An upscale home in the hills outside Austin

Texas Artisan Homes is a construction company based in Austin, Texas renowned for its highly original homes with a strong personal touch. It is a member of the Texas Association of Builders, which provides training and is actively involved in the construction legislation process. It has also won numerous awards. Texas Artisan Homes’ projects cater for the high-end luxury segment and have a distinctive character that draws from a variety of cultures, as president and chief designer Jerry Jhaveri explains: “We mostly drew inspiration from home design projects in Spain, Dubai and California that we had seen in Instagram posts. We wanted to bring that modern, clean-cut aesthetic to Austin, Texas so as to appeal to young industry professionals, particularly in the technology sector.”
One of the company’s latest projects is the Mediterranean Modern complex in Austin, in the hills overlooking the upscale lakeside neighbourhood of Waters Edge. The house has a floor space of almost 500 square metres and consists of a large living area with a high-end kitchen, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. For the interior finishes, the architects chose ceramic tiles from Panaria Ceramica: “From the exterior to the interior, the utmost care and thought has been considered including exterior Milano finish smooth stucco with smooth buff Lueder decorative cladding, high end wrought iron doors and custom-made exterior gas lanterns and sconce lights,” states the builder’s website. “The kitchen is built for a true gourmet and boasts Grey Goose marble counters, and a sub Zero Thermador kitchen package inside; while outside there is a Hestan outdoor kitchen package for outdoor entertaining and imported Italian water fixtures.”
For the floors and walls, the architects chose ZERO.3 laminated porcelain stoneware from Panaria Ceramica. The master bedroom features Breach Grey Lux slabs in a 120×260 cm size from the ZERO.3 Eternity collection, a revisitation of opulent blue-grey marble. In the living room, the walls surrounding the fireplace and the wine display wall are clad with Statuario finish, LUX version tiles with bookmatch decoration. Large Onyx Light Lux and Sandy Grey Lux slabs in the 100×300 cm size of the Trilogy 0.3 collection (thickness 5.5 mm) grace the bathroom walls. Last but not least, the floor is tiled with the Experience ZERO.3 collection, an original semi-gloss resin-effect slab with a very delicate texture. The distinctive characteristic of the line is its small thickness (6 mm for Eternity and 5.5 mm for Trilogy). “Panaria’s large format ceramic tiles use an industrial process to faithfully reproduce the look of natural stone. We believe that this type of wall covering creates a luxurious and elegant ambience while being easy to clean and durable,” says Jhaveri.
The value of this house lies not just in its aesthetics but also in the use of cutting-edge technology for the highest levels of energy performance. The windows are made of high-performance low-emission glass; insulation is provided by closed-cell foam roofing material; energy is supplied through photovoltaic panels; the toilets are low-flow; internal shading is provided by automatic blinds; all paints have a low VOC content.