Stacy Paulson Design + Build

Stacy Paulson Design + Build Austin, TX based
Design firm by Stacy Paulson
A creative visonary with an eclectic eye for design & a viligant, methodical drive.

Stacy Paulson Design + Build is an Austin based company. Stacy has an eclectic eye for design accompanied by a viligant, methodical drive that she and her team bring to all her projects. While always attentive and understanding of her client's needs, she is also a creative visionary blending new ideas with existing elements. She is adept tackling an entire home design and remodel, setting realisti

c expectations for costs and timelines, while maintaining as little impact to her client's home lives as possible. Always apporachable with any thought or idea, Stacy consistantly communicates with clients regarding the status of their individual projects, and handles unplanned interruptions with the utmost professionalism. All of this while having F U N! Stacy has a great rapport with numerous vendors and subcontractors, who offer unparalleled professionalism and quality. She is responsive to sudden, inevitable changes, communicates clear expectations concerning cost and scheduling, and will bring any project to completion - design vision, execution, and lastly fruition. An organized project manager, the SPD team delivers quality and completed work on time and on budget.

09/02/2026

This one took weeks and more decisions than we could count.
Every finish, every fixture, every line item.

The full number breakdown, top to bottom, drops next Wednesday.
No estimates, no rounding. A real, confirmed total.
Follow along so you don't miss it.

I came home with a few small paintings wrapped in tissue paper and packed way too carefully in my suitcase. But that's n...
08/31/2026

I came home with a few small paintings wrapped in tissue paper and packed way too carefully in my suitcase. But that's not really what I brought home.

I came home with a refreshed eye for detail, the kind that gets a little dull when you're heads down in the daily grind of a project instead of really looking at it.

I came home with more confidence in doing things my way. Not the trend, not what everyone else is doing. My way.

I came home with actual creative material, ideas I'm still sorting through and will probably be pulling from for the next year of work.

And maybe most of all, I came home with a refresh on what "enough" looks like. Enough space, enough detail, enough. That word means something a little different to me now.

This month was a bit different around here, more trip talk than project talk than usual. If you've been following along, thank you for indulging me. If you're new this week, welcome, we're usually a lot more numbers focused than this.

Which is a good segue, because September is exactly that. A full month of real costs, real budgets, and the honest answers to the questions people are usually too nervous to ask before they hire a builder.

I'm taking on fall projects now. Email me directly ([email protected]) if you want to start that conversation, budget questions welcome from the very first message.

Old world character doesn't mean gutting your new build and starting over. It means picking a few intentional moments an...
08/28/2026

Old world character doesn't mean gutting your new build and starting over. It means picking a few intentional moments and letting them do the work.

Here's what I actually tell clients who want that feeling without the full renovation.

One. Bring in a piece of furniture that doesn't match anything else in the room. A vintage find. Something that was your grandmother's. Something you picked up on a trip. Matching was never the goal.

Two. Swap one light fixture for something old. A sconce, a chandelier, even a lamp, as long as it has crystal or glass, and put it somewhere unexpected. A lamp on the kitchen counter. A chandelier hung low over an end table.

Three. Skip the flat paint. Lime wash or plaster gives your walls real depth. Bonus points if you use color instead of the usual white, beige, or grey.

Four. Wallpaper. Somewhere, anywhere. The bigger the pattern, the better. Small prints disappear. Large scale reads like history.

Five. Choose a living finish. Unlacquered brass, unlacquered copper. Both will patina the longer you use them, and that's the whole point.

Save this for your next project. Old world character is not as hard to add as people think.

A primary bath, rebuilt.This one started with a corner shower nobody loved and a garden tub with a slate surround that h...
08/24/2026

A primary bath, rebuilt.

This one started with a corner shower nobody loved and a garden tub with a slate surround that hadn't been touched in years. When we opened it up, the room went from dated to completely stripped, studs, subfloor, old plumbing exposed to the ceiling.

The biggest challenge we solved wasn't visible in a single photo. It was the layout. We ended up swapping the water closet and the shower, and that one change is what made the whole room work.

Now there's a new vanity, a new water closet nook, and a shower that sits under a skylight wrapped in glass. This is the part of the job people don't see, the decisions that happen before anything looks finished.

Planning a bath of your own? Email me directly at [email protected] and I'll walk you through what's actually involved, not just what it looks like when it's done.

Perfect isn't the goal. Interesting is.I got into it with the friend I was traveling with over this arch. She wanted to ...
08/21/2026

Perfect isn't the goal. Interesting is.

I got into it with the friend I was traveling with over this arch. She wanted to power wash the whole thing. Take it back to clean stone.

I disagree.

Patina is everything. Not dirt, history. Every scuff and stain is a fingerprint of time, proof that something was actually used and loved, not just installed and admired.

