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Celebrating the versatile beauty of concrete, Concrete Collaborative offers hand-crafted surfaces that can endure real life—from cool patterned tiles to colorful terrazzo—in modern style.
Claire Brody has a knack for seeing the potential in small spaces. When the Austin-based interior designer and antiques purveyor first laid eyes on her future home, the run-down 1,000 square-foot bungalow wasn’t an obvious choice for her family of five.
At that point, Brody and her husband were seasoned renovators, having refreshed and sold several properties in the area while raising their three young kids. “Most people would have torn it down,” she says of the 1940s two-bedroom house. But the couple hatched a plan, ultimately adding 1,800 square feet to more comfortably accommodate their brood.
Next, they turned to the bunkie in the backyard. Originally, the structure had served as a carport but had fallen into disrepair. “I wanted the exterior to be complementary to the main house. The goal was to make it seem as if it had always been there,” explains Brody, “So we used the same skinny lap-siding often found on old houses here,” along with a lick of olive green trim to match.
Inside, the garage-turned-studio’s modest 400-square-foot layout became a design testing ground—starting with the bathroom, which was added along with a kitchenette. “Because the back house is its own structure, I felt more confident to not hold back,” she says.
Her starting point: tomato red and powder blue checkerboard tile from the Concrete Collaborative x Domino collection. Inspired by sun-soaked coastal locales, the hand-pressed cement designs imbue a warm, artisan quality (but, unlike custom, are ready to ship). From there, Brody scored a stone vanity top on Facebook Marketplace, marbled fabric from Spoonflower, and unlacquered brass hardware that paired seamlessly with the tile for a chic cottage vibe.
“I’m truly a collector at heart. All of our closets are stacked full of things,” says Brody of her extensive collection of antiques and vintage curios, which she sells online and peppers into her projects. (A favorite shopping haunt, the sprawling Round Top Antiques Fair, is just an hour drive away.) Brody layered in storied pieces to ground the space—from landscape oil paintings to ceramic table lamps. The petite dining table came together from a stone remnant she found that fit perfectly on top of a pedestal base she had in storage. “It’s always nice when something you’ve been hoarding can finally be put to use!” says Brody with a laugh.
To balance the dark wood paneled walls, she painted the ceilings an airy light blue and covered the floors with citrus green. The orangey-red window trim and kitchen cabinets tie neatly back to the breezy bathroom tile. Meanwhile, the cozy velvet upholstery and plush carpets enhance the cocooning effect (the piped sleeper sofa even sneaks in more guests as needed). Like everything in the studio, it’s all about the mix. “I like to create interest by putting unexpected pieces together that don’t feel like they should go together.”
For now, the bunkie acts as a guest house for Brody’s sister, but the designer hopes to eventually transform it into an art studio and workspace. Just another reminder of all the promise a small space can hold, if you have a vision.
