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HILLHAVEN COUNTR Y DESIGN MINDS RENEA ABBOTT AND GREG MANTERIS' WATERSIDE WEEKEND RETREAT F rom the limestone veranda overlooking Lake Austin, the iconic suspension bridge that spans the width of the lake is just visible on the horizon. Greg Manteris, standing by the pool on this picturesque property, points to the fourth fairway of the Austin Country Club, literally a stone's throw from the edge of their patio gate. Manteris, owner of Houston's Creative Flooring Resources, and his wife, interior designer Renea Abbott, proprietor of Shabby Slips, make an escape to this Austin retreat nearly every weekend. "Our routine is to finish work on Friday at three, which often turns into four or five o'clock," Manteris says. "Then we get here at 8 pm, go straight to whatever restaurant we want to try, and meet up with friends." The busy couple often go hours without seeing or talking to one another Monday through Friday, but weekends in the Hill Country are their time to reconnect, enjoy life on the water (their Cobalt runabout boat is docked in the slip below their home) and unplug from their hectic Houston lives. "This was just a sliver of land that nobody knew what to do with," says Manteris, who bought the 15-year-old house and property with Abbott five years ago. "The builder who developed it thought outside the box, looked at the land, and I think he was pretty genius to come up with this design … Every room has a view, and the way he sited them makes you unaware of the neighbors around BY LAURANN CLARIDGE. PHOTOGRAPHY JACK THOMPSON. JULY | PAGE 18 | 2012