Beneath a Metal Canopy in Texas

Builder Erin Wright’s home did not resemble any of those others on her builder’s association’s Parade of Homes Tour. The home sits beneath a 60-foot by 80-foot metallic roof canopy that more than doubles the amount of living room. Windows, doors and a garage door open the interior to an outdoor bar, a kitchen, a billiards table, a fire pit and poolside lounging. The home integrates many exceptional particulars, from egg basket light fixtures to a master bath perched beneath a walnut deck.

at a Glance
Who lives here: Two and their 2 dogs
Location: A lakeside community in Hawkins, Texas
Size: Around 2,157 square ft; 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths
That’s intriguing: Reclaimed materials in this home came out of a barn, historical buildings, a hacienda in Mexico, a railway car, pallets and vintage soda crates.
Year constructed: 2012

Wright-Built

The roof produces a large wraparound porch, adding 2,643 square feet of multifunctional living room.

“As a builder, I see how far we waste with high-pitched roofs with attics beneath,” says Wright. “This way there is a cross flow of air between the roofs over the rooms and the massive roof canopy.”

Windows, doors: Pella, Real Red

Wright-Built

Wright-Built

The rock base in the preceding photo is a high-top table using a fire pit at the middle for warming things up in winter the massive buff from Big Ass Fans cools things down in summer.

Hydraulic activators make the bar’s pass-through window easy to flip open and closed. “The house opens up to the outdoors in a lot of ways, but if it is buggy or too hot, it is easy for me to close off portions of the house to keep them cool,” says Wright.

This wall is constructed from Cor-Ten steel; Wright sprayed it with salt to accelerate the rusting process.

Wright-Built

Metal surfaces continue into the kitchen. This pub top and the sinks are copper; the rusty ceiling is retrieved barn tin.

A window between the upper cabinets and also the counter lets in more natural light. The window on the right is that the pass-through to the bar.

Wright-Built

Wright-Built

Wright fashioned the pendant lights from older egg baskets. The alder wood cabinets and shelves are habit, and the countertops are all concrete. Stained concrete floors continue from indoors to outside.

The cap of the wood island was the ground of a railway car. Some drawers by the microwave were fashioned from vintage wood pop crates. Wright hand-selected crates together with the titles of local cities on them.

Wright-Built

Wright constructed the barrel-vault ceiling in the wonderful room from wood reclaimed from a historical building. Look to the left; the garage door which opens to the pool table patio disappears over the ceiling’s wooden boards.

The wood-burning Oklahoma rock fireplace can heat up to 3,000 square feet. “Out here in the country, we lose our power a lot,” Wright says.

The mesquite mantel is a classic header by a hacienda. The cowhide-covered window seats hold the electronics for the outdoor speakers. Wright’s boyfriend is an audiophile; severe subwoofers are involved.

Wright-Built

That can be Wright’s dog, Barley. (Look back through the other pictures and see why the title Barley sounds familiar.)

“Canton Trades Days is about one hour from me, and I get a lot of items there for my homes,” she says. “The doors are from Mexico; I purchase them out of a man at Canton Trades Days. In addition, he made the pantry doors and shipped me from Mexico.” She bought the mantel and also the guest bathroom vanity from him, also.

Wright-Built

This bath, which serves two bedrooms, is full of reclaimed items. “The tile in the shower is a ceramic, digitally imprinted to seem like barn wood. The sink is a wooden bowl which I bought for $30, and the brick is out of a house demo we did in Hawkins at a hunting and fishing club that was constructed in the 1900s,” says Wright. It is an uncommon brick named Whiteselle Cherry Reds Corsicana Brick. “The brick at the guest bath, on the mantel, and the reclaimed wood at the ceiling of the terrific room are all over 100 years old,” she adds.

She discovered the arrow at Canton Day Trades.

Wright-Built

Wright engineered nearly all the interior doors from wood pallets. Some of the doors slip on barn door tracks, while some are on hinges.

Wright-Built

In the master bath, the counter is black walnut and the sinks are stainless steel. “I used corner sinks to leave room in the center for my hair drier,” Wright says. “In my last house I was always leaving it one of the sinks, which isn’t a good idea.”

Compartments at the top drawer store her jewelry organized. She fashioned the light fixture out of an old wooden yoke and Edison bulbs. The window over the mirror makes the most of the pure light.

Sinks: Signature Hardware

Wright-Built

Wright-Built

The round whirlpool tub is out of Snorkel Hot Tubs. Wright created the faucet out of an water pump that was conservative. The bathtub is 3 ft deep; the teak deck reaches the bottom half. From the shower, water travels through the drains and deck below.

The jar wall was quite a labor of love: Patches were cut in half and then secured to a different half jar with duct tape, or the long neck of a beer bottle was stuffed into a mason jar and then both were combined with duct tape. This way, either side of the wall have a jar bottom sticking out, and light can travel through. Unseen beer can spacers cut back on the quantity of mortar required.

Shower tile: Cepac Rapture; showerhead: Signature Hardware

Wright-Built

To the left is another side of the jar wall, and also to the right is an outdoor kitchen, complete with a vintage Coca-Cola machine which Wright keeps completely stocked. Gooseneck barn lighting add to the modern rustic style. She can pull her car right into this covered area.

The alloy to the right leads to an outdoor bathroom, and the doorway on the far right leads to an office that is separate from the rest of the interior spaces.

Wright-Built

The pool table survives outdoors just nice: The shirt is an outdoor felt, there’s a cover, along with also the legs rest on rubber spacers.

Wright used creosote lumber outdoors because it retains its color and stands around the components. Why did she choose red for the door and window trim? “Since it looks so great!” She says.

Wright-Built

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