures alone, it’s straightforward for somebody to construct an understanding of who lives there. How would you describe the expertise and feeling you have been seeking to create within the last design?

Harper’s fast to slate herself and Cameron as “eclectic,” and I really like her conviction when describing her final want for what the house can be. “I wished this place to be painfully private, i.e., not for everybody. We wished to take dangers and keep away from protected.”

Her phrases apply in a much wider sense, chatting with what one ought to really feel in any inventive endeavor when bumping up towards a real and genuine last consequence. “There have been occasions I assumed we went too far, which on reflection I feel is what you must really feel when making a eternally area.”

Finally, it was a daring and unabashed breaking down of boundaries that led Harper and Cameron to a house reflective of the place their lives have been and how they want to orient themselves to the longer term.

This space of Texas is thought for its beautiful panorama and stunning pure parts. How did you search to combine the redesign into the encircling setting?

Amy sums up this space of Texas in naming its definitive “magical” high quality. There’s romance alive in its lush, ample nature—an ideal place to play with the design of a house. “Harper and Cam’s private type had developed, and they each wished to include extra trendy supplies in some actually enjoyable and stunning methods.”

As a result of the rework required a lot work, a stretched funds pressured the couple to get inventive. Amy cites a couple of examples, together with calacatta viola marble, customized cabinetry, and plaster work—to not point out making their very own tile when what they wished was out of funds.

Amy embraced the couple’s need for a deeply private home. The house “is full of so many home windows and mild”—to not point out a scarcity of neighbors due to the property’s 22 acres. As such, “there wasn’t actually a have to deliberately combine the surface in.” And in that manner, as she notes, it grew to become merely one other factor of the house.

With something we take from an concept to concrete actuality, it’s gratifying to see it evolve into one thing that expands previous the place you initially sought to land. It’s a simultaneous intentionality and openness to the method that leads you to someplace that feels so clearly and distinctly like residence.