A Chair Designer's Whimsical Texas Home

Whenever Wendy Conklin is clothes shopping, she runs into the same challenge. “I see a great pattern on a top or a dress and I think, I wish I could upholster something with that!” says Wendy, the designer behind Chair Whimsy. Unique fabric, wallpaper and paint colors abound in the 2,840-square-foot Victorian in Austin, Texas, that she shares with her husband, Blane. To Wendy, every textile, every vintage furniture find, every piece of art tells a story — the knockout wallpaper she discovered after hours of scrolling, the settee she drove across the state to get, the paintings done by her adult daughter. “Life is too short not to surround yourself with spaces you’ve lovingly created and put yourself into,” she says. “It brings a lot of joy.”