Before & After: Ann Edgerton Takes the ’80s Out of Her Texas Ranch House
The Dwell 24 alumnus jumps into Hill Country life with a holistic remodel that pairs vintage finds with new works from her furniture studio, Muhly. "I really like fresh starts," she says. "Like, let’s leave it all behind, you know?"
The Dwell 24 alumnus jumps into Hill Country life with a holistic remodel that pairs vintage finds with new works from her furniture studio, Muhly. "I really like fresh starts," she says. "Like, let’s leave it all behind, you know?"
In 2020, longtime city dwellers Ann and Ben Edgerton decided to sell their house in Austin, Texas and give country life a go. He was a restaurateur hit hard by the pandemic, she is an interior designer and the founder of Edgerton Studio, and they met when he hired her to design one of his projects. "I don’t marry all my clients, just one," jokes Ann. "When the pandemic hit, it was just this opening to make a big change."
They sold their Austin house, and included all of the furniture in the sale. "I really like fresh starts," says Ann. "It felt invigorating. Like, let’s leave it all behind, you know?" The couple set their sights on Fredericksburg, about 90 minutes away, and decided to swap out their Austin midcentury for a traditional 1930s Tudor-style home in town.
"That’s how Muhly was born," says Ann, referring to the collaborative furniture design studio she founded with Megan Carney, which offers pieces handmade to order in their respective home bases of central Texas and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (To learn more, check out our 2023 Dwell 24 feature.) "Furnishing that house was the inspiration for our first collection of wooden pieces."
Ann and Ben planned to spend a few years in Fredericksburg (population: 11,542) and try out life there. "The reason for moving out to the country was to be close to nature, and to get a slower pace of life," says Ann. "We bought a house in town because we didn’t want to move from a city to the middle of nowhere right off the bat."
Before: Exterior
Before: After living in Austin for over a decade, Ann and Ben Edgerton chose to move to Hill Country during the pandemic, and they eventually purchased this 1983 ranch house outside of Fredericksburg, Texas.
Courtesy of Edgerton Studio
After: Exterior
The couple picked out Country Living by Benjamin Moore for the brick facade. The porch floor is Saltillo tile from Reeso Tiles, and the Lineage bench and metal Zephyr planter are both by Muhly.
Photo: Molly Culver
In 2022, the couple were ready for "nowhere," and they found it fifteen minutes away from the Tudor, in a house on two acres abutting a 500-acre ranch. They have neighbors, but they aren’t super close, and there’s a lot of room for the couple’s two kids to roam. "It’s in this neighborhood that is just very, very spacious," says Ann. "Our backyard is expansive, undeveloped land. There’s no fences."
Their 1983 ranch house also sprawled a bit, with 2,100 square feet spread over a single level, large rooms, and views for days. "There’s a horizon line out every window," says Ann. "It felt like a big breath of fresh air."
Before: Living Room and Entry
Before: Ann and Ben liked how the stepped floor levels zoned the floorplan, but the chamfered ceiling in the living room and primary bedroom had to go. It was "a very eighties vibe," says Ann.
Courtesy of Edgerton Studio
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: Ann Edgerton Takes the ’80s Out of Her Texas Ranch House
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