"A step through the hotel’s giant black doors and it’s obvious that Los Angeles-based designer Kelly Wearstler spent time getting to know the Texas landscape and the city of Austin. The lobby, a series of enclaves curated with patinaed club chairs, loveseats upholstered in the rusty reds, deep greens and golds of the surrounding hill country, and wrought iron light fixtures from the 1930s, nods to the Arts and Crafts bungalow homes the area is known for. Wearstler mixes patterns, colors, and materials with her characteristic zeal: a single sofa is a pastiche of ikat, floral, and stripes, while the reception has a black and white gingham ceiling, elevator walls are lined with cowhide, and patterned vintage rugs cover much of the cypress wood floors throughout the hotel. And yet the result, a sort of visual patchwork of influence and eras, tones and textures, is anything but haphazard. It takes an incredibly keen, confident eye to pull off such a maximalist look. And while the identity of Austin, the country’s fastest growing city, is somewhat in flux as it moves from the laid back indie darling it’s long been and the busy tech-centric town it’s becoming, the Proper—with its heart-of-downtown location, casual sidewalk café, high energy lobby bar, and the city’s best Mediterranean restaurant, Peacock—is a place where both sides of Austin feel welcome." - Mandy Ellis, Allison Bagley
