Teresa Byrne-Dodge – Page 2 – River Oaks Houston

Some of Our Favorite Kitchens

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Guests always seem to congregate in the kitchen, right? Even if you set up the party buffet and bar in other rooms, people wander into the kitchen. And they often stay there all evening. Is it the messy informality of the kitchen? Do some shy guests need a place to hide...

5 Changes for Your Garden

March 21, 2021August 16, 2021Teresa Byrne-Dodge

It was just four weekends ago that we all emerged, kind of numb, from the mid-February deep freeze and took a look around. Even if you were among the fortunate who did not have damage to your pipes and home, you surely were disheartened to view our Houston landscape … the...

Nosy Questions with Karen Pulaski

January 16, 2021January 17, 2021Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Building a new nest or refeathering an old one? Either way, we can probably agree that the bedroom is life’s most personal space, a retreat that should look good and feel good. After all, we spend about a third of our lives in our bedrooms. Meet Houston designer Karen Pulaski, who...

Add Some Zing to Your Life!

December 14, 2020December 15, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Cameron and I were talking about ginger. It seems like every time you buy a plump hand of ginger at the supermarket the darn thing dries out in the vegetable drawer before you get around to trying some new recipe for Thai-inspired coconut soup. I’ve spent years buying fresh ginger, only...

A Tale of Two Houses

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

What are the chances that two of our current listings would both be fundamentally Mid-Century Modern in their DNA and yet so very different? Both homes are located on highly desirable River Oaks streets (albeit on opposite sides of the subdivision), both were built in 1950 and both are exquisitely realized...

Nosy Questions for Mariquita Masterson

July 6, 2020September 1, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Mariquita Masterson is well known to Houstonians as the designer namesake of the jewelry store/workshop nestled in the boutique shopping center at the foot of River Oaks Boulevard. The Mexico City native, who moved to Houston in 1957, says that she was first inspired to make her bold trademark jewelry while...

Bond. James Bond. All of him.

May 19, 2020May 20, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Years from now, when someone asks what we did during the COVID-19 lockdown back in the Spring of 2020, I will say that I gardened, baked, slept long and well, attended countless Zoom webinars and watched every one of the 24 James Bond movies to date, in order of their release....

At Home in the Garden

April 17, 2020April 17, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

A lot has happened since our last River Oaks Letter. At the same time, almost nothing has happened. Every day we get up early (the dogs don’t know we have a stay-at-home order), make the coffee and toast, read the news in The New York Times and online, listen to Morning...

Nosy Questions for Bradley Brooks

January 13, 2020January 14, 2020Teresa Byrne-Dodge

It’s hardly possible to live in River Oaks and be unaware of the neighborhood’s two glorious house museums, Rienzi and Bayou Bend. As a new docent-in-training at Bayou Bend, I was thrilled to meet the man currently responsible for overseeing its priceless collection of early American furniture, paintings and decorative artifacts....

Take a Look at 2414 Inwood Drive

December 12, 2019December 13, 2019Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Designed to grab the attention of passersby, 2414 Inwood Drive has been slowing down traffic since it was built. This pretty jewel box of a house, just five years old and located between Kirby and Chilton in River Oaks, is French inspired. Squint your eyes, and you can imagine a 16th-century...