Dear Reader
Age of Grace
Antiques have always fascinated me, though I have never collected them. I have never collected anything, really, except books – we have thousands of them – and children – we have four. But what I love about working for D Home is that I am often moved to reflect on my surroundings. While we were putting together our special feature on antiques, I began to see my own house in a new light. The rooms in our house are pleasant and filled with good-enough furniture but very little that might be passed on to the next generation. The closets are brimming with clothes that are unlikely to make it to the next season. Then there are the disposable cameras and pens.
A fine antique or magnificent piece of art – to state the obvious – is not disposable; it endures. Like a concerto by Tchaikovsky or Jane Austen’s Emma, it has stood the test of time. Maybe it’s because I have reached the halfway point in my life, but that idea has appeal and is at the core of my burgeoning passion for antiques.
One of the most important things I learned while working on this issue is that when it comes to antiques, an educated eye is 10 times more important than a big checkbook. You’ll tour 26-year old Julio Quinones’ Lower Greenville duplex and see how he put together a beautiful collected look on a young designer’s budget. His second-floor apartment is an amalgam of important pieces of 1940s French Modern, along with a Venini chandelier he found on eBay and a sofa he found on the curb of Glencoe Avenue. Quinones seldom buys new – if he does, it is a faithful reproduction – and every object in his house has a story, if not a provenance.
We then cross the Trinity River and visit a beautiful house in the Westover Hills neighborhood of Fort Worth. In this story we tour architect Weldon Turner’s brilliant redesign of a 1960s ranch-style house, and we see how designer Joe Minton transformed it into a showplace for the owners collection of art and antiques. When we went to scout the house, I could have stayed for hours, inspecting each room like an old woman pouring over family photographs. Click here and you’ll see why.
I have spent decades and untold dollars filling my house with mere stuff, mostly because I am always in a hurry. Too much of what I buy eventually goes to a church or a garage sale or out of the house in a Hefty bag. The antiques dealers and designers I met while putting together this issue inspired me to approach my home with greater mindfulness and grace.
Enjoy this issue and your families and your homes and have a blessed holiday.
Cordially,
Christine Allison
Editor and Publisher
