Gratzie,

Marisa

“I have lived in my building for 11 years. Imagine my surprise to drive up and see that they’ve added uplighting, blue-revolving-to-green, that shines up 30 floors on the sides of the building. Was told it might make our 1960’s high-rise appeal to the “younger folks.”

The 29-story Preston Tower was built in 1966 and was one of Dallas’ very first high rise buildings. Only the very cool need move in.

McGuigan also warns that just because you build art doesn’t mean people will come: case in point, LA’s Disney Concert Hall. We are also a car-centric city and must keep LA’s lesson in mind: whatever we plan, whatever we build, you gotta take care of the darn cars that get people to the event. Make that parking inconvenient enough, those valet lines too long, folks will be tuning out to art, tuning into their PDA’s, heading back to their McMansions. And let’s be nice to our feet: one of the biggest selling points of every downtown residence is the walking proximity of the Dallas Arts Center (and yes, Victory) to all of them. So let’s also make sure we are foot friendly as well as car friendly.

8:00 a.m. My husband, the early riser, is up after a perfect night’s sleep. Oh, how he tries to be quiet but oh, how it always fails. “Have you seen my chart bag?” Though I secretly hope it’s buried in Kaufman mud, I tell him it’s in the car. Go get it — no wait, call and ask for someone to get it for you! Test out the hot phone. “Is it HIPPA compliant?” (Peace and sleep for ten minutes. Then…) “Shall I order breakfast? What do you want?” Duct tape.

10:00 a.m. Breakfast Beautiful arrives on a wheeled cart with a warming oven below to keep it warm. I am concerned that the cart will not make it down the hall and around the center hall table, but it does: someone obviously measured, someone watched those details. I feel guilty — briefly — that I haven’t used the gourmet kitchen — the Wolf stove, the warming drawer, the twin wine fridges next to the integrated Sub Zero — well, I did use something. I load the integrated Asko dishwasher, though not necessary. Breakfast mess will be cleaned up during our massage.

11:00 a.m. What would we be doing now at home? Reading the paper, sipping coffee, surfing the internet. What are we doing now? Reading the paper, which was delivered dry inside our home, sipping coffee, surfing the internet to find Tweets of the Cattle Baron’s mudfest. Only here we are on the 16th floor, overlooking the city, thinking about mosey-ing down to that exercise room which does not require a car ride, which really takes away every excuse.

11:30 a.m. Dallas is a city that never sleeps: we are surprised by how many cars were on the roads last night, especially since half were still stuick in Kaufman. And did you notice how quiet it is in here? My husband, a perfectionist surgeon,  is impressed with the quality of the construction and the windows. It really does feel like a home, a home that floats, I say. I love watching the city in action, my husband says. I could do this. But, I say, you’ll have no garage. They have garages for your car downstairs, he says. But no tools, I say. Who needs tools? You use the hotphone.

11:45 a.m. We really are going to go downstairs and exercise.

The perfect cocktail party, a five star dinner. We return to our new home in the heavens to find love in the air: someone has turned down our bed and strewn it with fresh rose petals, forming a heart right in the middle. Ah, the empty nest: my husband is asleep in five seconds; he delivered babies the night before. So I do something I’ve wanted to do since I toured the very first Dallas high rise in a hard hat: take a nice soaking bath overlooking the lights of the city in that stunning white and black veined marble bathroom.  (Just lock me in there.) The Ritz jetted tubs are by Kohler with platinum Kallista fixtures — and the  jets are perfectly placed. Robert A.M Stern is a genius, but please, no hand-sprayers? I make do with the excellent water pressure — which was also perfect when the shower was running. A-plus plus bathrooms. (And no scalding flushes — like when your spouse flushes the commode and whoever in the shower gets scorched?) So I was soaking, enjoying a magazine, breathing in the city lights and noticing for the first time that it was still raining.

Then the phone rang.

I was out of the tub within minutes of learning that my daughter and son in law had wrangled themselves out of the mud at Cattle Barons, while the D Magazine crew had to abandon their car. (”Go back” I told my daughter.) Frantic phone calls had created an image of what would become a Woodstock for thousands of Dallas millennials, an event that they would relay to their grandchildren: I survived Cattle Baron’s 2009. I got into my suitcase and found that black lounging outfit — I was going to call for the car just like a real resident, go rescue those folks, bring ‘em back to The Ritz.

“You don’t understand, we are covered in mud,” said SweetCharity Blog editor Jeanne Prejean.

Towels, they’ll need towels: I looked at the pristine white Ritz bath sheets embossed with the regal lion brand.

Let’s see just how much they want us to make ourselves at home.

Next thing you’ll tell me, I said, is that I can turn on the fireplace from my key fob.

