My House: She Custom Made More Than 1,000 Kitchen Tiles for Her Austin Renovation
Ceramicist Amanda Rivera’s first interiors project turned out to be her family’s own home, a Spanish Mediterranean–style now brimming with her touch.
Ceramicist Amanda Rivera’s first interiors project turned out to be her family’s own home, a Spanish Mediterranean–style now brimming with her touch.
When Amanda Rivera first saw the 1930s Spanish Mediterranean–style house that would become her family home, she was awestruck. "My jaw was dropped the whole time we toured it," she recalls of her and husband Luke’s first visit to the home, in Austin’s Travis Heights neighborhood. "A lot of the original details were preserved, like beautiful vaulted ceilings, arched doorways, and latches on the doors."
In Austin, ceramicist Amanda Rivera helped redesign elements of her family’s 1930s Spanish Mediterranean–style home. She crafted many of the interior elements herself, including the kitchen’s tile backsplash.
Photo: Blaine Davis
Then when Amanda found out the home had an artist studio, she was sold. A ceramicist, Amanda leads Mother of God Ceramics with her artistic partner Diana Welch; she had been working out of a studio on the Austin’s east side for years. "The studio wasn’t part of the real estate listing, so it was a really nice surprise," says Amanda.
Amanda has a home studio, where she creates both artistic and functional ceramics including vessels, lamps, and side tables with her artistic partner, Diana Welch, as Mother of God Ceramics.
Photo: Blaine Davis
She and Luke lived in the house for a few years before deciding to renovate its cramped kitchen and a too-small bathroom upstairs. Working with local architect Murray Legge, Amanda added handcrafted details that complement what she loved about the home in the first place. "Amanda has a great design sense, which we noticed immediately," says Legge. "She has a really interesting approach in her ceramics—a play between the primitive and the refined. Those qualities were also reflected in the house itself."
Here, Amanda shares how she collaborated with Legge on a renovation brimming with her artistic eye.
With the renovation, Amanda and architect Murray Legge were inspired by the home’s original historic details, including the scalloped wood tracing the stairs and the color of the tilework around the fireplace.
Photo: Blaine Davis
See the full story on Dwell.com: My House: She Custom Made More Than 1,000 Kitchen Tiles for Her Austin Renovation
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