North Oak Cliff Homes = $$$

Yesterday I blogged that I long for a slightly bigger house in my Kessler Park neighborhood and can’t decide whether I should sell and buy up or add on to my house. I received these words of warning from a real estate agent:

Have you ever lived though a remodel? Trust me, you don’t want to — especially if you’re adding on a master suite. North Oak Cliff is one of the few neighborhoods that’s hot right now. You should consider selling.

Really? Sell? In this market? I’m still concerned. Any other helpful tips? Daddy, needs a walk-in closet.

Welcome Williams-Sonoma Home

Christine and I ventured to Plano yesterday to check out the new Williams-Sonoma Home store. It’s the only one in Texas (so far), and I am perfecting my plan to make tons of money so I can buy everything in the store. (My current plan involves jogging slower when proximal to the driveways of the best and brightest Highland Park homes in hopes of getting gently hit by a fancy car.) The store is gorgeous–it feels like a house–with rooms that transition naturally from the den to the dining room to the bedroom. Highlights: a Hickory Chair armoire–you can customize the doors with different finishes, mirrors, and linens; super fun porcelain pineapples and parrots; tons of coffee-table books; and mother-of-pearl everything. Christine is obsessed with a chandelier and the garden stools. If my money-making plan succeeds, I will buy her one of each. But enough about us and our favorites, get to Plano immediately, please, and check it out for yourself.

Opus One and Bijoux

Cutie pie chef Scott Gottlich of hot restaurant Bijoux is featued in our upcoming October issue of D Home. Just received a note that Gottlich’s restaurant is hosting an Opus One wine dinner Wednesday, Oct. 17. I’ve been to one of Bijoux’s wine dinners before. They’re tasty and great fun — especially when a drunk trophy wife sits next to you and squeezes your knee for most of the evening. But I digress. Check out the details here. Oh, and how much is an evening of Opus One goodness, one might ask? A mere $500. See you there.

Attention, Larry Grusendorf

Photo By Stephen Karlisch

Why am I attempting to get the attention of Larry Grusendorf, you ask? It’s a long story but it all has to do with the fact that my first name is Rebecca. There’s another Rebecca in town whose email address happens to be in every designer’s computer along with mine: that of Rebecca O’Dell, at Scott + Cooner. So, when I got an email last night from Larry confirming the shipping costs for some leather, I have to admit at first I was baffled.
Then, I put two and two together and realized it must have been meant for the other Rebecca. I think this is hilarious because years ago when I was an editor at PaperCity, our Houston-based Editor in Chief Holly Moore thought she’d sent a story to me to edit, but it ended up in Rebecca O’Dell’s email box. Rebecca, a former fashion editor here at D magazine many, many years ago, dutifully edited the story without question and sent it back.

So Larry if you’re reading this, the shipping costs for the leather you wanted to return are still not confirmed.

Rising Mortgage Rates Will Impact Home Sales

Because buyers will offer less to pull those monthly payments in line. Sources continue to tell me our market has softened while the national news media tells us we sound like one of the places buyers will look for bargains because we have reasonably-priced properties and good job growth.