Headed to Austin? Stay in This Soft-Serve Unicorn-Dragon-Dog

If you’ve ever fantasized about cozying up to Falkor the Luckdragon in a secluded grove while also having easy access to the best queso in the country, road trippers and Wild Vacation Rentals co-adventurers D’Arcy Carden and Sherry Cola have excellent news for you. The Bloomhouse — an early ’70s architectural fever dream hidden in the hills near Austin, Texas — looks and feels like a collaboration between Antoni Gaudí and an old-school fantasy-flick design team. (Speculative architects, if you’re reading this, please reinterpret the Goblin King’s castle from Labyrinth next.)

Perched on 2 acres of live-oak-and-cedar-spangled Texas Hill Country, the one-of-a-kind dwelling has a relationship with Austin and feels like a neighbor from another universe. (For many years, the Bloomhouse had no physical address; if you knew, you knew.)

“We’re [just] 20 minutes outside of Austin, a city whose unofficial motto is ‘Keep Austin Weird.’ And honestly, this [place] looks like it’s taking that seriously,” D’Arcy noted. She and Sherry had seen photos of the property prior to their arrival, but they were still wholly unprepared for its vibes.

Walkway or personality test? Stop, you’re both right. According to its current owners, the Bloomhouse’s “organic shape, rising from the earth, mimics the flow of air, the curve of the wind, and the gentle rise and fall of nature’s melody.” Its intentionally intuitive architecture will also rise to meet whatever your own imagination cooks up as you make your way through its hand-sculpted lanterns to the front door. “Is this a vacation rental or a sculpture of an ice cream dragon-dog?!” D’Arcy asked.

“I kind of see soft serve,” Sherry concurred.

“And I even see my dog,” D’Arcy continued. “Do you see dog? What are we talking about?! With a house like this, there’s no telling what’s going to be on the inside.”

Finished at last in 1984, the home is two stories and about 1,100 square feet with multiple … sublevels? Mezzanines? Polyps? “You’re surrounded by nature and wildlife, but you’re only about 10 minutes from downtown,” explains current owner Dave Claunch. “The only people who really don’t enjoy being at the Bloomhouse are people that aren’t comfortable in these curvilinear spaces. We call those people ‘squares.’”

Geometry is a strict mistress, and the house conforms to her so that, you know, sliding doors and appliances can open and close. For the most part, however, 90-degree situations are strangers to this deliciously taffy-like structure.

With all due respect to the kinetic sculptors who create wild temporary installations in the desert each year, this project is the apotheosis of Hippie Kid Architecture. Designed and commissioned by University of Texas architecture student Dalton Bloom (hence its name) and realized by fellow UT student Charles Harker, Bloomhouse is a labor of love that took 11 years to complete.

Manipulating building materials like meringue is quite the process. Dalton and Charles began by forming steel rebar into basic shapes, then coating it with layers of polyurethane foam. Those layers were then sculpted with a hand-held pruning saw, as one does — a stage of construction that took seven months all by itself — and then finished with layers of concrete stucco. The dessert-like, eco-friendly dwelling that resulted keeps guests well-insulated from both pitiless Texas heat and chilly winter winds through its limestone hills. “We are inside an ice cream cone,” Sherry said in wonderment.

Bloomhouse is often used as an artist’s retreat and a destination for musicians; it’s stocked with several instruments, and previous creative guests have commented many times on the home’s unique acoustic properties. D’Arcy and Sherry had a jam session, obviously, and created a stirring improvisational ballad about picking fruit and sneezing. Dalton and Charles would be so proud.

The organic-looking woodwork throughout the home appears to have grown from the architecture itself because, in a sense, it did. Details like the sinuous cherry banister bases, one-of-a-kind shelves and curving cabinets were crafted on the spot to best suit the natural shapes of the structures they ornament.

Children under the age of 5 are, alas, not eligible for stays at the property, which is disappointing but understandable. Removing an unfortunate child wedged into avant-garde custom woodwork like this would, we imagine, be a bit like trying to liberate a jelly bean from a toddler’s nasal cavity, on a much more intimidating scale.

The equally spectacular kitchen beckoned Sherry and D’Arcy up to the counters, where they promptly perched; no worries, subsequent renters, the Bloomhouse is enthusiastically cleaned between guests. Speaking of, “How do you clean a place like this?” Sherry wondered. “Because there are so many holes that go deep, go shallow…”

“It feels really clean,” D’Arcy observed.

“So clean!” Sherry agreed.

The main living area spirals down to a principal sleeping space with more of the home’s signature curves, which were quickly overwhelming D’Arcy and Sherry. “OK, there’s so much going on!” Sherry said.

“It’s so cute and well done! I’m kind of blown away by this place,” D’Arcy confessed.

“It’s also just so chic,” Sherry added.

“It’s really chic!” D’Arcy agreed. “The bed seems great also. Love to wake up with this view; good morning, Austin!”

Tucked into an angled nook between the bathroom and the bedroom, the vanity area is sculpted cherrywood with a four-shelved body and mirrored wings that interact to create infinite reflections (here’s that on-site interior design work paying off). “This is quite romantic, from the ceiling to the ground, honey,” Sherry said. “Look at this! This is like a butterfly!”

“[There’s] not one thing you would find at the store. I cannot express how much this place is a work of art,” D’Arcy added. (Technically, the more prosaic furniture and accessories come from West Elm, but we’ll let them have this.)

The circular tiles covering the floors, both inside and outside the house, are handmade concrete and ceramic, fashioned to look like end-cut cedar discs. The ceilings, in turn, sport recycled natural fibers that absorb sound (hence the rave reviews from visiting musicians). In the living room, the textural material overhead is the same stuff you’d find dampening sound in a gymnasium.

Current owner Dave — who, fun fact, first learned of the Bloomhouse when he was the mayor of West Lake Hills, a suburb west of central Austin — became the property’s hero after seeing an ad for its sale in the Austin Business Journal back in 2017. He and his wife, Susan, made the purchase and spent a year coaxing the home back from disrepair with period-appropriate work that restored its original look.

The home’s only interior door provides privacy in the bathroom; otherwise, the open floor plan swirls upward in a swooshing spiral that culminates at the intimate deck on this tower. “I’ll be honest,” Sherry said as she climbed the stairs, “I didn’t even realize there was more.”

“This is so cute!” D’Arcy exclaimed. “I didn’t even know what to imagine; this is like my childhood cozy dream!”

The property attracts couples, families and friend groups, and it’s catnip for creative types and structure buffs, of course. “It is indeed magical,” wrote one dazzled guest. “Every angle, nook and cranny is a visual delight. The attention to detail in the architecture is astounding.” (At about $525 per night, that’s a solid special-occasion stay for the archiphiles in your life.)

Despite its proximity to bustling downtown Austin, the Bloomhouse’s valley in the rolling limestone hills feels like a world of its own. “You know what, no one’s stopping us from sitting here and just enjoying the view,” D’Arcy said.

“Oh, that’s absolutely true,” Sherry replied. “I do love that you can sit, you can climb — it really is like an adult playground.”

The property manager will enlist a private chef for your party if you don’t feel like heading downtown or bringing local delicacies back to the Bloomhouse — but Sherry and D’Arcy were delighted to grill their own steaks on the home’s spacious deck. “The options are endless at this location,” Sherry observed. “We’ve got Austin 10 minutes away, where you can get to barbecue, or you can make it here in [the] beautiful outdoors. There’s nothing more I love than a steak dinner with my gal!”

“Look at this steak dinner we made ourselves!” D’Arcy replied.

“Not too shabby, right? Cheers to this curvy abode,” Sherry concluded.