7:30 pm: Dinner for four at Fearings. By now our cocktail guests had departed — Halle and Ali to a concert, Pam to dinner, Anna to her babies, Jeanne, Glenn, Sara and Gillea to Cattle Barons. By now it was pouring but the four of us footed the skybridge that connects The Tower Residences to the hotel. Neither of us curly girls frizzed. In fact, I had no idea how much it was raining until later.

8:00 pm: We enjoy the meal of a lifetime at Fearing’s, one of the driving reasons why many people buy Ritz real estate: you’ve got the Number One restaurant in hotel dining (dry) steps away, available for in-home catering, and a boost on reservations. In fact, Barbara Capasso personally escorted us to the restaurant lest we get lost. Or wet.

“Are you doing this just because I am a writer?” I asked.

“No, we treat all our guests like this,” she said. “We are renown for our personalized, attentive service.”

And yes, when we finished dinner — a sampling of Dean’s signature Tortilla Soup, Cast Iron Alaskan Halibut on Gulf Lump Crab “Succotash”with Tabasco/Bacon Gastrique and Fried Green Tomatoes, Maple-Black Peppercorn Soaked Buffalo Tenderloin on Anson Mills Jalapeño Grits and Crispy Butternut Squash Taquito, Barbara was there to roll us escort us home.

Saturdays go something like this: clean house, killer work out class, home to recover and hop in the pool with the dogs if weather permits, after which I usually walk around the exterior of my house and make note of what needs to be done. If I don’t get someone out to clean my windows the  mud wasps will have eminent domain. I have a dead juniper next to my front door. The yard man needs to pay more attention to the Japanese garden, which looks more like Hiroshima, the summer color is going going gone and it’s time to shell out money for think fall color. The pecans are raining on my sidewalk faster than I can sweep them, yielding enormous squirrel scat, and there’s a duck pooping in the pool, on my deck. So much for a swim. No wonder that by four pm, I’m hitting the bottle and re-thinking my love affair with home ownership.

So when the Ritz-Carlton Dallas asked if we’d like to try on living in one of their newest homes — to be unveiled tomorrow — I said not just yes but HELL YES and told the squirrels to stuff themselves.

2:00 p.m We pack our bags for a night of elegance, dinner at Fearings,  and (yard maintenance be damned, or at least postponed), a Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas spa: I slip into a cocktail dress and fold up work-out clothes, tee shirts, bathing suit (which I ended up leaving on my dresser) and make-up. Also throw in an elegant black velour lounging outfit with tags still hanging — never worn since I never “lounge” in my own home.

3:58 p.m. Arrive at the 23-story Tower Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, pulling the car into the port-cohere at our new address: 2555 North Pearl Street. We are greeted by none other than Ritz-Carlton General Manager Roberto van Geenen; Joseph Pitchford, Senior Vice President, development, Crescent Real Estate Equities L.L.C.; and Barbara Capasso, Residences Manager, with champagne. The Robert A.M. Stern regency-style building exterior is similar — identical, actually — to it’s twin tower and the hotel, the pale brick and cast stone. Most definitely a New York City elegance. The interior lobby is dramatic with white onyx floors bordered by rich chocolate brown and, a concierge counter bearing the most beautiful russet-colored stone slab I have seen to date: rich maple wood paneling everywhere. Unlike Tower One, this lobby is more of a rectangle, with a warm residence sitting room, a library, Chinese-red dining/board room,  private exercise room with a cushioned floor, individual lock and key wine-storage units for each homeowner, and gateway to a gorgeous, 80 foot long pool and spa flanked by Jerusalem Palms. There is an exterior fireplace and the entire deck, chairs, chaise lounges, pillows are new, spotless, squirrel and duck-free.

There is a fireplace in the lobby as well, and it is lit, warm and welcoming on what will soon be an historically rainy day in North Texas.

And so begins one of my most amazing 24 hours ever…

Apples to Zinnias, located in The Plaza at Preston Center, which is having a huge party benefiting Wednesday’s Child this Thursday, is challenging Halloween-decor obsessives to deck their houses  and submit photos of their creations for a grand prize. The head witch at Apples to Zinnias will judge the photos for the most festive décor and the winner will receive just what they need: a Halloween gift to add to their decoration collection. Submit your photos by email to appplestozinnias@sbcglobal.net,  or stop by at 4024 Villanova, Dallas, TX 75225. The  witches will also send them by broomstick express to DallasDirt for publication.

Now if you’re talking bloody haunted houses, slimy brains and noodle guts, call me stat.

Photo by Charles D. Smith AIA

This year’s AIA Dallas house tour, November 7-8, has some truly extraordinary houses designed by some of the very best local architects.  One of the houses, on Labron, we wrote about here many moons ago.  Designed by Kelly Mitchell and Sean Garman, two of the most fun folks around as well as really good architects, it’ll be well worth the price of admission on its own.  And I want to see the rest, so see you there.

I’m always amazed at how many tucked-away neighborhoods there are in Dallas that I’ve never heard of.  With really good architecture.

