About Us
Come Experience
True Serenity
Elisa Henderson’s home holds a lifetime of stories. You’ll find reclaimed wood from across the United States, decorations from Germany, and a gorgeous, serene landscape. Each piece adds to the beauty of this country escape, while celebrating the past and embracing modern comforts.
Elisa grew up in Germany’s Black Forest. She shares that history in her home with family photographs and mementos. After 27 years with Singapore Airlines in Houston in Sales and Marketing, she longed for the stillness of the country. She retired to Round Top, Texas where she built an eco-friendly dogtrot house with a goal to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink. It became Elisa’s Sunday Haus.
Elisa’s husband Wayne Rentfro, founder of Wayne’s Barnwood, www.waynesbarnwood.com, supplied all the reclaimed and recycled wood in the house. You will find salvaged beams from century-old barns in Iowa, red pine floorboards from an old Galveston church, and azure blue beaded board from Fayetteville. An old, painted ceiling had to be cataloged, piece-by-piece, and properly stored for several years before it was installed in the home.
Elisa enjoys the natural wonders of life and her home embraces nature. She created a landscape in harmony with Texas weather. Very few of her plants require watering. Rainwater is collected and used for the vegetable garden, while kitchen leftovers and newspaper eventually become compost. Elisa is a certified Texas Master Naturalist and spends her volunteer hours cleaning our highway of trash and cutting down invasive plants at the Round Top Festival Institute campus.
Presently on her property, she is patiently removing invasive Bermuda grass to be replaced by a pocket prairie of native blue grama and buffalo grass with wildflowers around her house. Wildlife is always welcome at her place and birds love the native setting.
One of her great joys is that her three small grandchildren enjoy the outdoor space as much as she does.
Elisa is an enthusiastic traveler and has visited over 67 countries. Wayne and Elisa recently returned from a trip to Burma, Sri Lanka, Laos and Bhutan.
She loves spending time with her guests and making new friends. On her morning walks, she picks fresh flowers for the guestrooms and enjoys nothing more than sharing a cup of tea together.