With three days to find a home Rhonda Blair created her record of must-haves sweet and short. “I told my realtor I needed three things: flow, light and hardwood floors,” she states. Luck favors the brave, and a fast search landed her a Tudor-style home that fit all three of her standards. New paint in classic hues and traditional furniture finish the warm feel of this enchanting Dallas home.
at a Glance
Who lives here: Rhonda Blair, Bill Beach and their puppy, Lettie
Location: The M Streets, Dallas
Size: 1,860 square feet; 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms
That is Interesting: The home was built in 1926, a period when lots of people took in boarders, so each bedroom has its own outside entrance.
Sarah Greenman
The M Street areas of Dallas are known for Tudor-style cottages with steeply pitched gables, arched doorways, stained-glass windows and decorative brick work. The architecture of the home and history of the neighborhood immediately charmed Blair.
Sarah Greenman: What do you love most about your neighborhood?
Rhonda Blair: I adore that this can be, by Dallas criteria, an older community with Texas Tudor and prairie-style houses. It’s a conservation district, which means in case the old houses are torn down or remodeled, there are regulations that maintain the older flavor of the area.
Sarah Greenman
Blair moved into the home in 1995, and her spouse proceeded in 3 years later.
SG: How did you know this home was the one?
RB: It was not so much that I knew this was “the one,” but that I had been going for work and arrived from Massachusetts on Wednesday to take a look at properties with my real estate agent, Ryon Hukill. I looked at 20 places, narrowed it down to 2 and made a offer on Sunday evening. I was fairly clueless about Dallas, geography and neighborhoods, but it was to be brilliant.
SG: What inspires your personal style?
RB: Bill and I are big on comfort, simplicity and flow. I like for the things on the walls to mean something to me like Laurence Scholder’s prints over the sofa. They’re beautiful, but they’re also Larry’s, who is a local artist and our neighbor. And tend to get connected to people and memories.
Paint color: custom Sage Green, Sherwin-Williams
Sarah Greenman
SG: Can you work at any layout professionals?
RB: We moved to Ethan Allen when we chose to update the living area and finish several parts of the dining area. Susan Medlin was the decorator who worked with us, and she was great. She actually helped with the fabric on the seats in the living area.
Chairs: Ethan Allen
Sarah Greenman
SG: What condition was the home in when you moved in?
RB: It was really clean, and of the walls were white. I didn’t even think about painting until Bill transferred in. He motivated me!
The paint color in the dining area is custom from Sherwin Williams, mixed to match the apple photographs (to the right of the door) from Jerome Liebling. The secretary on the far wall and the bird print to the right belonged to Bill’s grandmother.
Sarah Greenman
Blair and Beach were quite particular about picking colors suitable for the home’s era that also had a contemporary feel. Since each room flows into the next, the colours had to harmonize as well.
Blair purchased the dining table years ago in Lexington, Kentucky. The rosewood seats came in an antique shop in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the upholstered end seats are out of Ethan Allen.
Sarah Greenman
The original black tile in the hallway bath was another selling point of the home. “The very cool toilet cinched it,” says Blair.
Sarah Greenman
SG: What was your biggest style dilemma?
Bill Beach: The closet space in these older Tudors is negligible.
RB: That is pretty typical for houses built in the ’20s and ’30s. We haven’t done any remodeling, though we have been talking about it.
Bed: Havertys; paint color: Vast Sky, Sherwin-Williams
Sarah Greenman
Blair’s research, just off the master bedroom, is a haven where she can concentrate on her job for a university professor, researcher, playwright and occasional celebrity.
Paint color: Terra Cotta, Sherwin-Williams
Sarah Greenman
Beach is quite the chef. He and Blair invest a good deal of their time at the kitchen catching up in the day’s end while preparing dinner. The house’s spacious kitchen layout impressed Blair during her initial house hunt. The cheery yellow paint , and black and white checkered floors preserve the house’s vintage feel.
Sarah Greenman
Beach’s home office includes an easy, breezy feel. He is a real estate agent at Ebby Halliday, specializing in the Lakewood areas of Dallas.
The couple’s dog, Lettie, also known as Princess Leticia, manages Bill’s property transactions from her personal sofa.
Paint color: Urban Putty, Sherwin-Williams
Sarah Greenman
Despite some space constraints, Blair and Beach was able to make a well-manicured backyard that boasts a raised deck and hot tub.
Sarah Greenman
Homeowners Rhonda Blair and Bill Beach at home in their cozy living area.
SG: As a real estate agent, do you have any advice for people interested in buying a home?
BB: Get a fantastic agent, someone with professional instruction and a listening attitude. If you have got a fantastic agent set up, then the rest will work itself out.
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