Uptown Dallas Townhouse

This is the view of the living room, looking into the kitchen, dining area, and mezzanine work space upstairs. The main challenge was how to create intimacy in this 55 ft. long space.  To achieve that goal, the sofa, chaise, and chairs were placed closely together to form a circular conversation area. The far end of the room, with a 9 ft. ceiling became the dining room, seating up to 10 guests. The middle of the space, in front of the kitchen was kept open as a grand entrance to this floor. it provides cocktail party space, a dance floor, and acts as a sculpture gallery.

The 2nd challenge for this space was to create a sense of privacy from the street without covering the windows. The 3rd challenge was to camouflage an obtrusive horizontal beam which visually cut the 20 ft. high ceiling and view of the windows in half. The solution was to add this Mediterranean Palm tree. One’s eye goes to the tree and not the beam. The tree stops the eye of people on the street, creating a sense of privacy. But people inside can still enjoy the view through the window.

This very modern townhouse was purchased because the owner wanted to add to her art collection. The large painting on the left, of a Koi pond, is by a California artist, Jim Estey. Although many new pieces of art were purchased for this home, this piece has been in the owner’s collection for years.

I helped her find special pieces in art galleries in Dallas, Chicago, and California. This bronze and glass sculpture of a gazelle, purchased in Chicago was selected for the foyer.

The Venetian mask, purchased in San Francisco, was framed in plexiglass. The framer was told that it needed to be removed easily from the frame so it could be worn.

The 3 bamboo panels over the bed are Japanese garden screens. They are used in Japan to stop one’s eye as one wanders through a garden. Normally, they are narrower. They were originally ordered by the owner to act as a 3- bay window covering for a previous residence. The were meant to conceal an unattractive view on the other side, but to still let in light from the outside. They were custom made in Japan to fit the size of the windows.

The ceiling was painted red/orange, to pick up the color from some of the yarn in the Turkish baby back pack hung on the left wall. it is the same color used on the walls of the foyer bar in the previous photo.