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The interior designer's 1898 rustic home in Texas is alive with charm.
Inside the 120-Year-Old Austin Farmhouse Claire Zinnecker Brought Back to Life
The interior designer's 1898 rustic home in Texas is alive with charm.
Welcome to The Makers. Each week, we celebrate innovators, artisans, and crafters of all types by taking you on a private tour of their creative spaces. For this instalment, we tour interior designer Claire Zinnecker’s 1898 Victorian Farmhouse in Austin, Texas.
A dilapidated house in the middle of Texas isn’t everyone’s idea of a dream home, but when interior designer Claire Zinnecker first laid eyes on this 1898 Victorian Farmhouse in Austin, she “knew it had to be mine.”
But it wasn’t just a simple fixer-upper project. In addition to renovating “the whole house”, Claire and her husband had to move the entire home from the lot it was on, which had been purchased by a developer.
“When I walked into this house at its old location, it was in a state of disrepair,” said Claire. “But I saw glimpses of the high ceilings behind the dirty sheetrock and bits of the original floor under layers of linoleum.” These romantic remnants of the original home inspired Claire to make it her own. With determination and a clear vision, she was able to use the bones of the home to create the cosy European-style farmhouse we see today.
Recreate Claire's look with the Lavender Bedding Set, and Hazelnut Sheet Set.
Claire received the metaphorical keys to her dream home in November 2020, and began renovations immediately. “It wasn’t livable when we moved it out to our property so it was years of work – some hired out and some by ourselves,” she said. From adding a new roof to installing plumbing, insulation, and an electricity system, no stone was left unturned when it came to bringing this space back from the dead.
Claire’s definition of a beautiful home is “one that looks collected and lived in. I want to be able to walk into a home and understand the owner without ever meeting them,” she said. And by this measure, her home delivers in spades. “It has been a slow labour of love which has allowed me to gather, collect and take my time in how she came together,” she said. “I definitely let this house speak to me. Everything is special but nothing is priceless.”
Claire founded her boutique interior design group Claire Zinnecker Design in 2013, where she pairs unique style with her passion for clean, affordable design. Claire's styling has been featured in The Makers series before, where her gift for making spaces shine was showcased in Camille Styles' Austin home tour.
From the raw timber beams scaling the ceiling to the slatted timber walls, and original casement windows, the 120-year-old Austin home exudes a timeless charm and rustic elegance. Every crack and every creak makes this home feel alive, breathing with the long history of the life it lived before.
In this space, Claire has eschewed her classic “Japanese minimalism meets California/Mexico modernism” style; instead leaning into a cottage farmhouse aesthetic that perfectly complements the original features.
Leaving the bones of the house to speak for themselves allowed Claire to play around with the furniture and decor she’s styled the space with. “I love our vintage stove and fridge – somehow they work better than most modern appliances and were very affordable.” One of Claire’s favourite pieces in the home is her dining room table: “It was the most expensive furniture piece I think I’ve bought for myself.”
I definitely let this house speak to me. Everything is special but nothing is priceless.
- Claire Zinnecker
The renovation project was not only a realisation of Claire’s vision for her dream home, but instrumental in building her dream life. “Finding this house and meeting my husband and falling in love with each other as we remodelled it (and getting married here) was probably the best thing that’s happened to me”.
As for what’s next? Well, Claire and her husband have a new project awaiting them this year. “We are currently expecting! So I’m trying to wrap my head around adding a baby into the home!”
For more from Claire, follow her @clairezinnecker
Photography by Lindsay Brown. Styling by Claire Zinnecker.
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