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. Curator Bradley Brooks manages
If you love high-end interior design, you’ve probably read the words “Segreto finishes.” Maybe it was in an MLS listing or on Houzz.com or in Architectural Digest. But you might be surprised to learn that Segreto – the word is Italian for “secret” – is a Houston company founded and run by Leslie Sinclair. She
What’s the single grossest thing at your home? Chances are it’s your garbage bin, the nasty outdoor one with the cruddy food spills, dripped paint and who knows what else in there. If you’re like me, my daily deposit of kitchen refuse into the outdoor bin is usually accomplished by lifting the lid with just
Houston’s go-to floor company – for both exquisite new floors and the restoration of old floors – is Schenck & Company. Owner/namesake Greg Schenck (photo at right) bought the fledgling company from a buddy more than 35 years ago. He had no background installing floors or woodworking, but that did not dampen his enthusiasm or
American architect Gil Schafer is known for creating personal and timeless homes that celebrate the lives of their owners. They are spaces intended for making and keeping memories. To that end, Schafer’s brand-new book, A Place to Call Home: Tradition, Style, and Memory in the New American House (Rizzoli, $55) pulls back the curtain on
Since Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians have had hundreds of questions about flood claims, building codes and buying up water-damaged properties as future investments. Li-Hsi “Leash” Yu, president of Agency Yu, Inc.* in West University, recently came to the Greenwood King office on Kirby Drive to talk about flooding (and its aftermath) from the insurer’s point of
The eponymous founder of the Sebastian Construction Group was George Sebastian, a Dallas native and self-trained architect. Returning home from service in the Pacific during World War II, he founded his building company in 1948 in response to Dallas’ rapidly expanding population. Gradually the company transitioned from middle-market construction to high-end construction, focusing on the
Thompson + Hanson, the high-end nursery with the dreamy retail shop located on West Alabama at Joanel, first sold Christmas trees in the early 1990s, about a decade after its founding in 1981. However, the surprise success of the nursery’s on-site restaurant Tiny Boxwoods subsequently required so much space that partners Gregg and Lance Thompson stopped the
Jen Meneely and Pippa Williams tell the story of Too Cheap Blondes this way: It was March 2013, and both women happened to be shopping in the same Goodwill store when Pippa recognized Jen from a recent Houston Chronicle article in which Jen had been featured. Pippa introduced herself and told Jen that she too was
Photos courtesy of Hull Historical You know that expression “God is in the details”? Brent Hull probably whispers it to himself about 100 times a day. As owner and president of Hull Historical in Fort Worth, Hull is a nationally recognized authority on historic design, architecturally correct moldings and millwork. His most recent book, Building