Just drove over to an area that I guess might be called Casa View Oaks, in an area of east Dallas that can only appreciate, near Ferguson and Oates.  There’s quite a pocket of Cliff May-designed houses over there that are crying out for young families to come on in, buy a house for next to nothing, do some restoration work, and end up with affordable architectural significance.

Cliff May, who is sometimes referred to as the Father of the California Ranch House, practiced throughout the mid century (20th, right).  His houses were notable for their close connection between interior and exterior spaces, which tends not to be the case with the ranch houses we all grew up in.  The houses over in Casa View Oaks clearly have it.  One current listing, 2651 Andrea Lane, is on the market for $146,000 and has been a hot topic over at livemodern.com.   Take a look at the photos.

But this momentous event gives me the opportunity to suggest that in the meantime, you go get yourself some Sweet Charity. Hop on over to our newest, the Sweet Charity Philanthropy Blog, edited by my dear and quite brilliant friend Jeanne Prejean.  If there is one woman in Dallas who knows everyone and their five (legitimate) great aunts, it’s Jeanne. Trust me: she knows the illegitimate ones, too. Jeanne launched the newest D Blog last week — alas, I was ensconced in wedding shower la la land (love the flowers!) . May I suggest that if you miss me,  Jeanne will more than entertain. Lucky you — you can have us both.

Now does anyone have the name of a decent waterproof mascara?

At it’s Metropolitan Home sponsored debut party Thursday night, the new Cantoni house cradled these puppies as eye candy. There was the newest Bugatti and a few Bentleys ranging in price from $135,000 (the cheapest) to $1.1 million, I think, my head was swimming once I saw a car priced for more than a million dollars.  Good thing I toured the contemporary masterpiece the previous day; the 7500 square foot home was bursting at the seams and loaded with every design/architectural Who’s Who in Dallas, from the 22 foot long counter connecting the bar with the kitchen to the exterior pool-side linear fire pit. I could see why they wanted the cars there — the Cantoni homes’ garage is like a piece of art, with clean lines, porcelain tile floor, and sliding glass doors. Perfect showplace for designer cars. The idea, which is so smart, is that you arrive home every night in your garage, you see this room every day, sometimes more than you’d like. Why not make it attractive? Or enjoy the same foyer your guests enjoy — the house is designed so that you enter the front foyer from the garage and walk into the most beautiful formal rooms first thing. The view from the garage is spectacular.

The home, which was conceived, drawn and designed right at Cantoni on Alpha Road, utilized all the Cantoni Design Studio resources, taking into consideration a total design plan for the interiors. This approach is unique in the Dallas area, and Cantoni, now in the building biz, aims to change the way contemporary homes are built and purchased in this market.

The Cantoni house has a name –Axis.  It is derived from the whole experience of walking through the house around an “axis”. Enter through the large steel pivot front door and your view is first a dazzling outdoor sculpture. The architects wanted every axis in the home to end with a dramatic focal point — at times a sculpture, another time a fabulous tree, pool or the lush gardens.

You will be hearing a lot about this home over the next few months, as it marries Cantoni’s 25 years of great design with superb, sleek construction. How gutsy, I thought when I first stepped in, is it of a furniture and decor store to take on new construction (like now), but how smart are they to capitalize on their brand from not just furniture but to cabinets and drawers. Oh — go up and see the media room, most beautiful I have seen in ages. A second Cantoni home in the Uptown area is already underway — I can hardly wait!

The problem I have with bulldog HOA’s and NSO’s is how they pit neighbor against neighbor — to wit, this from University Terrace’s NSO Yes! blog:

“you know what tubby. I actually have a life. I have a family. I have better things to do than to bully people into decisions and impose on other peoples rights. But if you feel so good about it that you have to celebrate, then have a great time. It really shows to all the people that did not vote or voted no just how low class, and trashy you are.” 

Please read the blog entirely and tell me if you are not instantly transported back to eighth grade. But that’s why city councils shouldn’t let these overlays happen — let the city make the rules, enforce them, anyone else can battle it out in court where the prohibitive costs might make people act like adults for about five whole minutes.

Seriously, trying to get financial info together and what do I do, surf the web looking for House Porn! I cannot help myself — look at this virile lake house, just what the Doctor would have ordered for a holiday weekend family get together. (Add a few piles of clothes, dog toys, magazines and mail to this pristine, clean great room!) I am loving the interiors and the exteriors, I am hoping we have a nice bug system installed to keep away those microscopic carnivores. I am loving the square footage of 2431: three bedrooms, two and a half baths so we don’t get too many visitors (and can pack up, leave her while we jet to Europe). Built by an architect, located on Lake Cypress Springs (the Pebble Beach equivalent to Dallas, east of Sulphur Springs) complete with country club, marina, just two hours east of Dallas. We visited friends who are right on the lake this summer in the heat of July and loved those bubbling little cool springs.  Best news of all: $900,000. Perfect for last-minute deductions.