A peek into the Dallas real estate market

I enjoy looking at real estate, especially expensive real estate. It's nice to see different styles, architecture, and timeless design. 


Below are some of the homes around Dallas that are currently on the market. Of course, I posted ones that I think are really lovely or interesting. The homes in Dallas showcase influences from a good mix of styles.

3236 Bryn Mawr Drive, University Park

$1,149,000

The ceiling in this home adds so much interest. I also really like the bookcase that surrounds both sides of the doorway. The fireplace in the corner is a nice touch too. It's nice to see these expensive homes offer something unique and custom.

I'd put a soft chair in this corner and do some reading, or blogging!

I love homes with harwood floors in the kitchen

According to The Remodeling Guy, hardwood floors are great for any room—including the kitchen.

People sometimes hesitate using hardwood in a kitchen. But—there’s only one floor that will do better in a flood scenario—tile. And even tile doesn’t always survive a broken pipeline. 

Solid wood floors can withstand more than manufactured wood. Engineered floors like plys with a hardwood top do better than laminate flooring (which really isn’t wood at all).

Hardwood floors look good with some wear and tear. If you use a solid lumber, 3/4” thick it will wear better than wood that’s only a few millimeters thick.

4420 Westway Avenue
Highland Park $1,600,000

The listing called it "A bygone era of style--1930s mediterranean style home." A true mediterranean style home has a stucco exterior--requiring a home to be built of brick with stucco added over it. This home, you can see below has a brick exterior. In mediterranean interiors, walls are usually textured.


But I like brick homes, especially if they're painted...like this one:

I like the use of color in this home. The rugs are also really great.

Seagrass rug. 

Sitting area inside the masters suite

Love the color in this room! The rug is a neutral pallete with colors popping from the blue silk curtains, green chairs and patterned pilows. The chairs across the room have a pattern to them, but it's hard to tell what it is.

The curtains are at a good spot, a few inches from the ceiling...all the way around the room.

There is something else great about this home--the designer didn't use a lot of "recessed canned lighting." Instead they used chandeliers, lamps and of course, natural light! The canned look not only looks ugly, but it doesn't feel as home-y.

The molding design at the top is impressive.

I am liking this backsplash and the oven hood. This is a white kitchen that works. But why did they place the curtains halfway up the window?

5422 Merrimac Avenue Dallas 75206

$549,900

This is a nice little 1927 Tudor home on the M Streets. It's a designated historical home.

This property is also for rent at 3,000 a month.

5316 Waneta Dr. $739,000

Greenway Parks

I just love the architecture of this 1931 Tudor!

Designed by C.H. Griesenbeck, is quite the charmer. Tall ceilings, a flowered courtyard with saltwater pool, and a gourmet kitchen are just for starters.

These owners must be ready to sell the home. Notice how enjoyable it is to be able to view these high resolution photos. They're from the real estate site.

This floor is perfect with these white cabinets. I am starting to belive that all-white kitchens just aren't very easy to take photos of (without a photography crew preparing lighting, etc.) and are probably hard to keep clean.

So pretty.

I love how these curtains puddle a bit at the bottom. They seem so elegant.

3709 Gillon Avenue, Highland Park

$5,949,000

Built in 1983, this Neo-Classical residence was renovated in 2008 with a Palm Beach chic feel. The home showcases wide-plank oak floors with French limestone. Dome skylight with hand-forged ironwork.


I don't really like this type of grandoise exterior, but the scrolling wrought iron, windows, and greenery are nice elements. I like a lot of things about the inside of this home too...

Formal dining room. There's some type of mirrored tile on the walls adding glitz and lots of reflection to the room.

I like this kitchen a lot. I really like the black door and window trim.

The kitchen counters are corian. The wood floor is painted with a black pattern to match the trim. The wooden beams on the ceiling are also painted black to match. Beyond the black beams is a weathered wood ceiling. There was so much detail given to this room.

This home has been on the market for 184 days. This rug matches the one in the kitchen. Golden with a hints of blue and red. This room has a lot of symmetry.

I love the silvery blues in this bedroom. This home has 7 full bathrooms!

3708 Maplewood

$3,599,000

Located between Preston and Hillcrest, this Cape-Cod style home was built in 1917. Highland Park's first development was in 1907. 

They used 2 different types of wood on the stairs to create the dark/light combination.

Seagrass and a monochromatic look. Antique, french furniture throughout.

  I like the popped out window. I wonder if that is original architecture?

 The entry way also capitalized by using 2 different kinds of wood-lovely!

