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The wizard of ahhsTRADING THE DALLAS DESIGN BIZ FOR HOMESPUN HOSPITALITY,

MIKE MCADAMS MAKES MAGIC AT LAKE AUSTIN SPA RESORT

B Y C H R I S T O P H E R W Y N N | P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y C A R T E R R O S E

If there’s such a thing as a naturereserve for humans, it might looksomething like Lake Austin SpaResort.

Guests clad in sandals and fluffywhite robes pad through gardenslined with fragrant lavender,rosemary and mint. A row of rusticcabins overlooks the meanderingriver and backdrop of tree-covered

hills that Texans can be excused for callingmountains.

Up another path, past two swimming poolsand across a tumbling creek, is a state-of-the-art spa that trades Zen trappings for pureSouthern comfort — sun porches, rocking chairs, even Texas State Fair blue-ribbon quilts.

That’s exactly how owner Mike McAdams planned it.

The yoga dock overlooks Lake Austin and the BalconesCanyonlands Preserve.

A guest cabin’s front porch offers a casual spot to relax.A chaise in the LakeHouse Spa’s Blue Room was one of thefirst pieces of furniture McAdams bought.

An antique cast-iron sugar kettle makes a rusticcenterpiece for the spa’s organic gardens.

Wisteria vines shade a pathway fronting the guest cabins.

Nature meets nurture in an al fresco treatment room.

Charmed: Spa owner Mike McAdams

Tranquility reigns at Lake Austin Spa Resort, with views of the spa library and Texas sky reflected in one of three pools.

The Dallas Morning News FDluxe.com July 2008 9

10 July 2008 FDluxe.com The Dallas Morning News

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Like the wizard hidingbehind the curtain,McAdams has discreetlyworked his magic here.Pine-paneled rooms are filledwith mismatched antiquesand art he scavenged inmarkets from Paris to Dallas:a Chinoiserie mirror, oilcansturned into lamps,hand-crocheted coverlets,vintage cookie jars, an oldcricket table repurposed as anightstand.

McAdams’ hand extendseven to the grounds, wherethe herb garden’s centerpieceis an old cast-iron Louisianasugar kettle (so heavy it brokean axle on the truck used tohaul it to Texas), and freshrosemary he had planted is

used for everything frompenne positano served in theresort cafe to body-scrubtreatments in the spa.

It’s an impressivemakeover for a ’40s-erafishing camp that’s gonethrough multiple evolutionsover the decades — nudistcolony, rodeo ranch, fat farm— and has now achievedgolden status underMcAdams’ touch.

This spring, Lake AustinSpa Resort earned kudos asthe No. 1 destination spa inNorth America in the CondeNast Traveler readers’ poll(McAdams likens this towinning an Academy Award).That was followed in June bya Best Vacation Spa nod from

the readers of Allure.These are heady

affirmations for McAdams,who took on the project in1997 with best friend andformer LSU roommate BillyRucks, after both corporatewarriors decided they neededa change of pace.

McAdams calls it hisGreen Acres moment: Somemen buy a sports car during amidlife crisis; he bought aHill Country resort.

It wasn’t a completestretch. The well-pressedDallasite had spent 13 yearswith Trammell Crow,brokering commercial realestate deals and later honinghis makeover chops aspresident of Trammell Crow

Design Centers, where hepioneered the controversialidea of trade showroomsopening to the public.

McAdams had evenchanneled his decor savvyinto the renovation of theHighland Park Georgian heshares with partner EricPaulson, and, more recently,the couple’s historic gardenmansion near downtownSanta Fe.

Of course, redoing a houseis one thing; tackling anaging lakeside compound issomething else entirely. Earlychallenges ranged from acrumbling spa building andneglected cabins (one guest’sfoot went right through arusted bathtub), to concrete

Decompressionchamber: The

25,000-square-footLakeHouse Spa, built

uphill from theresort, beckons

guests via a windinggarden path. Day

visitors have aseparate entrance.

