Skip to main content

Concrete, Glass, and Wood are the Foundations for this Masculine Lakeside Retreat in Texas

When a dream team of skilled architects, visionary landscapers, and accomplished interior designers comes together, the results are truly impressive. Timeless yet trendy, high-style yet comfortable, a feeling of openness yet plenty of privacy — it’s a balancing act many cannot achieve. But putting all of this into one incredible lakeside retreat was a breeze for architectural firm Wernerfield when they collaborated with landscapers Hocker Design Group and design studio Emily Summers Design Associates. The result is Cedar Creek Residence, a seriously stylish pad overlooking Cedar Creek Lake in Trinidad, Texas.

Recommended Videos

Sprawling out over 4,690-square-feet on a shady 7-acre property, the home captures the classic mid-century modern ideal of creating a strong connection with nature. The carefully landscaped exterior provides plenty of opportunities for the owners to enjoy the outdoors, while the home itself has walls of glass that slide back to create open-air rooms.

Outside, Cedar Creek Residence has a timeless form. The low, flat roofline creates a visual contrast from the tall old-growth pine trees that surround the home. The layout of the structure weaves itself between the trees, which allowed many to be preserved and provide shade for the outdoor spaces on those oppressively hot Texas summer days.

The materials chosen were meant to be a reflection of the home’s surroundings. Weathered steel cladding the color of the tree trunks, sand-colored board-formed concrete, and a teak wood front door create a warm and welcoming facade.

At the back of the home, several different outdoor spots were created through clever landscaping solutions. A sunken outdoor living room accessed by grass-covered steps is protected from view by a stone wall with a built-in floating fireplace. On another side of the home, a bocce ball court looks to the water and is lit by string lights hung from teak posts.

While the front facade of the home is concrete, metal, and wood to provide visual privacy, the back of the home facing the lake is all glass. This not only allows for incredible views of the water, but it also creates an open feel throughout the space. Cedar Creek Residence is divided into a main home, a guest pavilion, and a storage barn. Public spaces, like the living room, are glass on two sides to creating a connection to the outdoor seating area as well as the lake at the back of the property.

wernerfield architects + design

Throughout the interior of the home, the mid-century modern architecture is balanced by trendy finishes. The kitchen is all stainless steel, accented by a wood-top breakfast bar. Mid-century modern-style bar stools compliment the ultra-contemporary metal cabinetry. This blending of old and new continues into the family room, which is open to the kitchen. The live-edge dining table is surrounded by mid-century-inspired green chairs. The streamlined sofas (with trendy skull throw pillows) face a massive board-formed concrete fireplace.

The concrete and teak wood of the exterior facade continues inside as well. In one bedroom, the materials form the wall and headboard. In a bathroom, they are used as flooring, the ceiling, and a vanity. It all creates a sense of continuity and unifies the timeless architecture with the stylish interior finishes.

Inside and out, Cedar Creek Residence is a one-of-a-kind retreat that showcases what can happen when timeless design and cutting edge style are skillfully blended by a team of talented experts.

And speaking of Texas, ever wanted to know how to eat your way across Texas barbecue country? Wonder no more.

Kelsey Machado
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kelsey is a professional interior designer with over a decade of experience in the design field. With a passion for…
Snag Yourself One of These Four Must-Have Cigar Sampler Packs for Just $20
Travel cigar ashtray and holder

If you've always wanted to start trying cigars, or even just expanding your horizons, then you may want to check out this special deal that we have going with Cigar Page. You can pick from four different samples from some of the best cigar brands on the market, many of them our top overall picks. That includes picks from Oliva, La Aurora, and Rocky Patel. With cigars rated up to 95, you're getting a lot of excellent quality here, although there is a limit of one sampler per customer. Even so, with discounts from as high as $112 down to just $20, it's well worth grabbing if you can.
SHOP NOW

The Manual's Must-Haves Cigars
The first sampler you can pick up is the Olivia. These folks are a pretty big staple of the cigar world and have been making cigars since the 1800s. The 10-cigar sampler usually goes for $97 and includes a nice selection from Connecticut Reserve Toro to Serie O Maduro Robusto. Another bundle from an old-school Cigar maker is the La Aurora pack, which comes with a lot of classic flavors like La Aurora Preferidos 1903 and La Aurora 115 Anniversario. The 10-pack usually goes for $105, so it's pretty high-end, but this deal knocks it down to $20, so it's perfect if you've been wanting to try it out.

Read more
Netflix is planning to continue investing in gaming, including new co-op games
The company has had games on its service since 2023.
Netflix logo on TV with red backlighting

Even as Netflix is raising prices on consumers, the company has also announced that it will be introducing couch co-op and party games for subscribers. The company has offered cloud gaming as a "beta" to a subset of its subscribers since 2023, and the move into co-op games suggests that the streamer will continue to invest in this area.

Co-CEO Greg Peters made the announcement as part of the company's Q4 earnings report, but he didn't detail what games might be available through this new platform. “We think of this as a successor to family board game night or an evolution of what the game show on TV used to be," he explained.

Read more
The best adventure movies: The films that keep you on the edge of your seat
These adventure movies will take you to new parts of the world
Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark

The idea of an adventure movie is pretty specialized. These are movies that exist broadly within the world of action cinema, but they are just one small corner of that world. These movies typically involve exotic locations, traps, and tunnels. Sometimes, they're set in the jungle or the desert, and sometimes they're set on the high seas.

Personally, I'm partial to sea-faring movies, maybe in part because I have no desire to live my life on the water. In my own life, these movies have often represented a chance to understand the world, and to appreciate its vastness, splendor, and danger.

Read more