Look at what she wanted to scrub off: centuries of weather sitting down in the carving, the stone gone dark where the rain runs and pale where the sun hits it. You cannot buy that. You cannot order it or specify it. It only comes from a thing standing in one place and being used.

We do the opposite here. We sand and patch and polish every trace of use out of a house before anyone has even moved in, and then wonder why a brand new place can feel a little cold to stand in.

I am not saying skip the quality work. Structure and craftsmanship matter enormously. I am saying stop being afraid of a little character.

I will take decades of honest wear over sterile perfection every time.

Save this if you needed permission to stop chasing perfect.

Some rooms start with a floor plan. This one started with four paintings.I found them at Porte de Vanves, a flea market ...
08/19/2026

Some rooms start with a floor plan. This one started with four paintings.

I found them at Porte de Vanves, a flea market on the south edge of Paris. I wasn't shopping for a client. I was just walking. Canvases stacked three deep in crates, unframed, and you have to be willing to dig through all of it.

Sailboats. A tree against a stone wall. A stand of trees turning. A still life. Nothing that matches.

They spoke to me, so they came home with me. And good thing, because I just did a consultation for a new primary bedroom overhaul, and I think this art is a great place to start the design conversation for that space.

Right now that room is rose walls, heavy drapery and a lot of dark wood, with good bones underneath all of it.

Here is how I actually work. I don't start with the floor plan or the paint deck. I start with the one thing somebody genuinely reacted to, and then I build the room to agree with it. It is a better anchor than a color pulled off a fan deck, because you already know you love it.

Follow along, I'll show you where these land.

Restraint was the whole point.This room could have been busy. A big pattern on the wall, a bolder rug, more color, more ...
08/17/2026

Restraint was the whole point.

This room could have been busy. A big pattern on the wall, a bolder rug, more color, more going on. Any of that would have photographed fine and none of it would have been right.

Instead: a soothing tonal palette, layered textures rather than loud pattern, and the natural light doing most of the work. The one real move is the slatted wall, taped out and set by hand. From across the room it is quiet. It is also the entire reason the room has any depth at all.

It is the same instinct I kept noticing in Paris. Nothing pretending to be more than it is, just good materials left alone to do their job.
That is a decision you make early, not a finish you pick at the end.

Thinking about your own?
Email me at [email protected] and tell me what you're working with.

The French get color right, and it is the thing I keep stealing.A kitchen is a workhorse. It is the hardest working room...
08/14/2026

The French get color right, and it is the thing I keep stealing.

A kitchen is a workhorse. It is the hardest working room in the house and it usually gets designed like it. Practical, sensible, and a little joyless.

The fix is not a bigger budget. It is one unexpected pop of color in a room that is otherwise calm.

Here that is light cabinets, simple hardware, and red. The stool and the range k***s, and that is the whole trick. Everything else stays quiet so one color gets to do the talking. The hero material in this kitchen is not a material at all.

If your kitchen feels serious, you probably don't need to redo it. You might just need one thing in it that makes you smile.

Planning a kitchen?

Email me at [email protected] and tell me what you're working with.

This tile took four months to get right.The color combination, the scale, the layout, all of it had to earn its place in...
08/12/2026

This tile took four months to get right.

The color combination, the scale, the layout, all of it had to earn its place in a shower this size. Enough pattern to feel intentional, not so much that it takes over the room. Getting that balance right in a space this size is genuinely harder than it looks, and it is the kind of decision that is very expensive to undo later.

Then the first shipment came in wrong. So we waited for the reorder.
That is the part of my process people don't always expect. I would rather tell you a material is four months out than put something faster in your house that you will look at every single day and quietly wish we had done differently. That is the whole tradeoff: patience with a shipment, or patience with a regret. A house only gets built once.

Worth every week.

Planning a project?
Email me at [email protected] and tell me what you're working with.

You don't need a Paris budget to get a little of that feeling at home. Three things I came back with, and none of them a...
08/10/2026

You don't need a Paris budget to get a little of that feeling at home. Three things I came back with, and none of them are expensive.

One. Add a color you didn't plan for. The thing that stopped me on a street in Paris was a red and white striped awning on a limestone building. That's it. You can do the same at home with a pillow, a throw, a spot table, a rug. It's cheap and it grabs you.

Two. Mix your metals and your styles. Nothing good over there matched. Gold next to black, wood next to steel, curves against squares, old against new. At home that's swapping out cabinet hardware, changing a few picture frames, adding one metallic wallpaper.

Three. Take your time at the flea market. I bought art. None of it really goes together, but together the pieces make a room feel collected instead of ordered. Hit the local antique malls and thrift stores here and buy what you are drawn to. Take the time to figure out what you actually like, then go with it.

Save this before your next remodel. None of it requires a Paris budget.

Planning a project? Email me at [email protected].

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Austin, TX
78757

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+15124310401

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