Is Your House a Jun-Nel?

[Photo by Danny Piassick]

Mid-century modern houses continue to be hot sellers in Dallas, especially those designed by well-known architects and firms such as Ju-Nel, which we wrote about in D Home a couple of years ago. Now there’s a website to help you find out if your Lakewood area house is a Ju-Nel.

Chiapas Event at the Crow

Joseph Noble is hosting an event fund raiser for the Chiapas Project at the Crow Museum, this Friday, June 6. The Chiapas Project is one of the most noble causes I know of, loaning money to women in third world countries to have their own business, make money to support their children, and pay back the loan. That is a very tiny description of a huge cause. Lucy Crow Billingsley is one of the founders of this project and has generously lent the Crow Museum for the event. Also, local students will be showing their works, and some of the very talented Mr Noble’s fabrics will be shown on chairs to be auctioned. In short, those are three very good reasons to fork over your $50. Now can you tell me any reasons why you wouldn’t go? PS - there will be wine, too. There, now you have no excuses.

Sweet Home Alabama

This week, I will be reporting live from Ono Island, Alabama. When I tell people we are going to the beach, in Alabama, many people ask: Alabama has beaches? Yes, it does.

There is a 26 mile stretch of pristine sugar-sand beach along the southern tip of Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. Dubbed “The Redneck Riviera” it is a haven for snow birds and family with second (and in some cases third) homes. Someone alert Candy Evans.

We, of course, stay at the Tackett Tern. I just love the cute and clever names of the houses on the island. There is my favorite, The Shangri-La, an Asian-inspired beach house, and The Lone Star. The Lone Star is owned by a Texas resident and retired one star general. See what I mean? Cute and clever…

Speaking of the Lone Star, everywhere I go, I see Texas cars. Ono Island, Orange Beach, Perdido Key, and Gulf Shores look like a suburb of Dallas (with sunburn and floating flip flops, but a little slice of the Metroplex, no less). Dallasites are everywhere.

Many of the homes in the area were destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. They were demolished, re-built, and almost all were redecorated. I will be posting some pictures and reports on that later in the week, as well as some shopping destinations to check out. After the storm, a real estate frenzy drove prices up 2-3 times of pre-storm values. With the credit crunch, though, things have stabilized. This means on thing: BARGINS. This area has increased in value over 500% in the last 15 years. Those wanting a second home, or income from rental properties…look no farther.

It’s an easy drive, about 10.5 hours, and after fourteen grueling years of marriage, fourteen blissful years of marriage, okay, just fourteen years of marriage, I could do it in my sleep. Jump to read the “blow by blow” of our most recent family trip.

(more…)