Posted: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:04 AM - 11,065 Readers
By: Nicole Villalpando
When Homer and Betty Thomas bought the Elk Ranch 10 years ago, the 321/2 acres near Dripping Springs included a large concrete and steel-frame barn and a manufactured home.
The barn would have been difficult to tear down, so they kept it and built a house inside it. They also moved the manufactured home underneath the barn's roof. It serves as the guest house and was where the Thomases lived while the main house was being built.
Though the ranch had been named before the Thomases moved there, the couple helped keep the name by adding four elk to the property, as well as fallow deer. The property has an agricultural exemption for its exotic animals.
After 10 years, the couple is ready to retire from the daily needs of the ranch, and Homer Thomas is looking toward retiring from his business, T-Tec Sales Inc., a computer components company. They plan to move home to the Fort Worth area and have put the ranch at 13721 Trautwein Road on the market for $1.95 million. Lynn Robin of Capital City Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.
Driving up Trautwein Road off U.S. 290, guests approach the large limestone and wrought-iron electric gate, which creates the feel of a first-class ranch estate.
Up the driveway, the house faces the open space and the cliff overlooking the elk's valley below. From this side of the house, it's hard to imagine that it is actually sitting beneath a steel barn. Limestone walls and columns complement the large cedar wraparound porch. Inside the custom doors with star-design glass, guests are immediately greeted by the large open space of the living room, kitchen and dining room. Beams carved out of cedar from the property give the room its Hill Country rustic look. Stained and scored concrete floors make this a very livable room. Ceramic tile counters and white cabinets give the kitchen a clean look. The kitchen offers all the modern amenities, including a wine fridge. A large walk-in pantry leads to a laundry room. Betty Thomas has filled the pantry with dozens of bread and butter pickles and salsa jars she's made with vegetables from the property's garden.
The guest bathroom off the living area features a walk-in shower and pedestal sink. It leads to the guest bedroom with double closets.
Across the living room, the master bedroom suite opens behind two wavy-glass doors. Large windows provide a view of the porch and the property. The master bathroom includes an L-shaped counter with double sinks. A glass-brick curved wall hides the walk-in shower. An ample closet is on the other side of the shower.
The walls of this house are thick and include the concrete and metal frame of the barn, 4 inches of insulation and 2-inch-by-6-inch wood framing. The house also has a double roof: the barn's and the home's.
Keeping the large barn provided a gigantic catchment area for rainwater collection. The Thomases use filtered rainwater for all of their house water, but they also have a well for an emergency. In the 10 years they've lived there, they've only had to go to well water once, but since then they have added two additional tanks for storage.
Outside, part of the porch is an outdoor kitchen with built-in grill and burner. A sink and a buffet sit across from the grill. The Thomases also have a fire pit nearby.
Farther down the porch is the entrance to the second home — the three-bedroom manufactured home. The Thomases have updated it and use it as an office and a guest house. A large window on one wall looks out onto the porch. The kitchen is modest but fully functional, with red cabinets. An office alcove is off the kitchen.
Down a hallway, three bedrooms include the large master suite with a jetted tub in the bathroom. The suite has its own small porch.
A second bathroom is between two other bedrooms.
To avoid guests looking out onto the barn, which is now their 12-car garage and storage area, the Thomases removed all the windows on one side.
Inside the barn, a cedar porch provides an entrance to the main home. Another door leads to the guest house. Three separate walk-in closets line one wall. Another large closet, which the Thomases call their attic, is on another wall. The barn also features an enclosed woodworking shop and separate metal shop.
Not far from the barn is the greenhouse, garden with overhead sprinkler system and chicken coop.
The elk and fallow deer live on 25 acres that are gated inside the property. Additional homes or a business could be built on the property or it could remain a ranch.
The Thomases have some wonderful memories of the property. Friends from Fort Worth and grandchildren love to come down to Austin to stay with them.
Their daughter was married here last October. Homer Thomas built her a shell of a church on the bluff overlooking the property for the ceremony. The barn and the overhang outside it were dressed up with lights, tables, a dance floor and flowers for the party. W.C. Clark and his band played on the cedar porch inside the barn. The party lasted until 3 a.m.
"This is the home we've loved the most, and we've been on Lake Austin and Lake Travis," Homer Thomas says.
