Lakeway runs from shady 1970s lake streets near the old resort to the tall, wide open houses of Rough Hollow, and those two homes need very different plans. River Jane & Co. is an interior designer with a studio in Spicewood, about 25 minutes west, and Lakeway is an easy drive for us. Start with a free 15 minute call and we'll set up a consultation from there.
- From our studio
- About 25 minutes, 13 miles
- First step
- A free 15 minute call
- Consultation
- About an hour, in your home or virtual, depending on the project
- Design Strategy
- From $999, plan in 7 to 14 days
- Call or text
- 512-883-3767
Two Lakeways under one name
Drive in off RR 620 and you pass through two versions of Lakeway. Near Lakeway Resort and Spa and the marina, the streets are older and shadier, with ranch houses, split levels and lake homes that have been added onto more than once. Out toward Rough Hollow, Serene Hills and Lakeway Highlands, the houses are newer, taller and open from front door to back patio.
Those houses need opposite things. The older one usually has too many walls, a kitchen tucked in a corner and trim that's working way too hard. We start by deciding what stays: a good stone fireplace, a vaulted ceiling, the one view window somebody got right. The newer one has the reverse problem. The walls are gone, the ceiling is 20 feet up, and the sofa from your last house suddenly looks like doll furniture. There the job is scale, lighting that works after dark, and giving every zone of a big great room something to do.
Living in the older kind? Our whole-home interior design page explains how a remodel gets phased. In a newer build, start with new-build interior design.
The west wall is the best and worst thing in the house
Lakeway sits on the south shore of Lake Travis, so plenty of living rooms look out across the water toward the afternoon sky. From mid afternoon to sunset that glass pours heat onto the sofa, bleaches a stripe across the rug and turns the TV into a mirror. It's the room you bought the house for, and in August it's the room nobody can sit in at 5 pm.
Plan for that before you pick a single fabric. Solution-dyed and performance weaves hold their color. Art and anything precious goes on walls that don't catch direct sun. Seating faces the view but still works as a room once the shades come down.
That's where The Shade Haus, our own shade line, earns its keep. Motorized shades start at $399 a window and make sense on tall glass nobody can reach. Cordless Roman and roller shades start at $299 a window for bedrooms and dining rooms. For more, read motorized shades for west facing lake views.
Golf course houses in The Hills and Flintrock Falls
Homes around The Hills Country Club and the Nicklaus course at Flintrock Falls tend to run more formal than lakefront houses. Dining rooms actually get used, entries are bigger, and the long view is fairway and oak instead of water. These houses can carry a more tailored look: fewer pieces, better pieces, more wood tone and a lot less beach.
Plenty of them were finished in heavy Tuscan and Mediterranean palettes. We don't rip out good stone or iron because it's out of style. We change what surrounds it, so the stone reads as a feature again and stops being one more brown thing in a brown room.
Plan for the Saturday you actually have
Lake weekends here fill up. Grown kids come home, friends bring their kids, somebody always brings a dog. A house that handles that needs a few things builders tend to skip, and they're cheap to plan and expensive to add later.
Our Design Strategy, from $999 per room, is where these get drawn up before anything is bought. If you want the bigger lake house picture first, our guide to lake house interior design on Lake Travis is a good read, and so are our pages for nearby Bee Cave and Hudson Bend.
- A bath near the back door, so swimmers aren't dripping down the main hall.
- A drop spot for wet towels and life jackets that isn't the sofa.
- Honed or leathered stone on the island, which hides fingerprints far better than polished.
- Dimmers on every kitchen light, so dinner isn't lit like a dentist's office.
- A bunk or flex room that sleeps a crowd without looking like a hostel.
