Category: Dallas

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Bone House

Today I had the PRIVILEGE, again thanks to Knoll Dallas, of touring The Rachofsky House in Dallas.  Completed in 1996, this is a private home designed by Richard Meier.  You can schedule a tour (two weeks in advance) with a group of 10-25 people.  Or you could be a really awesome person who attends really neat events at this place, such as Two x Two for AIDS and Art.

The art in the galleries changes about every year.  We were given a list of the pieces on the property (over 80) which in a variety of mediums.

This was one of my favorite pieces in the “living room,” Slack of Vinyl, 1970 by Jiro Takamasu.  They made sure we didn’t accidentally step on it…

The floating study was off-limits; the house is still in use by the owners on occasion.  I would love a desk like that!

The bright white kitchen is on the first floor, along with the formal dining, and gallery.  Everyone’s favorite piece was opposite this view:

you’re greedy and you’re selfish., 2008 by Ricci Albenda  That will certainly put things in perspective over your morning cup of coffee!

The exterior and sculpture garden were equally breathtaking:

The property is over three acres–in the middle of Dallas–and there’s a pond!  Those are three geese at the edge.

I loved how the more traditional property is juxtaposed next door.  Also, it’s not easy to tell with my iPhone pictures, but the sculpture in the foreground is Cave Bear Teeth, 2000 by Kiki Smith.  They are cast bronze teeth!

This was truly time well spent and an excellent break from work.  If you get the chance to go, jump at it!

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Art House Director

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a lovely evening, thanks to the great folks at Knoll, taking a tour of the Dallas Arts District led by the Dallas Center for Architecture.  The DCA offers public and private tours of downtown Dallas architecture–they are a great resource and I learned a lot about an area I’ve lived/worked in/near for my entire life!

We started outside the Dallas Museum of Art at the Flora Street entrance (that I have personally never stood outside of).  The DMA opened in 1984 and is one of the bookends of the Arts District.

The trees outside the DMA were decorated for the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit–which is a MUST SEE.  I went the Thursday after it opened and I must have looked like a fool walking around with my mouth agape.  BEAUTIFUL.

We strolled down to the Nasher Sculpture Center, my favorite Arts District building.  Designed by Renzo Piano, it opened in 2003 and is truly a celebration of all the great work the Nasher family did for art and Dallas.

Then we turned around to see the high rise for the Crow Collection of Art.  Fun Fact: this building was designed by Richard Keating, whom I’ve worked with on a recent project.  It’s a small world after all.

A look back at the DMA with Fountain Place, designed by I.M. Pei, in the background.

Past the Meyerson, past the new Museum Tower under contrstuction, past  Belo Mansion, we made it to the new Winspear Opera House.  I’m dying to go inside, but that requires tickets.  Our guide told us about the shading devices and how the architectural team at Foster + Partners did a year long solar study to see exactly where and how many shades were needed.

It’s very effective and very light in appearance.

The water feature between the Winspear and the Wyly Theatre is very cool.  We all behaved like children!  I stuck my foot in.

Isn’t that what they want us to do?  If it were July, I would be barefoot.

The Wyly Theatre is another building that an iPhone camera will not do justice to.  This must be seen and person and I must gather up all my pennies to get inside.  Apparently, there are multiple difference stage setups for different types of performances.  Some of the seating works like a “basketball scoreboard” according to our guide.

Ending at the other bookend, One Arts Plaza, home of the Knoll Dallas showroom and Tei-An for happy hour.  It was a great evening to walk around downtown especially in the mild Texas fall/winter. Contact the Dallas Center for Architecture to sign up!

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Can’t Buy Me Love

I don’t normally like garage sales.  I’m not a big fan of thrift stores.  I don’t enjoy digging through piles or racks.  I don’t want to spend all day driving from store to store looking for the best deal.  I prefer pouring over catalogs, magazines, and websites and dog-earring or bookmarking my favorite things, that I begin to obsess over until I finally go see it in person and purchase it.  It takes longer this way, but I rarely return things or regret purchases.

Today was an exception, my church had their annual garage sale to benefit missions, so I thought I should check it out.  Maybe there would be a side chair that needs reupholstering?  I knew my sister needed some little things for her apartment, so I had something in mind and I found this lamp:

Only three dollars!  It really only needs a new shade to update it.  I texted a picture to Adrienne and she wanted it (I was ready to keep it for myself if she didn’t).  She loves purples and reds, so this mustard yellow should complement those colors well.

After my one-for-one success, I headed to Again & Again in Dalls for the Riverfront’s Fall Antiques District Streetwide Sale.  I’ve never been to the store and they post great things on Facebook, I had to go!

