Vale House by Furman + Keil Architects
Vale House stands among mature live oaks in Rollingwood, TX, United States, a limestone-clad house by Furman + Keil Architects for a busy family. Behind the simple gabled form, the rooms open around a courtyard where stone, blond wood, and blackened steel give daily rituals a calm, grounded rhythm. Generous glazing and careful detailing keep the atmosphere bright yet composed, even as the plan moves from public gathering zones to more intimate corners.
Low limestone walls step through a grove of live oaks, guiding the approach toward a quiet gabled volume that faces the neighborhood with measured restraint. Through slim steel-framed glass, glimpses of a bright courtyard and warm interiors contrast with the rugged stone, hinting at a house calibrated between privacy and openness.
Vale House is a family house in Rollingwood, TX, United States, conceived by Furman + Keil Architects around the daily life that gathers in its central rooms. The project turns a simple stone volume into a light-filled sequence of interiors, where materials do most of the talking and furnishings key into their tone. Across the house, carefully modulated finishes, from blond woods to blackened steel, give every room a clear role while retaining a continuous, easy character.
Stone Volume, Soft Interior
From the street, the house reads as a straightforward gabled stone form, its long wall forming a textured backdrop to twisting live oak trunks. Step inside and the character shifts as thin steel windows pull daylight deep into the interior and frame the protected courtyard at the heart of the plan. Pale walls, crisp millwork, and a restrained palette of stone and wood temper the heft of the exterior, so rooms feel grounded rather than heavy.
Courtyard As Living Core
An interior courtyard anchors daily movement, its specimen oak echoing the stand of trees outside the stone shell. Tall glazing wraps this court, turning kitchen, dining, and sitting areas into a loose ring of rooms always in visual conversation with one another. Light glances off stained concrete floors and pale stone, so even internal corridors stay bright while the planted court keeps a direct connection to weather and season.
Kitchen At The Heart
The kitchen sits at the social center, framed by a Hemlock wood ceiling that hovers over the room and carries a large skylight above the island. Quarter sawn white oak cabinets line the perimeter, their vertical grain emphasizing height while the honed quartzite countertop draws activity to the middle. A freestanding limestone wall divides this active hub from the bedroom wing, setting up a backdrop for gatherings and hiding white oak cubbies that keep storage visually quiet.
Warm Materials, Quiet Rooms
Throughout the house, waxed steel ties stone and millwork together, from fireplace surrounds to structural elements that double as subtle room dividers. Living areas pair soft textiles and leather chairs with clean-lined sofas, so textures carry the mood rather than decorative excess. Bedrooms and baths continue the blond wood language with custom cabinetry, woven shades, and pale surfaces that catch high clerestory light, giving private rooms a calm but not fragile feel.
In the end, what lingers is the way material choices register through the day, from limestone catching evening uplight to brass fixtures warming under the skylit kitchen ceiling. Vale House holds its place among the oaks with quiet confidence, letting stone, steel, and wood carry the story of a contemporary Texas family home.
Photography courtesy of Furman + Keil Architects
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