1930s Victorian Bungalow Balances Vintage Warmth and Modern Lines
1930s Victorian bungalow traces the careful reinvention of a 1935 house in Austin, United States by Side Angle Side, recasting a rundown structure as a layered family home. The architects rebuild the historic shell around salvaged millwork and generous light, while interior designer and homeowner Holly Beth Potter threads vintage finds and new finishes into a calm, lived-in rhythm. What emerges is a house that holds history close yet feels ready for everyday use.
Morning light hits the restored longleaf pine floors, running a soft line across old trim and new plaster. In the dining room, shiplap walls and a glowing Noguchi pendant draw the eye inward, toward a long table set for a crowded meal.
This house is a 1930s Victorian bungalow in Austin, United States, rebuilt by Side Angle Side for homeowners Holly Beth and Matt Potter. The project walks a careful path between historic restoration and full reconstruction, after deep structural rot forced the team to rebuild the original volume from the ground up. Interior finishes and furnishings, led by interior designer and homeowner Holly Beth Potter, lean into natural light, warmth, and quiet continuity between old fabric and new rooms.
Rebuilding The Original Shell
Contractors peel back the walls and find extensive rot, shifting the work from repair to reconstruction while still hewing closely to the 1935 bungalow’s proportions and trim language. Salvaged elements guide the new envelope; trim, crown molding, baseboards, longleaf pine flooring, and interior doors are carefully restored, then reinstalled so the rooms hold their original grain and profile. New exterior siding and windows are detailed to match the historic fabric, so the street-facing presence reads continuous rather than interrupted. The result is a larger home that still anchors the older, established neighborhood.
Centering The Dining Room
At the heart of daily life, the dining room becomes the project’s emotional center. Original shiplap walls, now painted a neutral yellow, wrap the room in a soft field of color that plays gently with changing daylight. An oval Nickey Kehoe community table, 54” wide, stretches out for group dinners and holiday gatherings, its shape easing circulation around vintage seating. Six Guillerme et Chambron armless chairs and two matching armchairs, sourced from Texas dealers and reupholstered in cream fabric with a rust-red cord, bring sculpted wood forms and tactile upholstery into close conversation with the millwork. Overhead, an oversized Noguchi pendant spreads a warm glow, while original wood pocket doors frame the threshold with a sense of occasion.
Layering Kitchen And Living Textures
In the kitchen, pale quartzite counters hold the working edge of the house, paired with rift sawn white oak cabinetry shaped with integrated pulls for a quiet, continuous grain. The addition extends into a living room where concrete floors ground the volume and catch afternoon shadows in a single, cool plane. Above, a hemlock wood ceiling adds warmth and subtle pattern, while a plaster fireplace wall with raised plinth seating turns the hearth into a low, inhabitable ledge. Vintage pieces passed down from Holly Beth’s grandparents—a coffee table and brass floor lamp—settle into this new envelope, binding family history to the renewed structure.
Balancing Romance And Restraint
Throughout the house, interiors walk a line between contemporary profiles and romantic tones. Holly Beth chooses furniture with clean silhouettes, then tempers them with warm patterns and a palette that favors creams, yellows, and muted natural hues. The primary bathroom leans darker, with leathered quartzite wrapping countertops, tub deck, and tub face, giving the room a tactile, stone-like presence. Underfoot, locally sourced white limestone tile brings a lighter note, so the bathing room holds both drama and clarity in one compact sequence.
By dusk, lamplight grazes the restored trim, and the longleaf pine floors carry sound from kitchen to dining table with a familiar creak. Old doors slide back into fresh pockets, shiplap glows softly, and the new living room opens its concrete plane to family and friends. The bungalow stands renewed, not as a replica of its 1935 self but as a house where salvaged material and measured additions keep everyday life close to its historic bones.
Photography by Casey Dunn
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