The Old Stone House
In this reflection we are excited to share with you a project we've been working on that marks a big step in the life of Slaughter Design Studio. We are getting our own building!
But first a bit of history.
Since we first moved to Fredericksburg in 2005, the growth of SDS has been an organic journey full of many relationships, beautiful and challenging projects, growth and exploration of style, and much more. While I had already established my interior design career by the time we arrived, getting a start in a new town was a daunting prospect. But isn't it amazing to look back and see the people and relationships that get dropped in our path? They shape our lives.
My career in Fredericksburg began with word getting around that I was a designer and I was invited to help out with a few finishing projects. One of the first people I had the pleasure of working with was Richard Laughlin at Laughlin Homes & Restoration (he comes back into the story later.) One job led to the next. The now famous Boot Ranch was just getting running and I had the pleasure of being involved in many projects there over the years, from the club house redesign to spec homes going up in the development. Being always interested in expanding and growing my repertoire, I branched out from there to other interesting arenas and styles. My career in Fredericksburg grew organically along the way with one project leading to another, one client on to another, relationship to relationship. All of these have been woven together into a rich tapestry of a career and life, with many interrelated threads of color.
When I started out it was just me working from home but, as you can imagine, the samples and swatches and small kids running around didn't mix too well, so I moved into a little studio office. When that got too small, it was on to the Chase Bank building on Main street where we are now. This has been a good time, with room to grow, room for a big library filled with colors, cloths, tiles, and textures. But, while it has been a good season here, a new exciting one is beginning now.
A place of our own.
Having our own building has long been a dream, so when the old Comcast building on N. Llano st. came up for sale, we realized that the time had arrived. If you're not familiar with the building it is an old "Sunday House" originally built in 1849 and added onto in 1895 by German ranchers. The Sunday House is an architectural style unique to Fredericksburg. They were built by German immigrants to combine the rugged needs of early farming in the Texas Hill Country with their strong desire for town community life. So they would farm and ranch out of town during the week but come in for market, social life, and church on the weekends. Being built to only be used on the weekends, they are modest, one or two room affairs, with a loft for sleeping.
Since moving to Fredericksburg, I have absolutely fallen in love with the cultural history of the town and renovating "The Old Stone House", as we call it, has been a wonderful connection point to that history for me. As we've peeled back the layers and taken it down to foundations we get to look back to the dirt floors and first planks that were milled and we've been able to salvage much. We will be reusing original doors, glass panes, long leaf pine floors planks. We even were able to mill the old cottonwood tree that had been growing into one of the walls and had to be taken down. The planks are drying now and we plan to use them for a big table in our sample library. We can't wait to see clients laying out samples on the planks milled from this property.
Planning permits are approved, construction is beginning in the coming weeks, and we couldn't be more excited. Appliances, fixtures, colors have all been chosen. We're fitting the building out not just to be an office, but a showcase of SDS design style. Richard Laughlin, at Laughlin Homes & Restoration, who gave me one of my first projects in Fredericksburg all those years ago, is taking the helm of construction as general contractor. Isn't it serendipitous how things come full circle like that!
A place of our own will give us a bit more visibility and presence in the community, which is a good thing. I'm usually more focused on the quality of the work and the relationships, but I realize that many folks don't know me and what I do. So I really hope that this will increase my exposure to the community and lead to more of the interesting and beautiful projects that I love to work on, and most importantly, the new relationships that come along with them!
While no one knows what the future holds, I feel like this is going to be the permanent home for SDS. It is a perfectly sized building for my needs. When you're young and ambitious you dream of big things and spectacular success, but I've found that the scale I'm working at with my small team, hands on, engaged with each client on a personal level, makes for the most deeply satisfying design work and relationships. So setting up in the 1100 sqft historic Old Stone House, designed and finished beautifully, with my carefully curated team is exactly the right fit.
Feel free to swing by 711 N.Llano St, if you're passing by. You might see my dad swinging a hammer as he has had a blast jumping into the demo work. We are excited about the next phase of the journey and look forward to sharing it with you as we go along.
*These writings are a collaborative effort between Slaughter Design Studio, and Ben Rodgers Pivotol. We do the designing and thinking, they capture it in words and “essence” so we can share it with you!