Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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Step into a whole new world... right in your own house and garden. Let Houses & Gardens Designs help you bring a fresh and unique perspective to your home and landscape. We can help you create, build and accessorize an intimate space or a 12-acre estate. Call Virginia at 512-415-0935 or email us at virginia@lesanmichele.com.
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Chuck and Virginia Fleming
About Us
We are passionate about houses and gardens. In partnership for more than 30 years, we both are lucky enough to have been born and raised in Austin, Texas. Working in a wide range of styles from classical to contemporary, we are fluent in home and garden designs from around the world. We can help you create a feeling reminiscent of the Greek, Italian, French, English, Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican, Southern and Southwestern styles ... and more. Call Virginia at 512-415-0935 or email us at virginia@lesanmichele.com.
Our Homebuilding Careers
Our First Home:
1) Finding the lot, architect, and builder-
When we first got married in 1981, Virginia worked for Marsh & Box Real Estate Company and Chuck worked for Nash, Phillips, and Copus Home Builders. Marsh & Box had lots listed in Jester Estates, a new subdivision. Virginia found the lot on Juneberry Cove and Chuck found architect Cary Kipp. NPC graciously offered to let us build our own custom home through their new executive home division. Thus began our firsthand knowledge of collaborating on custom home building together. Luckily for us part of Chuck's job at NPC included working with bankers who we entertained at our new home. Randy Present was so impressed with the way had built our house that he encouraged us to start our own building business. Thus began our speculative home and eventual custom home building careers.
2) The specifications-
I bought a copy of "Texas Homes of the 19th century" by Drury Blakeley Alexander, which was written in 1966. The historic houses featured in this book inspired me to want to build new houses with many of the details and characteristics of the past. When we decided to build our own house, we worked with Cary on specifying every detail of the home. We decided to design our home with details from two historic, two-story, stone farmhouses that were both built in Round Rock in 1870: the Dr. William Owen house at 900 Chisholm Trail and the Captain Nelson Merell House, on highway 79.
We had always admired both houses for their architectural details, but the Merell house had proportions more to my liking. Both houses have classic symmetrical lines, limestone facades, flush struck mortar with a hint of pink sand color, double two story porches, wood shingle roofs, stone fireplaces, and double hung wooden multi-pane windows. We combined elements from both houses to create our own design.
Our wooden true divided light multi-pane windows were from Marvin Window. Our mesquite hardwood floors and staircase were done by Double R Floors. We also added a formal front door with transom and sidelights and one beautiful stone fireplace to our house. Our wooden columns were built with a heavier look than the small ones on the Owen house. I like symmetry and added more space to the proportions between the top of the upstairs porch balustrade and the roof line. I also like lots of natural light, so I made my windows taller, a little wider and I added a transom over the front door. Many of the older buildings had the fireplace inside the roof line, but I put mine on the outside. I worked with the owners of Pecan Square Emporium to find some authentic looking lanterns. I hate to see brand new, out of scale lanterns on a new house built to try to look like an old house. For me, all of those kinds of details are so important to get right because you need to make everything authentic looking with modern conveniences.
*On a recent visit back to Round Rock, I had noticed that they had made additions and modifications to the Dr. William Owen house that are not in keeping with the classic Greek revival style house. Sadly, what used to be the Inn at Brushy Creek Restaurant located across the street now has a parking lot and a large Chase Bank in its front yard instead of the beautiful, sweeping green lawn that I remembered. The historic limestone mercantile building/post office built in 1853 located next door to Owen home is for sale if anyone who is a historic preservationist is looking for a wonderful building to purchase and preserve. I hated the way the new concrete sidewalk from the street to the house looked and was so glad that I made all those trips for flagstone to build mine out of a natural material.
To see other beautiful historical houses in Round Rock click on this link.
3) Decorating
We found an antique pine mantle at an antique store on 6th street. We choose the marble surround, rojo alacante from Stasswenders Marble Company. We discovered Whit Hanks Antiques, who had just recently purchased many unique reclaimed, old building materials from the wrecking bar in Dallas. We brought in load after load of flagstone from our family ranch to build our driveway, sidewalk, and patio. We ordered handpainted Mexican tile from Artesanos in Santa Fe for our kitchen backsplashes and bathrooms. We bought lots of wood molding from Calcasieu and Stripling Blake. We furnished the house with antiques from Grace Homan Antiques, Jabberwocky Antiques in Fredericksburg.