The buildingmaintains its Texas

vernacular with wallsof local Austin stone

capped by astanding-seam

metal roof.


Barn raising: McAdams told designers he wanted “a cathedral to swim in,” and he got it with the “poolbarn,” built on site by New England craftsmen.

Open-door policy: The pool barn’s exterior

Capstone: A 200-year-old limestone well-cap salvaged from aTexas ranch makes a sculptural fountain.

Well rounded: Handmade copper pendants light the spa’sreception area.

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12 July 2008 FDluxe.com The Dallas Morning News The Dallas Morning News FDluxe.com July 2008 13

walkways so steep anduneven that housekeepingcarts routinely rolled off andcrashed into the honeysuckle.

“Everything was broken,”McAdams says, “right downto the ice machine.”

McAdams did acomprehensive overhaul,tackling the main compound— restaurant, library, cookingroom — and guest cabinsfirst. Steve Henry, a native ofFort Worth and nowprincipal designer for SanFrancisco firm Bamo, did theheavy lifting, but McAdamsstayed hands-on. His designideas for one row of cabins,sketched on a napkin duringa plane flight, became theworking blueprint.

This is a man obsessedwith details. Visiting withguests on the spa’s screenedporch, McAdams stopsmid-conversation to adjustan imperceptibly crookedlamp shade. And he jokinglycalls the shortcut he had builtthrough the spa’s serpentinegarden trail the “MikeMcAdams Type-A path.”

Renovations on theoriginal buildings complete,he turned his eye to creatingthe property’s crown jewel:the two-story,25,000-square-footLakeHouse Spa, opened in2004.

Austin architect RobertJackson of Jackson &McElhaney Architects

fleshed out McAdams’ visionof an “old barn and an oldstone house connected by amodern breezeway.” It took alocal stonemason 10 tries toget the right combination ofAustin stone for the project’sexterior.

An adjacent “pool barn”makes another big splash.McAdams hired a NewEngland company to buildthe structure. Massive barndoors slide open for fresh airand an enormous vaulted,beamed ceiling forms arough-hewn canopy over theOlympic-length pool.McAdams explains: “I

wanted a cathedral to swimin.”

The creature comfortsextend to the spa’s interior,where McAdams warmed upwalls with art ranging fromphotographs taken on thegrounds by Ann Stautberg (afamiliar name at Dallas’Barry Whistler Gallery) toquilts by State Fair championJoyce Massey.

Many of McAdams’favorite pieces are in the spa’scelebrated Blue Room (sonamed for the wall’speriwinkle-washed pine wallsand beadboard ceiling),where guests sip herbal tea

and await their treatments. Apair of rare Americanneedlepoints was a findthrough Dallas antiquesdealer and friend Nick Brock.Brock says theturn-of-the-20th-centuryworks sat in his HendersonAvenue shop for monthsbecause “nobody got them,but Mike got them right away.He has a great eye.”

Brock also helpedMcAdams score the oilpainting of a comely ’20s-eraflapper. Both men liked itright away because, as Brocksays, the woman in thepicture has “a bit of attitude.”

For all Lake Austin’sgrandness and indulgentpampering, the resort wasrenovated with deliberaterestraint.

McAdams credits his latemother, Sarah JaneWadsworth, for her pivotaladvice: “Just don’t tear thisplace down and make itfancy,” she told him after herfirst visit. “It may be ugly, butthere’s a lot of soul here.”

It’s an idea that resonatedwith McAdams, who spentchildhood days roaming hisgreat aunt’s heart-pineArkansas farmhouse, knownas Journey’s End. He stilldelights in memories of the“beautiful wallpapers,draperies and simple details”that made it so homey. Asimilar homespun charminformed the renovation of40 guest cabins, includingthe Lady Bird Suite,completed early this year. Thebedroom is cozy with a pair ofShaker-style beds crafted inPennsylvania and topped bycrisp white canopies. Apainting by artist Otis Dozier(one of the Dallas Nine,known for their Southwestregional aesthetic) hangsnear the fireplace in theconnecting sitting room.

