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This home in Comfort was recently built for Karen and Jim Stewart. The guest house is in the foreground was built around an 1852 log cabin.

The cathedral ceiling is traversed by a single Douglas fir beam that measures 38 feet long, 12 inches wide and 27 inches tall.

The kitchen has countertops and a backsplash of white quartzite shot through with gray streaks.

This home in Comfort was recently built for Karen and Jim Stewart. It features an almost 30-foot-high cathedral ceiling and is constructed of Texas limestone.

The milk chocolate-colored cabinets are handsomely set off with brushed brass hardware, chosen for its timeless look.

The owners suite has a cathedral ceiling that mirrors the one in the family room, just not quite as grand.

In the bathroom, the limestone wall behind the soaking tub was left unfinished.

An architect's rendering of what Karen and Jim Stewart's pool will look like when it's finished.

In 2020, Karen and Jim Stewart decided to sell their home in Bee Cave near Austin and build this new place on farmland just outside Comfort that’s been in Karen’s family since her great grandparents bought it in 1904.

COMFORT — In 2020, Karen and Jim Stewart found themselves spending more and more weekends in a small guesthouse they owned on farmland that has been in Karen’s family since 1904, when her grandparents bought it.

So they decided to sell their home in Bee Cave near Austin and build a new, smaller place on what Karen calls her “generational homestead” that’s just outside of Comfort and within shouting distance of where her parents, an aunt and a cousin also live.

“Like many folks, when COVID-19 hit, we realized we had new priorities and acted on them,” said Jim, who sells food processing equipment.

So they hired Michael Bryant and Karl Heinen, co-owners of San Antonio-based Genuine Custom Homes, to build them a new home that would fit in style-wise with the historic buildings on the Hill Country property and that would be smaller than the 4,000-square-foot home they sold. But they also wanted a large, open kitchen and a bar area for Jim.

Jim and Karen Stewart stand in the family room of their new home in Comfort.

The couple lived in the guesthouse for the 18 months it took to plan and build the three-bedroom, 2 ½-bathroom that ended up costing $1 million.

On ExpressNews.com: A Texas Hill Country ranch in Comfort has compound of homes with historic log cabin, limestone block house and modern cottage

The exterior of the single-story house, which they moved into in May, has many classic Hill Country design elements: limestone and stucco walls, a metal roof and a large covered front porch.

“From our very first meeting, Karen said the guesthouse cabin should be our muse,” Bryant said.

The heart of the new house is the family room, a massive, 20-by-40-foot space with a 30-foot cathedral ceiling that encompasses the kitchen, dining room and living area. Large glass doors and windows above them let in plenty of light, but it’s the high ceiling that gives the room its distinct open and airy feel. Karen calls it “uplifting.”

The heart of the new house is the family room, a 20-by-40-foot open space with a 30-foot cathedral ceiling. It’s large enough to contain the kitchen, dining room and living area under a single roof.

She said that without the high ceiling, the house, which is 2,675 square feet in size, would feel too small. Karen, who works for an international food company, said she spent much of her time planning the kitchen.

“Whenever we entertain, whether it’s friends or family, everyone ends up in there,” she said. “So we decided, let’s build the best kitchen in the world.”

On ExpressNews.com: Wine lovers’ Texas Hill Country home by Canyon Lake custom built with wine cellar, vineyard

Located at one end of the room, the kitchen has countertops and a backsplash of white quartzite shot through with gray streaks. They considered Carrara marble, but were warned it’s too difficult to keep clean. Still, the natural stone they chose was more expensive than man-made.

“Mike kept telling us that most people build a Suburban, but ... we built a Porsche,” Karen said.

The milk chocolate-colored cabinets are handsomely set off by brushed brass hardware, which they selected for its timeless look. “We didn’t want something you’d associate with any single point in time,” Karen said. “We wanted a house that will look as up to date in 50 years as it does today.”

The owners bedroom in this new-build house in Comfort includes large windows.

They only time they veered from the crisp, clean look was when choosing the lintel beams over above several of the doors. These are made from locally sourced reclaimed wood.

“You can call it rustically elegant or elegantly rustic, whichever you prefer,” Karen said. “But I like the contrast.”

On ExpressNews.com: Unveiled at SXSW: Texas architecture firm Lake | Flato designed a 3D-printed house in Austin

That contrast is echoed in the reclaimed wood mantle on the the massive, limestone-faced, gas-burning fireplace. And above it all, a single Douglas fir beam traverses the cathedral ceiling and measures 38 feet long by 12 inches wide by 27 inches tall.

“They company we sourced it from told us they’d have to cut it into two pieces to install it,” Heinen said. “We said no, no, no.” Instead, they brought it into the house through the mudroom window and used lifts to slowly raise it to the peak of the ceiling.

Angled off to one side of the family room, they built a wet bar that serves as the entertaining hub for Jim and his friends.

Off to one side of the family room, a wet bar serves as Jim’s province and is further set off by the walls painted a blueish gray and with wood-stained crown molding and floor and door trim.

“We’ve always had a bar in our other homes,” he said. “It’s where everybody kind of gravitates to. At least it’s where the guys do, although women are invited, too.” The room is set off from the primarily white family room by its blueish-gray walls and the wood-stained crown molding, floor and door trim.

The owner’s suite bedroom also has a cathedral ceiling, although not quite as grand as the one in the family room. In the bathroom, they left a raw limestone wall behind the soaking tub, another nod to the home’s location in the rustic Texas Hill Country.

“I love natural finishes,” Karen explained.

The single-story house has many classic Hill Country design elements: limestone and stucco walls, a metal roof and the large covered front porch.

The rest of the bathroom, she said, was designed to be both relaxing and a place where she wouldn’t have to share a sink with her husband.

On ExpressNews.com: Texas Hill Country home near Canyon Lake unusually contemporary, modern for region dominated by limestone houses

The walk-in shower sports three different types of tile: large beige ceramic tiles on the two end walls, the third wall in a gray and white design that reminds Karen of stained glass and a floor made to look like colored river rock. “We wanted a little touch of color, but not so much we’d get tired of it,” she said.

Still under construction is an in-ground pool “cocktail pool” that will be surrounded on three sides by the horseshoe-shaped house. A stone wall along the fourth side will provide additional privacy.

The scaled down “cocktail pool” measures 32 feet (including a hot tub) by 8 feet and was initially supposed to be 5 feet deep. But then the builders hit solid rock and, by the time they were finished jack-hammering, they’d dug down a skosh more than 6 feet.

“It’s deep enough to tread water and that’s good exercise,” Karen said.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini

Richard A. Marini is a features reporter for the San Antonio Express-News where he's previously been an editor and columnist. The Association of Food Journalists once awarded him Best Food Columnist. He has freelanced for American Archaeology, Cooking Light and many other publications. Reader's Digest once sent him to Alaska for a week. He came back.