STAT! I NEED HELP IN THE BATHROOM!

A reader asks:

My husband and I recently moved into a 1930s craftsman-style home in Kessler Park. We love the house but are ready to remodel both of our bathrooms. I’m hoping to find someone who specializes in designs for smaller bathrooms/older homes. I want to update everything (bigger bathtub, better shower, new flooring) while still making the bathrooms look like they belong in a house from the ’30s (pedestal sinks, wall sconces, etc.).

Readers, any suggestions? Does anyone specialiaze in designs for smaller bathrooms in older homes? If not, maybe someone should!

A WHAT KIND OF MALL?

Paige, what is a Firewheel Mall? Sounds like what happened at The Greenhouse.

(Oatsie?)

OATSIE AND CANDY

1) Oatsie?

2) Candy looked at local property taxes and decided she’s not going to take it anymore!

3) Oatsie?!

THE GREENHOUSE GOES UP IN FLAMES

Breaking News: The Greenhouse Spa has suffered “extensive damage” from a fire that was just extinguished, according to WFFA Channel 8. The Greenhouse is a legendary spa in Arlington that has lured the rich and famous for decades. I am particularly interested how Newport socialite Oatsie Charles has fared, since Dallas decorator Joe Minton and his client Betty Blake told me last week that Oatsie was slated to go to the spa this week. She would be staying with Blake before and afterward. (We have a fabulous photo shoot in Blake’s highrise apartment next week–I can’t wait for you all to see it).

DALLAS INSIDER REAL ESTATE INFO

Editor-At-Large Steve Snider is really into real estate and never misses an MLS meeting. Did you know they were open to the public? If you are interested in some very insider scoop, show up next time. Uptown and Turtle Creek MLS meetings are held every first and third Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the basement of Pappadeaux’s on Oak Lawn. A special third meeting will host Mayor Laura Miller on Jan. 31 at 9:30, who’s going to chat about the plans Dallas has for developing Uptown and Turtle Creek. If you want to know the insider scoop on real estate in the Park Cities, MLS meets every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at Romano’s Macaroni Grill on Northwest Highway at the Tollway. Steve says the breakfast food at the Park Cities MLS meetings is to die for.

ROOMS

Our Editor-At-Large Steve Snider stopped by to lend me a copy of a new book he’s nuts about, Rooms, which you should buy. It documents some of the world’s greatest rooms including Pauline de Rothschild’s London apartment, Elsie de Wolfe’s Versailles pavilion, and Marques de Casa Torres’ town house in Madrid. The photos are all by Derry Moore, an English aristocrat who photographed for Architectural Digest for 30 years.

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL

Just got back from the kick-off for the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival at Abacus. Lunch was wood grilled John Dory with roasted clam chowder sauce and mascarpone and grilled corn polenta. Let me translate: Yum. I also was offered wines from Texas’ Fall Creek vineyards, which of course took them up on.

The best, though, had to be the dessert–fresh ricotta cheese from Paula Lambert’s Mozzarella Factory made into cheesecake amcur, saffron Anglaise, brown butter pears, and black current sorbet.

Thank heaven, I’m going to the gym later. For more info on the upcoming festival, hit this site. If anybody needs me, you can find me napping under my desk.

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL

Just got back from the kick-off for the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival at Abacus. Lunch was wood grilled John Dory with roasted clam chowder sauce and mascarpone and grilled corn polenta. Let me translate: Yum. I also was offered wines from Texas’ Fall Creek vineyards, which of course took them up on.

The best, though, had to be the dessert–fresh ricotta cheese from Paula Lambert’s Mozzarella Factory made into cheesecake amcur, saffron Anglaise, brown butter pears, and black current sorbet.

Thank heaven, I’m going to the gym later. For more info on the upcoming festival, hit this site. If anybody needs me, you can find me napping under my desk.

SHOP TILL YOU DROP

From DMN’s Steve Brown today:

“Dallas-Fort Worth developers went on a shopping spree in 2006, building the most retail space in five years.

There’s now more than 28 square feet of shopping space for every D-FW resident–one of the highest ratios in the country…

“That’s the equivalent of adding five Firewheel malls,” said Herbert Weitzman, president of the Dallas-based retail brokerage company.

Say it with me, “Five Firewheel malls? NOOOOoooo!”