Inside a Sprawling Texas Hill Country Ranch House Designed for a Multigenerational Family
For many, the ideal setup for a multigenerational property is one with several homes or casitas so that various family members and their guests have private space. But for one West Texas-based family, they wanted to build something on their Hill Country ranch, which spans several thousand acres, that allowed the owners, their children and their grandchildren to be together under one roof. Thus, their 18,000-square-foot family gathering spot was born. The rustic yet refined lodge has six bedroom suites plus two kids’ bunk rooms that each sleep nine.
Designed by Leslie Phillips-Greco of Corpus Christi, Texas-based Round Table Design, the the massive home is the family’s favorite place to gather and their primary vacation home. “The home is huge, so a challenge my team and I faced was not making it look like an 18,000-square-foot home,” Leslie Phillips-Greco tells Robb Report. “We wanted to delineate the spaces and make them feel cozy and intimate, yet beautiful and sophisticated.” Phillips-Greco worked with builder Laughlin Homes and Restoration on the project.
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To achieve this, materiality and furnishings were especially important, particularly in the home’s larger spaces, such as the great room, which measures in at a whopping 1,700 square feet with ceilings that soar to 35 feet. One of the room’s challenges was the lighting. Overhead fixtures weren’t ideal with the ceiling height, so each table was custom designed to accommodate tabletop lighting that is wired directly into the furniture to eliminate unsightly cords.
Millwork was a key focus for Phillips-Greco, and she strategically chose pieces, like the dark wood cabinetry in the kitchen, to give it more of a ranch feel. Even the bar in the great room was designed to look like an Old West saloon, but with a modern twist. Throughout the home, ironwork was hand-forged by local artisans, limestone was sourced from a local quarry, and reclaimed timber was brought in from the Midwest.
When it came to furnishings, Phillips-Greco employed a 60/40 rule: 60% vintage or antique and 40% purchased new or custom-made. Many of the antique pieces were sourced at Round Top, a town in Texas that hosts one of the largest antique shows in the country and is beloved by everyone from everyday collectors to A-list designers. In addition, the owners’ collection of museum-quality western art is thoughtfully displayed, including a pair of old stirrups discovered at Round Top, as well as several paintings commissioned to depict beloved spots on the ranch.
“The antiques and art bring a lot of charm and soul to the space,” the designer says. “In addition to the western art, certain elements, like the wildflowers on the property, were important to them, so we brought in accessories or books depicting wildflowers. We wanted to incorporate what they thought was important.”
Bedrooms are like plush hotel suites, each telling a different, serenely muted color story with a spacious private bathroom. There are a lot of kids in the family, so much effort was made to comfortably accommodate them as well. One of the bedrooms connects to a nursery, which the owner’s children trade off depending on who has the youngest child.
The girl’s bunk room features nine antique-looking iron beds dressed with whimsical printed bedding, while “The wallpaper in the boy’s bunk room originally featured an image of the Prada Marfa sculptural art installation in Marfa, Texas, but we removed that image and added oil wells because the family is in oil,” Phillips-Greco says. A playroom for the children also showcases custom wallpaper depicting corn stalks.
There are thousands of unspoiled acres on which the family and their guests can roam, but the manicured areas around the house host plenty of leisure and recreation options, too, including a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen and a tennis/pickleball court.
Click here for more photos of the multigenerational Texas Hill Country residence.
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