When designing the seventies ranch house in Lockhart she calls Casa Suerte, estate-sale devotee Celeste Quesada selected objets d’art that “conjure magic”—from animal masks to intricate textiles given to her by her tías. An Austin-born artist, real estate agent, and community activist, Quesada bought the 1,959-square-foot rambler in 2021 with her husband, Grammy-winning Latin funk-rock musician Adrian Quesada, a native of Laredo. With two teen daughters, the Quesadas call nearby Austin home, but Casa Suerte is their escape. They also rent it out to friends and other creatives as a retreat, she says. “Guests enjoy it as a sacred space and summon their own luck, fortune, and blessings within a small Texas town.”
Many of the gems here—prints her mother picked up in Guatemala, an antique velvet chair from France—were gifts from Celeste Quesada’s wide web of close family and friends. “I come from a long line of pickers and yard salers. I mean, that’s our generational wealth.”
Although Quesada did not work with an architect or interior designer, she doesn’t see Casa Suerte as her project alone. She attributes much to the tradespeople, whom she calls “the team,” who worked on the year-long renovation. “I think because of my event-production background, I’ve always felt the real rock stars in the room were the plumbers and the electricians. All the people who helped me paint or Sheetrock—they are the artisans of these homes.”
Raised by a young community-activist mom, Quesada is naturally wired to give back. In her mid-twenties, she cofounded Cine Las Americas, an Austin-based film festival; now in her fifties (she calls herself a “midcentury mujer”), she has decades of experience advising arts-centric nonprofits. Her real estate practice focuses on helping musicians and artists find a home in the competitive Central Texas market. “I’m a homemaker, but not in the Barbara Billingsley kind of way,” she says. “I create spaces.”
An abbreviated version of this article originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “House of the Spirits.” Subscribe today.
In the cozy sunken living room, Celeste Quesada hung Moroccan animal masks over the double-sided fireplace—her wink at Texans’ enthusiasm for taxidermy in home decor. When Quesada decided she wanted to buy a home in Lockhart, she looked at bigger, Victorian-style houses. “But we’d bring the girls, and they’d say, ‘No, too big.’ We’re really like a bear family, piled up on each other. We want intimate spaces, and the girls felt like this was the right size.”
Photograph by JD Swiger
In one bedroom, a collection of antique prints of Indigenous women that Quesada’s mother bought in Guatemala hangs over the bed. “I love all the little details,” Quesada says. “It’s a real study of traditional Mesoamerican dress.” Quesada’s grandfather lived in Guatemala City, and she and her family made regular trips to towns across the country.
Photograph by JD Swiger
With its lush, bird-centric wallpaper; 1920s-style calendar-girl prints; and a plant potted in a teacup Quesada bought at a Lockhart estate sale, Casa Suerte’s bathroom epitomizes Quesada’s eclectic style. Itzá, the rescue dog Quesada named after an Indigenous group from the Yucatán (her full name is Maritza Chichen Itzá Quesada), is the only family pet who comes to Lockhart.
Photograph by JD Swiger
A wooden retaining structure in the middle of the house initially posed a challenge for Quesada. Once she realized the width was perfect for paperbacks, she started collecting ones that were interesting to her—from works by Nikolai Gogol to Freaky Friday—and arranged them by the colors of the page edges, making a book art piece.
Photograph by JD Swiger
The screened-in porch in the Quesadas’ backyard, which abuts a school playing field, was originally an enclosed room with “weird green carpet.” The now airy space is their go-to spot for family chill time. “I love, love, love it out here,” Celeste Quesada says. “In the mornings, the way the mist is, it’s incredible. And every now and then there’s a school baseball game in the field—it feels like Friday Night Lights to me.”
Photograph by JD Swiger
Quesada loves to mix styles; the kitchen shelves are home to both Mexican vintage pottery and modern matte black ceramic dinnerware. Because she “didn’t want things to get too patchwork-y,” however, she selected a black and white tile from Clay Imports to use throughout the house: in the kitchen, in the bathroom, by the front door. Because she can “get a little crazy with stuff,” Quesada opted for a simple, dandelionlike pattern to tie the rooms together.
Photograph by JD Swiger
Quesada was able to maintain much of the home’s original 1950s features. The front door, however, is new. Quesada sought a door with a warm midcentury feel. “I like wood,” she says. “It feels natural to me.”
