Austin Home
Changed for Life
Written by Gene Menez | Photography by Brian Mihealsick & Ryann Ford
Had Nelda Yaw been able to find someone, anyone who had the knowledge and desire to clean her “silly” white love seat last year, you wouldn’t be reading this story. You wouldn’t be flipping through these eight pages, looking at the photos of her completely renovated home, with its entirely new furnishings, or the ubercool art studio/ pool house/guest quarters/potential HomeAway gold mine in the back. But Yaw didn’t find someone to clean her love seat so you are reading this story, and that story begins with that love seat.
“As I walked him through the house, Mark started drawing things by hand,” Yaw recalls. “I looked at them, and they were new plans for the house. I said, ‘Let’s get rid of this hallway. Let’s take that window and move it down. Let’s take this win- dow out.’”
But Yaw didn’t find someone to clean her love seat so you are reading this story, and that story begins with that love seat.
“I was a single woman, and four years ago I fell in love, foolishly, with this 100 percent cotton velvet white love seat,” recalls the 53-year-old Yaw. “It was gorgeous.”
But 100 percent cotton velvet white love seats get dirty easily, espe- cially when two rambunctious granddaughters are running around. Yaw searched all over Austin trying to find someone who could clean it, but, because it was 100 percent cotton, no one would guarantee their work. Yaw tried to clean it herself but failed. Finally, last year she asked interior designer Mark Cravotta, who was working on an unrelated project for her, to come over to her Hyde Park home and help her have the love seat reupholstered.
“As I walked him through the house, Mark started drawing things by hand,” Yaw recalls. “I looked at them, and they were new plans for the house. I said, ‘Let’s get rid of this hallway. Let’s take that window and move it down. Let’s take this window out.’”
“I went from ‘Let’s recover this love seat’ to [spending] a lot of money,” she says, laughing.
What began as a simple upholstery job has evolved into a changed home for the changed lives of those who live there: Yaw, a former elementary school art teacher for eight years, who has owned the house since 2012; her husband of two years, Tennessee businessman Karl Buckman; Yaw’s two granddaughters, Sofi and Ella (now ages 8 and 7, respectively), who were adopted by Yaw last year; and their two supersize dogs, Phinnegan and Phoenix, who were both rescued from shelters.
The updates to the home’s landscaping—which was the first of the major projects to be initiated, in 2013—hints at the work on the inside. Formerly a space filled with palm trees and a tropical feel, the new backyard features plants that are native to Texas, giving the space a natural look.
“Nelda wanted us to create a space that made her feel comfortable and creative,” says Rodney Stoutenger, president and lead designer at Native Edge Landscape, which handled the project. “And
the previous tropical-like setting was not that for her.”A heated, rectangular pool sees a lot of action, whether it’s the girls doing flips into the water or Buckman swimming laps, even in the winter. The biggest change to the backyard, however, is the art studio. What once was a termite-damaged, rodent-infested garage that was original to the property has become a multipurpose space with two full beds and one queen-size Murphy bed, a half bath, a sink and gobs of stor- age, all in 297 square feet. Sliding doors that pocket and disappear into the wall allow Yaw to practice her encaustic painting “in nature.” “We were inspired by Nelda’s desire to have this indoor-outdoor experience and do her artwork in the backyard,” says project architect Brian Carlson, of McKinney York Architects, which designed the studio, “but still have the convenience of a bathroom, sink and art supplies.” A tour of the overhauled interior provides no hints that the home once was “a wreck” (Cravotta’s words) that had no flow and needed to be renovated “badly” (Buckman’s). The house had two inefficient bathrooms and one closet in the master bedroom that was woefully inadequate after Buckman moved in. The second bedroom was not ready to be shared by two elementary-school-age girls.
The remodel left virtually nothing untouched. Cravotta and Risinger Homes put in a wall in the master bedroom that doubled as a second closet. They gutted the central core of the house and replaced the two bathrooms. They either touched up or replaced the wood floors, kitchen cabinets, kitchen countertops, windows, doors and lighting.
The family, who moved out during the project, first saw the new space after a 10-week vacation, and the big reveal was worthy of an HGTV show. “It was like a reality show without cameras,” Cravotta recalls. “They were so excited. The girls were delighted. Nelda was delighted. I think Karl may have been in shock.”
The living room, which sits just inside the front door, features a circular brass Ochre light fixture. The adjacent dining room is anchored by a table that was designed by Cravotta and made by local furniture maker Michael Yates. For the sake of expediency,
Cravotta designed many of the pieces and had them made locally, including the hutch, the shelving system in the music room and the multifunctional loft bed in the girls’ bedroom. To Cravotta, the area that has undergone the biggest makeover is the room between the kitchen and the backyard. Prior to the renovation it was a “catch-all room” and wasn’t well defined. Today, the space is known as Karl’s Corner and has a Minotti chair and ottoman, high- end turntable, boutique Japanese-made amp and speakers so that Buckman can listen to his collection of vinyl records. “The house feels like it’s more of a home now,” he says.
The project, which was completed in the summer 2015, left no detail unattended. Every piece of furniture in the house is new, which means Yaw’s old pieces were jettisoned one way or another.
That includes the 100 percent cotton velvet white love seat, which now sits in the house of Yaw’s son, Kenny Haney, slipcovered and all.