This bench/ottoman/coffee table reminds me of the antique rug ottomans I’ve been seeing so much of (and wanting) lately.  This one was super long; I wasn’t ready to drive back to Fort Worth with that in my tiny car.  You can see so much great stuff in the background–I will be back!

I loved this mirror!  It has a crack in the lower left hand corner, but you could put a plant in front of that, right?

This was my favorite of all the awesome lamps.

I had gone through half the store before I realized there were fixtures for sale on the ceiling too!  This store has too many good things to mentally process and the staff was very helpful too.

I walked around to some of the other stores in the area and there were so many great deals to be had!

Oh hey, is anyone looking for an “XL Blowfish on Art Deco Chrome Stand?”  I know where you can get one.

I audibly gasped when I saw this sign–it’s like when you’re little and you see the personlized license plate keychains or magnets with your random non-Lindsay name on it:

Bizarre!  I tried to take more pictures of it, but a lady (who I hope worked there) came up behind me and said, “I don’t think they want you taking pictures of that!”  I did my patented high-pitch-nervous-laugh-mumble and left the store.  Really?  That’s what I should have said, “Really!??”  I don’t do much shopping for clients, but surely, I could take pictures of things to show them.  Hmm…

I cheered myself up back in Fort Worth with a skirt from Anthropologie and some new software for my laptop.  Retail therapy always cheers me up!  Happy shopping!

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Drive To Dallas

I had the most “I am an Interior Designer” day of my life the other day in Dallas.  It was a big trip for me now as a Fort Worth designer.  I used to work and live in Dallas, but now when I go over there, I must combine with it with 5 other errands to get my gas money’s worth!

I’ve never used real stone flooring on a project before.  When I found out my current project is under budget (when does that ever happen??) and we were given permission to “fancy it up” (my words, not the client’s), I headed straight to Daltile in Dallas.  I perused their stone website  to do my homework, but when I got there, I wanted everything!  I was powerless to all the beautiful marble, travertine, and limestone!  My favorites were two that are vein cut and come in “plank sizes” like wood flooring, i.e. 4” x 36”, 6” x 36”, and 8” x 36”.

This is why I need a house so that I can cover every surface in this Silver Screen marble (think of the echoes!).  I had many people stop by my desk, once I got back to the office, asking about it.  Why can’t we (design folk) help but pick things up and touch them?  Everyone picked up the sample and ran their hand over it.

The other favorite was a Torreon travertine, just beautiful!  I hope my client can choose one because I can’t!  I’ve got an idea for a herringbone floor pattern…

I was also in Dallas to meet one of my good design buddies for dinner, but I had some time to kill, so I went to my favorite furniture store to discover some new goodies—Crate & Barrel!  I know it’s not some cool insider, trade only place, but most of my apartment is from here, many from end-of-the-year floor sample sales.  I noticed all the new fabrics they’ve introduced—including Dwell Studio for Robert Allen, I just had to see (and sit on) it in person—fantastic!

As I was exiting the grand staircase (dramatically, I might add), I saw a familiar Fort Worth face—Caroline Jones!  Caroline and I were drafting buddies at TCU and she is ridiculously talented.  She’s responsible for the elegant interiors of GRACE in downtown Fort Worth (actually, she is “GRACE” [it’s her middle name], she and her husband, Adam opened the restaurant back in 2008).  Here’s a picture of me inside their gorgeous bathroom, I was insane with monochromatic madness:

Caroline was shopping for her latest awesome project, Dee Lincoln’s Tasting Room and Bubble Bar in Dallas (the first one is at Cowboy’s Stadium designed by HKS).  She even made my jaw drop when she said, “Hey, why don’t you take this gift card and try it out tonight?!”  Whaaaa?  How can I ever repay her!?  “Here Caroline, I received this notebook and pen from a CEU on grout I attended…it’s yours.”

So my design buddy, Lauren and I checked out the Tasting Room after a delicious vegan dinner at Spiral Diner and we were terribly impressed!  The space was to die for—my iPhone cannot do it justice.

Beautiful tiled bathrooms with terrazzo floors and crazy glass “bubble” fixtures—these were actually throughout the bar as pendants.

And here are the crazy wine dispensing machines—you insert your preloaded gift card and pick from the wine selections and press a button for 2 oz, 4 oz, or 6oz.  This location actually has the first sparkling wine dispenser too.

What an amazing staff too!  Great customer service!  Let me tell you, we were overwhelmed with choices and our waitress kindly guided us to make excellent selections.  It’s a great place to catch up with a friend and discuss design!