This Designer Bought a Former Bishop’s Residence Sight Unseen and Turned It Into a Maximalist Family Home

Interior designer Shazalynn Cavin-Winfrey‘s path to purchasing her maximalist home in Austin is a bit unorthodox: She bought her Spanish Colonial home sight unseen after stumbling across the listing while driving to a project in Connecticut. The former Catholic Church parsonage had served as a bishop’s residence for 40 years, and with its dark wood interiors, institutional furnishings, and parking spaces for church events, it hardly resembled a family home.

But Cavin-Winfrey, who grew up in West Texas, immediately recognized the familiar Saltillo floors and stucco exterior. “I knew that it could be put back into its glory days,” she recalls. Rather than erase the property’s past, she embraced its history, transforming the former religious residence into a colorful, collected home filled with family heirlooms and meaningful artwork.

The transformation is especially apparent in the living room, which originally served as the bishop’s dining room. Cavin-Winfrey was drawn to its abundant natural light and decided it would make a better gathering space for her family. Though the room contains valuable antiques and treasured artwork, she insists that nothing should be off-limits. “I wanted this to not feel off-limits. Nothing in this home is too precious, making it so that everyone feels like they can be comfortable and unencumbered by having to take care of something,” she explains. Even the unusual cowhide chairs beside the fireplace, known as “shin toasters,” are meant to be used, allowing guests to sit close enough to the fire to warm their hands and legs.

The kitchen is another favorite gathering place, though Cavin-Winfrey’s experience as a professionally trained chef meant she had particularly strong opinions about how it should function. “I obviously cook a lot, but I wanted to make sure that we kept service areas and then my cooking space separate so that I don’t have a lot of bodies moving through what I consider a galley kitchen,” she explains. She also installed a coffee bar for her family, despite not drinking coffee herself, and chose a bold green refrigerator that helped establish the home’s color palette.

In the nearby dining room, a dramatic black ceiling was designed to make evenings around the 12-seat table feel more intimate. “Most people would never think to paint their ceiling black,” she says. “But think about also the time of day that you’re going to be using this space and the ambient feel. The black will push the light down so that there’s more intimacy at this table.” The room also holds her grandmother’s treasured Staffordshire collection, including figurines of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip that once occupied a place of honor on her mantel.

Upstairs, the primary bedroom occupies the bishop’s former private quarters, where Cavin-Winfrey preserved the original fireplace and introduced lighter flooring to brighten the space. The room is filled with pieces that carry personal significance, including vintage Uzbek textiles made by displaced women who found resourceful ways to continue their craft. Cavin-Winfrey gives these treasured pieces room to shine by layering artwork and furnishings in unexpected ways rather than adhering to traditional symmetry. “By layering this and taking things off center and not necessarily symmetrical, I think it just makes things a lot more interesting,” she explains. On her bedside table, a patron saint of wind serves as a reminder of the home’s spiritual past and her own philosophy of letting go of things that no longer serve her.

Despite the home’s remarkable history, Cavin-Winfrey is most attached to the life her family has created within its walls. “My happiest times in this home are when it’s full of my family and people, and there’s laughter and there’s joy,” she says. “Home means happiness to me. It means a place where I come to recharge and reconnect.”