HABITAT Love Nest

Most remodeling jobs leave homeowners in need of per-sonal repair. A war of nerves ensues while bank accounts vanish
faster than puffs of sawdust and spouses try to figure out how to staple-gun their mates to the new Sheetrock.

So how did this redo beat the odds, finishing ahead of schedule and right on budget, with the homeowners not only
still happily married but bragging on one another’s architectural skills and eye for color?

Practice, practice, practice. The husband, a commercial real estate manager with an architecture degree, had survived
other major remodeling jobs. The wife, an accomplished artist, knew that she could combine such out-of-favor colors as
avocado, institutional green and Wedgwood blue with “a receding gray white, not a yellow while” and have them seem new
all over again. And the contractor. David Yeargan, brought his experience and his people skills to bear, staying in
touch with the owners every step of the way.

Not that this derelict 1928 East Dallas bungalow didn’t yield a few surprises en route to its reincarnation. When
foundation repairs stabilized shaky floors and a fallen down porch, interior doors refused to close and one entire
wail of kitchen cabinets came tumbling down. But, the house survived, and so did the marriage. In fact, both flourish
under the same roof with three cats, a dog, a sterling collection of contemporary art and furnishings from antique to
Euromodern. It’s enough to give remodeling a good name.