Interior Motives
Dishing on the Dallas Design Scene
 |
| Mary Candace Evans |
BREAKING NEWS
The Mansion on Turtle Creek has commissioned David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group to freshen its restaurant, bar, and driveway area in celebration of the venerable hotel’s 25th anniversary. The renovation is expected to be completed by Fall 2005. “Dallas and the Mansion are a unique destination, and David truly understands the need to repect that,” says Richard Baker, of the Mansion and the Crescent. Rockwell has already gutted the Crescent’s Beau Nash restaurant, which is reopening as Nobu Dallas in early Summer. “He gets how to take a classic hotel and give it a fresh new look,” says Baker. Watch these pages for more details on the new interiors in our next issue.
OVER-PRICED?
Designer Price Dixon, along with architect Karen Bruning and designer Julie Brown, left Hayslip Design Associates in January to venture out on their own. Their new firm Dixon Bruning Brown Inc., working out of Price’s downtown loft on Browder, already has five clients, but Price won’t name names. In the meantime, Sherry Hayslip says she’s got some surprises in store at HDA. Saddened by the trio’s departure – Price and Sherry worked together six years – Sherry is supportive of the new venture and hopes they can work collaboratively in the future.
 |
| The new Dennis & Leen furnishings at Walter Lee Culp includes the rustic Formations line. |
LEEN, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL
Walter Lee Culp has acquired a new owner, new spiffed up interior, and new lines from the now defunct Hargett Showroom. With Dennis & Leen’s clean-lined traditional furniture (chairs are amazing and abundant), lighting (try crystal beading over iron), accessories, and mirror company, Culp’s new president, Kelly Hardage, describes it as a traditional line but one that mixes beautifully with contemporary furnishings. (Culp is also carrying Formations, a more rustic line of chairs, tables, lanterns, mirrors, and accessories, owned by the same D&L people but run as a separate company.)
Designers who are lovin’ it Leen:
Josie McCarthy, Gloria Nicoud, Sherry Hayslip, Richard Trimble, Holden & Dupuy in New Orleans, Carson Seas of Oklahoma City (who’s shipping a ton of D&L furnishings north of the Red River), and Mrs. Martin Jurow.
Meanwhile, in Culp’s plentiful fabric department you’ll spot another former Hargett line: Zoffany, a fresh, updated traditional English and Scandinavian silk collection out of London. They also picked up Zimmer+Rohde of Frankfurt, Germany, a collection of high-end traditional silks and damasks, great woven textures booming with color. Where is the showroom’s namesake? Culp himself has retired to his high-rise overlooking Miami, where he used to vacation during the 13 years Hardage managed the showroom.
DALLAS DESIGN INK
Interior designer Eric Prokesh may soon be the most nationally photographed local designer now that he’s been written up in House&Garden and has had ink in House Beautiful, Southern Accents, and PaperCity. Of course, we had him in D Home last year…
PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ
Diane Linn designed the interiors for Ritzy’s, a cool, casual-dining restaurant that opened in Grapevine in the fall. She’s now working on a second Ritzy’s location in Frisco, which keeps her pedal to the metal on I-30 to Fort Worth where she’s finishing up the So7 Townhome project by developer Ken Hughes of Mockingbird Station fame.
 |
| Louis Soleil outdoor furniture at David Sutherland. |
WHEEL OF FORTUNE-Y
One of Houston’s most renowned showrooms (and the oldest in Texas) is rumored to be opening a Dallas location in early March. Obviously good fortune for all since Ellouise Abbott has had Fortuny since Isadora Duncan twirled her first silk Delphos scarf. The designs of Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, who started fabric printing in 1917, were inspired by the world’s great art and cultural centers. His fabrics are still hand-printed by a secret process known only to the Fortuny family. Besides Fortuny (which is also sold at E.C. Dicken), Arena Designs, Roman Upholstery, and others, Ellouise Abbott will introduce several completely new never-been-shown-here-before lines, along with other surprises, including the showroom’s location. All I can tell you: somewhere south of I-35.
THE SUN KING
Just in time for your spring patio is David Sutherland’s new Louis Soleil outdoor furniture – hand-carved teak, sumptuously upholstered outdoor seating, the first ever upholstered furniture specifically for outdoor use. (So good-looking you might actually fall in love with them for the inside.) Covered with Sutherland’s Perennials outdoor fabrics, these stately dining, arm, and lounge chairs were designed for laziness by the pool.
———————
HOTNOT
in Kitchens
Sharon Flatley, ASID
HOT
- Built-in coffee systems
- Texture and color in backsplashes, including glass, leather, and textured stone
- Unexpected color on walls, like red, deep blues, or chocolate brown
NOT
- Skimpy, slab material for countertops
- Ceilings punctuated with 6-inch can lights and nothing else
- Off-white walls in kitchens
- Ash cabinets stained mud brown