I like the different patterned slipcovers for the chairs and a seemingly unrelated deer rug underneath.

Dallas has a nice and diverse collection of historic or architecturally significant houses. These homes sprung up in the early 20th century, when business was booming and many high-end neighborhoods were being developed.


Local architects are largely responsible for the homes—like Clifford Hutsell, who designed a Spanish eclectic house for himself in the 1920s, and Charles Dilbeck, who later became known for the Texas Ranch—but some notable architects from all over the country came to work in Dallas, too. In older neighborhoods like Highland Park and Lakewood, you'll find colonial revivals, craftsmans, roursquares, Spanish mediterranean and tudor houses.


To learn more about Dallas's historic neighborhoods and available homes, visit www.architecturallysignificant.com.


Thanks for reading!

Tara

Louisiana Plantations

Creole homes are found in the south, near the Gulf Coast. The architectural style was influenced by French and Spanish colonial styles. Many were built more than two centuries ago, and they're still standing!

The term Creole became commonly applied to individuals of mixed heritage born in Louisiana.

Double Galley House

Shortly after the arrival of the first two slave ships from Africa in 1719, New Orleans became one of the nation’s major ports of entry for slaves, immigrants, and goods. Then, in the 1720s, Germans began immigrating to the region, followed by the Acadians (now known as Cajuns) in the 1760s. The Saint-Domingue Revolution, which began in 1791, led to the start of immigration of Haitians in early 1810.

Louisiana State Bank, Richard Koch

“Creole Houses” is a book on the character and style of the homes and people found throughout the state of Louisiana. Steve Gross and Sue Daley provided the photography and John Lawrence documented the history.

In an interview with Southern Accents, John Lawrence talks a bit about what is typical for Creole homes.

Built from the 18^th to mid-19^th centuries, typical manors or cottages have shaded galleries, covered porches and courtyards with plans that promoted cross-ventilation. Casement windows allowed breeze to flow through the entire window. Many were built with heavy timber frames and bricks in between, which they then coated with plaster or stucco.

A lot of these houses are still standing because of the durable materials and design that was used. The local cypress wood that's commonly found in Creole homes resisted rot and insect attack.  

Carpenters, ironworkers, brickmasons, plasterers, and furniture-makers of African descent contributed to the architectural style.

4 photos above from Steve Gross and Sue Daley

It is also significant that these homes withstood the 2005 hurricanes.

Chretien Point Plantation, Richard Koch

Pitot House is a quintessential Creole house and a Louisiana Landmark, open to the public.

Can you imagine some of the antiques that can be found in these old manors?

The "Pigeonnier" at Parlange plantation with interior converted into a guesthouse.

This is the inside of the photo above it!

The August issue of Garden and Gun includes a story about Hollywood director Tate Taylor’s move to Wyolah Plantation—a 70 acre plantation in Mississippi.

Look at those columns!

So lush

Loving the deep south yet?

A. Hays Town is a well-known architect and renovator of French Creole homes built in the 19^th century. The blog, Under Spanish Moss offers the original posting of this story, but it was so inspiring, I wanted to share the photos of the restored Creole cottage. Aamaazzing.

Jo Ann Hymel, an interior designer with Rogers and McDaniel Antiques purchased a Creole cottage in Baton Rouge. She wished Hays Town to redo the home which he agreed to after she allowed him to move the cottage across town.  

2x12 boards from a school house demolition in a town nearby made the floor.

French Cypress Doors with early 1800’s door hardware. Cypress doors offer hidden space for entertainment preparations 

American Empire chest and beautiful silk drapes

Dutch brass chandelier hanging over French dining table

A. Hayes often installed floor to ceiling wood windows

I would move into this Creole cottage tomorrow

Another Garden and Gun article featured southern antiques dealer Patrick Dunne's old Creole manor named Serenity. The photos are below. You can visit his antique store, Lucullus, which is based in New Orleans, to find some true antique pieces. 

  Built during the first decades of the 1800s, is a classic French Creole manor house

Wide-plank cypress wood is again used here

 Like most Creole houses, Serenity has no halls (for ventillation) with high ceilings and tall French doors.

Historical Buildings from the Historic New Orleans Collection

The Counting House

The Counting House was built as a warehouse by Jean François Merieult in 1794–95. A 20th-century renovation revealed that material from a previous warehouse had been incorporated into Merieult’s building.

The walls were found to contain some small French bricks, as well as thistle-shaped ventilator grills dating from the early colonial warehouse.

Hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I did. Thanks for reading!

Tara