When Ariel Ashe first received a call about decorating a home for a family of five in Austin, Texas, she did the natural thing: She Googled the address. “On the map, it looked like a city park right in the middle of Austin,” recalls Ashe, the cofounder of New York–based firm Ashe Leandro, of the stunning 8.6-acre property perched 300 feet over Lake Austin and heavily wooded with live oaks. The house she would zoom in on, newly built by Houston-based architects Curtis & Windham, offered a thrilling new context to work within. “We really designed the spaces around that landscape,” Ashe explains.

That, as it turned out, had been the prevailing philosophy throughout the project. Two years prior, when the owners—he, a software investor; she, a land developer—enlisted architect Bill Curtis to build a new home from the ground up, there was one mandate: They couldn’t touch the trees. In Austin, where more than 41 percent of the city lives under leafy canopy coverage, Curtis quips, “You can’t cut a limb without someone there with you.” Not that they’d want to: The wooded plot had so charmed his clients, who had lived in the neighborhood since 2010, that they penned a letter to the previous owners declaring their love for the property the second it came up for sale. Dutifully, Curtis’s team worked within the footprint of the pre-existing single-story residence, built there around 1938.

The new structure, just one room deep and with plenty of glass on the lakefront side, ensured that nearly every room offered natural light and sweeping views. The material palette drew on the vernacular of Austin, with pale, buff-colored brick that mimicked the limestone used in many local buildings; meanwhile, Georgian-style steel casement windows added a traditional note while simultaneously feeling crisp and contemporary. When Ashe joined the project, she carried the conversation from there, working to imbue what were ultimately new interiors with a rich sense of history.

Ashe handled the selection of surfaces and finishes with great care. Floors were laid with wide planks of reclaimed French oak from Houston-based Chateau Domingue, a source for architectural salvage that also provided the stone cathedral floor installed in the entryway. Its sister brand, Domingue Finishes, is responsible for the Venetian Marmorino Plaster and Lime Wash paints that lend patina to paneled walls. “We tried to make everything feel a little bit less precious,” explains Ashe of these sumptuous touches.

“I love old houses—I’m an urban planner—but there are also issues that come with age,” explains the homeowner. “This place has that old feeling, while also being modern and fresh. It’s very tactile—I love walking barefoot around the house.”

In the kitchen, things skew more modern, with cabinets hand-painted a deep navy to match the sleek Lacanche range. That hue echoes throughout the home, including the husband’s inky-walled office, which, according to Ashe, “has the prettiest view in the whole house.” Meanwhile, in the wife’s work space—connected to her sun-drenched art studio—a Charlotte Perriand desk is lacquered in a slick petroleum, and the Rose Uniacke sofa sheathed in midnight blue.

Given that the clients are also frequent entertainers, Ashe explains, “the space had to have good flow, whether that meant indoor to outdoor or room to room.” The first floor’s open plan made it all the more imperative that furnishings feel coherent. Ashe created unity through her use of warm wood and forged steel, choosing pieces that blend old and new, often with Scandinavian flair, like the 19th-century Swedish chandelier that shimmers above a rail-oak dining table by Stockholm-based talent Louise Liljencrantz and a fleet of chairs by Kaare Klint for Carl Hansen & Søn. The living-room bar—a custom creation with matching oak stools that has become a favorite gathering place—sits beside a portrait by Patrick Eugène, part of the homeowners’ contemporary art collection built with the help of advisor Meredith Darrow.

After more than a year in the house, the family has seen the home come alive through the seasons. In the summer, birthdays are celebrated outside at a circular stone table, under lanterns and a big oak tree. At night, the lakeside fire pit is a favorite for after-dinner lounging. When temperatures drop, grilling happens on the screened-in porch while family and friends congregate around a fireplace in the living room. But from month to month, even as the landscape changes and evolves, the home’s best feature remains consistent: Those evergreen live oaks are always just outside the window.

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 13 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!