Our First Spec House:
Inspired by many of the other homes we saw in Drury Blakely Alexander's "Texas Homes of the 19th Century", we decided to work with architect Sabas Flores to design our first speculative home on a lot we found above Lake Austin on Mt. Cedar. This house was based on the Neinast House located near Shelby, Texas, which had a hip roof. The shape of the roof made a perfect base to add a romantic widow's walk to take in the view of the lake. The man who bought the house was from the area around Brenham, TX where Michael Shoup had just opened the Antique Rose Emporium. He asked us to work with him on designing a rose garden with these wonderful antique roses in the front of the house. We brought in a landscape architect, James David, to help us with the design the rose garden. We were delighted to learn about the Antique Rose Emporium from our client because it was a new concept at the time. We have enjoyed growing them ourselves ever since.
Our Second Spec House:
The second speculative home we built was on Mesa Dr based on one of Chuck's favorite houses in the book titled The Fort House in Waco, Texas. We worked with architect Steve Collier. Virginia had seen his name on a drawing of her great grandmother's balcony located at 404 W. 7th in the historical Bremond Block in Austin. It turned out Steve had done the drawing when he was learning from Architect Hal Box as a student at the University of Texas architecture school. Virginia's Great Grandfather's Mother's house, the Catherine Robinson house, is located at 705 San Antonio st. Growing up, Virginia spent many happy hours playing in both houses. Her love and knowledge of old houses and all of their classic details began at this time. We repeated using many of the same classic details on the rest of our speculative houses that we had on our first house with continued success.
Both houses sold right away to couples who appreciated them for their historic details, which were not found in your typical spec house of the Eighties.
We continued throughout our careers to better educate ourselves by meeting with architects who specialize in historic details like Wayne Bell. We went on the historic tour with him to Winedale in Round Top. We went to the bookstore there and found books by many of our favorite early Texas architects like Alfred Giles who designed many of the beautiful houses and buildings in the King William District in San Antonio and Fredricksburg.
1) Finding the lot, architect, and builder-
When we first got married in 1981, Virginia worked for Marsh & Box Real Estate Company and Chuck worked for Nash, Phillips, and Copus Home Builders. Marsh & Box had lots listed in Jester Estates, a new subdivision. Virginia found the lot on Juneberry Cove and Chuck found architect Cary Kipp. NPC graciously offered to let us build our own custom home through their new executive home division. Thus began our firsthand knowledge of collaborating on custom home building together. Luckily for us part of Chuck's job at NPC included working with bankers who we entertained at our new home. Randy Present was so impressed with the way had built our house that he encouraged us to start our own building business. Thus began our speculative home and eventual custom home building careers.
2) The specifications-
I bought a copy of "Texas Homes of the 19th century" by Drury Blakeley Alexander, which was written in 1966. The historic houses featured in this book inspired me to want to build new houses with many of the details and characteristics of the past. When we decided to build our own house, we worked with Cary on specifying every detail of the home. We decided to design our home with details from two historic, two-story, stone farmhouses that were both built in Round Rock in 1870: the Dr. William Owen house at 900 Chisholm Trail and the Captain Nelson Merell House, on highway 79.
We had always admired both houses for their architectural details, but the Merell house had proportions more to my liking. Both houses have classic symmetrical lines, limestone facades, flush struck mortar with a hint of pink sand color, double two story porches, wood shingle roofs, stone fireplaces, and double hung wooden multi-pane windows. We combined elements from both houses to create our own design.
Our wooden true divided light multi-pane windows were from Marvin Window. Our mesquite hardwood floors and staircase were done by Double R Floors. We also added a formal front door with transom and sidelights and one beautiful stone fireplace to our house. Our wooden columns were built with a heavier look than the small ones on the Owen house. I like symmetry and added more space to the proportions between the top of the upstairs porch balustrade and the roof line. I also like lots of natural light, so I made my windows taller, a little wider and I added a transom over the front door. Many of the older buildings had the fireplace inside the roof line, but I put mine on the outside. I worked with the owners of Pecan Square Emporium to find some authentic looking lanterns. I hate to see brand new, out of scale lanterns on a new house built to try to look like an old house. For me, all of those kinds of details are so important to get right because you need to make everything authentic looking with modern conveniences.
