Bohemian at Heart

"CW Star Jensen Ackles Invites AD Inside His Family Home in Austin," by Kathryn Romeyn, ArchitecturalDigest.com ... "There’s a lot going on inside the Lake Austin home of actors Jensen and Danneel Ackles—a lot of color, a lot of texture, endless elements begging their stories to be told. ... "Jensen and Danneel enlisted Austin architect Paul Lamb and interior designer Fern Santini to kickstart what ended up being a very collaborative renovation. At their initial meeting with Santini, the potential for partnership was evident when she pulled up in an auspicious 1967 E-Type Jaguar. 'I mean, it’s just like the coolest thing ever,' says Jensen of the car, which was made in the same year Danneel had said she wanted to recreate in the Austin home so as to pay tribute to the Laurel Canyon bungalow where the couple once lived. 'It was a magical little place. So when Fern pulls up in that car ... We just bonded over music and a love of that time period and had our vision right off the bat.' ... "'It was imperative that the house express the Ackleses—young, bold, and irreverent,' Lamb says. 'It had to be full of humorous and endearing eccentricities and it needed to radiate a comforting yet exotic familiarity.' Santini calls it 'a cross between Joni Mitchell and the Serge Gainsbourg–Jane Birkin thing that was going on in Paris at the same time. It’s very hip but it’s low-key.' ... “'It goes to that having a history, having a story,' says Jensen, who, with his wife, selects works based on a gut feeling as opposed to popularity or perceived value. It’s the same way Danneel approached design. 'We have so many friends who come into the house and are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love this—it’s so crazy and unexpected. But man, I would have never picked out all these things, and I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it!’' she says. 'I’ve heard this over and over, and I wish more people would just be brave and go with what makes them happy.'"