McAdams, long a fan ofLady Bird Johnson and herbeautification achievements,was thrilled when the formerfirst lady spent three nights atthe spa to dedicate her

Pine-paneled rooms are filled with mismatched antiques and art McAdams scavenged in marketsfrom Paris to Dallas: a Chinoiserie mirror, hand-crocheted coverlets, vintage cookie jars.

Make yourself at home: Luxury is laid-back in the sitting room of the Lady Bird Suite. George and Barbara Bush slept here: The Lady Bird Suite features canopied beds andhandmade afghans McAdams commissioned from crafters across the country.

wingback chairs and a framed pair of rare American needlepoints (upper right).The tin chandelier was commissioned from New Mexico artisan Ted Arellanes.

Dinner party: Vintage majolica adorns walls paneled in centuries-old heart pine.

Feeling blue: The spa’s 1,000-square-foot Blue Room lounge is filled with precioustouches such as curtains hand-painted with Texas wildflowers, a Turkish rug, antique

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“great piece of cake.”McAdams writes that thesespecial women showed himhow to “recognize the beautyin nature and the importanceof surrounding yourself in anenvironment, both indoorsand out, that makes you feelwarm, nurtured and visuallystimulated.”

It’s a mission he clearlytook to heart. “If I haddreamed up something as mynext career, I would neverhave been able to dreamthis.”

E-mail: [email protected]

namesake suite. On the day the LakeHouse

Spa opened, an emotionalMcAdams sat down to write aletter.

It wasn’t to investors,shareholders or even his staff,but to the amazing women inhis life growing up in MerRouge, La. — his mother,grandmothers, aunts, all nowgone — whom he describes as“gardeners, bakers and loversof life.”

In the letter, he thankseach one for teaching him theimportance of “birds,butterflies, daffodils” and a

Lake Austin Spa Resortis open year-round. Rates, which include lodging,three daily meals and unlimited fitness activities,start at $1,455 for a three-night-minimum stay. Theadjacent LakeHouse Spa serves resort guests aswell as day-spa clients, offering more than 100services, a swimming pool with cabanas and spacuisine in the Aster Café.Lake Austin Spa Resort1705 South Quinlan Park Road in Austin800-847-5637lakeaustin.com

Get pampered: Poolside daybeds offer a soft spot for sunning.

Sit back: The screened porch’s oak rockersare duplicates of one made famous by JFK.

Nature trail: A spa waterfall feeds into a naturally filtering stream that nourishes the gardens below.

14 July 2008 FDluxe.com The Dallas Morning News

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How does your garden grow?Lake Austin Spa Resort’s resident “Director of Flora and Fauna,” Trisha Shirey,

says McAdams had a vision of what he wanted for the spa grounds and her job wasto “put plants with it.” The grounds are organically maintained and include a lushherb garden where chefs and guests alike come to take clippings. Spent flowers areeven dried and recycled as ingredients for dream pillows, bath teas, and salts andpotpourri.

For landscaping around the guest cottages, Shirey wanted each cabin to be asdistinctive outside as it is on the inside. “We have guests who love cabin 15 becausethe germanica blooms in the summertime, and others who prefer cabin 13, which isamazing right now, because it has Confederate jasmine that’s blooming, amaryllis inthe beds, and the most prolific columbine you’ve ever seen.

“A guest told me last week that she always leaves her gate open so people can seehow beautiful her garden is. That’s the best compliment you can give a plant geek.”

What’s her favorite planting? “That’s like trying to name your favorite dog or child!But if I had to choose, I love any kind of crape myrtle, and my favorite rose is Belinda’sDream — it’s well-adapted and easy to care for with large, gorgeous blooms.”

In bloom: Lake Austin’s meticulously tended organic herb, vegetable and flower gardens supply both spa and restaurant, and are a star attraction for butterflies,hummingbirds and the occasional foraging deer.

Local color: Vibrant mosaic pots were crafted by a Santa Fe artistMcAdams happened to meet on a plane flight.

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