*On a recent visit back to Round Rock, I had noticed that they had made additions and modifications to the Dr. William Owen house that are not in keeping with the classic Greek revival style house. Sadly, what used to be the Inn at Brushy Creek Restaurant located across the street now has a parking lot and a large Chase Bank in its front yard instead of the beautiful, sweeping green lawn that I remembered. The historic limestone mercantile building/post office built in 1853 located next door to Owen home is for sale if anyone who is a historic preservationist is looking for a wonderful building to purchase and preserve. I hated the way the new concrete sidewalk from the street to the house looked and was so glad that I made all those trips for flagstone to build mine out of a natural material.
To see other beautiful historical houses in Round Rock click on this link.
3) Decorating
We found an antique pine mantle at an antique store on 6th street. We choose the marble surround, rojo alacante from Stasswenders Marble Company. We discovered Whit Hanks Antiques, who had just recently purchased many unique reclaimed, old building materials from the wrecking bar in Dallas. We brought in load after load of flagstone from our family ranch to build our driveway, sidewalk, and patio. We ordered handpainted Mexican tile from Artesanos in Santa Fe for our kitchen backsplashes and bathrooms. We bought lots of wood molding from Calcasieu and Stripling Blake. We furnished the house with antiques from Grace Homan Antiques, Jabberwocky Antiques in Fredericksburg.
Our First Spec House:
Inspired by many of the other homes we saw in Drury Blakely Alexander's "Texas Homes of the 19th Century", we decided to work with architect Sabas Flores to design our first speculative home on a lot we found above Lake Austin on Mt. Cedar. This house was based on the Neinast House located near Shelby, Texas, which had a hip roof. The shape of the roof made a perfect base to add a romantic widow's walk to take in the view of the lake. The man who bought the house was from the area around Brenham, TX where Michael Shoup had just opened the Antique Rose Emporium. He asked us to work with him on designing a rose garden with these wonderful antique roses in the front of the house. We brought in a landscape architect, James David, to help us with the design the rose garden. We were delighted to learn about the Antique Rose Emporium from our client because it was a new concept at the time. We have enjoyed growing them ourselves ever since.
Our Second Spec House:
The second speculative home we built was on Mesa Dr based on one of Chuck's favorite houses in the book titled The Fort House in Waco, Texas. We worked with architect Steve Collier. Virginia had seen his name on a drawing of her great grandmother's balcony located at 404 W. 7th in the historical Bremond Block in Austin. It turned out Steve had done the drawing when he was learning from Architect Hal Box as a student at the University of Texas architecture school. Virginia's Great Grandfather's Mother's house, the Catherine Robinson house, is located at 705 San Antonio st. Growing up, Virginia spent many happy hours playing in both houses. Her love and knowledge of old houses and all of their classic details began at this time. We repeated using many of the same classic details on the rest of our speculative houses that we had on our first house with continued success.
Both houses sold right away to couples who appreciated them for their historic details, which were not found in your typical spec house of the Eighties.
We continued throughout our careers to better educate ourselves by meeting with architects who specialize in historic details like Wayne Bell. We went on the historic tour with him to Winedale in Round Top. We went to the bookstore there and found books by many of our favorite early Texas architects like Alfred Giles who designed many of the beautiful houses and buildings in the King William District in San Antonio and Fredricksburg.
Profile
- Le San Michele, LLC
- Le San Michele is a private 12 acre country estate in the Texas Hill Country, located just outside of Austin and Buda, Texas. Our European inspired garden & 2 story stone house offer many beautiful settings for your special event. We have hosted over 200+ weddings, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, luncheons, brunches, showers, anniversaries, charity and association and private parties, luncheons, sorority events, sweet sixteens, charity events, quinceaneras, concerts, portraits and events parties, association events and private parties over the last 7 years. Many photographers have enjoyed bringing their clients here for their portaits. Please contact Virginia, to arrange a time to come and visit Le San Michele or to discuss your event, 512-415-0935 virginia@lesanmichele.com and visit our website for more information www.lesanmichele.com Our address: 219 Hy Rd. Buda, TX 78610
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