Visit with Holly Smith, Houston-based Realtor.
Home, for me, has always meant comfort and community. It’s that safe place where you can let go at the end of the day. No matter what your day brings, you know you can always leave it at the door and let go here. David and I extend that to our friends and family when we entertain along with good music and good food. Since we’re not entertaining these days, home has become a private movie theater, a gym (although we’ve been slacking lately), an office and a virtual meeting space. It’s made us rethink how we use our house.
We live in Montrose. I’m spending more time at home and face to face meetings have been replaced with video calls, virtual open houses, and researching properties before showings. Usually I’d plop my laptop down anywhere but for now the dining room, missing out on dinner parties lately, has become the home office/hang out space. I still haven’t re-hung many pictures. I have to live in a rearranged space a while before I do that. This painting is by a childhood friend, Amy Lowe, given to me by my mother. Dining table was my grandmother’s. While I work here, I think of all the meals I had growing up with my Newcomb cousins, aunts and uncles. The dining table is big enough for both David and me to use as a workspace and we even added a couch – a nice place to catch up on reading or virtual get-togethers.
From the pictures that we’ve hung, here are David’s photographs of his mother playing the piano, and a surfer in Amelia Island where a hurricane was moving in as we were leaving.
The breakfast nook, once a glorified charging station and place to drop mail, is better suited for dining for two. We like eating in the kitchen. These chairs came from David’s mother who told us they were originally in a train dining car. Her father worked for the Katy Railroad in Missouri. Note the rails under the seat – this is where men would put their hats before sitting down to dine. Farm to table Inner Loop style: calamondins from my brother’s tree… He makes the best marmalade from them. I juice them to cook and make cocktails.
Everything in our house has a story or a memory. The Jesus Turtle by Mary Annette Anderson was bought on a trip to Ocean Springs, MS. David’s father played football at Ole Miss. Here is a photo of David and me the night we “re-met” at a wedding reception in Oxford, and a shot of us in front of the Beer Can House right after our wedding in Houston.
Oh, and books and music. Gotta have books and music!
With the nice weather as of late, we are opting more for alfresco dining in the backyard, we’ve been enjoying dinner and drinks outside. With Spring, tomatoes on the vine are also starting to show.
Aside from enjoying meals outside, and gardening, we also use the patio to make calls while enjoying Houston’s sunny afternoons.
Outdoor space is really important and I crave community outdoor spaces like Mandell Park. I volunteer on the board and have a plot in the community garden, the Meredith Gardens, where poppies are growing. Mandell Park is my happy place and I’m delighted to see people enjoying it so much lately. Short story, once an abandoned lot, turned organic garden, turned Asakura-Robinson designed park/garden. All brought about by neighborhood volunteers.
I love running and walking North and South Boulevards under the shade of the oaks or through the Menil campus. My favorite place to run or walk is Boulevard Oaks, it’s close, shady and quiet. I ran a virtual 10K in lieu of the CCC 10K, which was cancelled – one person celebration here!
We are about 5 minutes away from everything we do in a day, although it’s a little different now that we’re staying home and staying safe. As soon as it’s safe, I look forward to getting my hair cut at Blue Mambo (miss you Matt!), watching a ball game (not ESPN Classics) and eating a taco with David in the bar at La Tapatia, and going to live classes at Bar Method. Neighbors really make the difference though, it’s not unusual to get a text towards the end of the day for driveway drinks. Now we do them at 6 feet apart.
Are you a fan of the mountains, beach or lake? We like them all but for now we prefer the Dunlavy Bridge sunsets. Traffic sounds like the ocean, right?
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